This topic has been addressed here a few years ago but I think it bears a repeat.
Here is my partial list
Campanula Urtificola, just horrible. I noticed Bluestone stopped carrying it.



Lamium, all varieties

Ginger, this was a house warming gift. I had to warn my friend not to give it to anyone else.

TRUMPET VINE!!! I've been trying to get rid of it for 3 years, and it just keeps coming back. I had no idea that it sent out runners 20' to 30' from the plant.

WOW.Nothing worse than a vine out of control.

Yellow flag iris. This is a Class C noxious weed in Washington. Had I known this before introducing it to my farm pond, I would not have done so. We have tried, unsuccessfully, to eradicate this Pacific NW bully. It both increases from the roots and also self-seeds. It does seem to prefer standing water and will limit itself from the pond edge to about 2' deep. So far, it has not infiltrated the creek.

On the trumpet vine, it should never ever be planted in a garden!!! I have been battling mine for years and this year it is still sprouting up wherever it wants to put in an appearance. The main vine was covered with a metal bushel basket after being cut and dug out as much as possible hoping to kill it by not letting a light source get to it. Those roots just run and come up someplace else. When I get some extra time will try painting on a brush killer hoping that will knock it down.

Yellow iris uggggg and you cant use Roundup.

Trumpet vine: Has not been a problem for me - in fact I could never get it to do much of anything, so just tore it out. It went away without any problem. (Pacific NW)

Iris: Roundup is not in my universe, so no, not an option. Plus our farm pond is fed by a salmon bearing creek, so way too dangerous to even think about poison. We've tried digging out twice (with heavy equipment) but the iris are really tenacious and it is difficult to get them all since they are in 2' of water. I co-exist with them.

Euphorbia fens ruby: this was given to me by my sister as a jolly little groundcover. It did quite well in my front border garden. BUT, when I moved some to my rock outcropping, it went buck wild and decided to take over that entire bed. Must like the slope and hot sun or something. It's now on the do-not-fly list for me as I diligently pull it out over and over again. I'm not too tweaky about it, though, it is actually a nice looking plant, just overly enthusiastic.

Lamium was that way for me.
I ordered a couple of varieties just to cover until my perennials got their legs up.6 years later it has become a nuisance.
This is one small garden with the lamium,befor my helper removed most of it



After removal


Room for more plants.

I don't mind lamium, I just yank it to ground level when it gets too tall (I don't at all try to get the roots). The two I have are a silvery one and a striped one (not sure of the cultivars). They make a nice groundcover and nicely offset the other plants. My son has a much more aggressive form that he is fighting, it is coarser and taller and is taking over his world. I think much depends on the cultivar, your particular growing conditions, and your tolerance for aggressive plants. I have a large yard, lots of beds, and welcome anything that might compete with the dang buttercups. Although, in truth, I'm becoming more tolerant of even those thugs - some battles are just not going to be won.

Deb, you are so lucky that your trumpet vine was easy to get rid of mine took a long time to get established and bloom that is when I should have removed the vine before it decided to take over. I like lamium as a ground cover where it gets some shade next to a shrub it easily stays in bounds. Interesting how plants grow differently around the country.

Yeah, it sounds like trumpet vine is much more problematic on the east coast and midwest than over here in rain country. I planted it specific to a favorite song that includes the lyrics, "...the trumpet vine grows in the kitchen window..." which sounded lovely to me. Didn't work out.

And I do think that folks could be a bit less strident when they talk about a problematic (to them) plant. Makes me feel bad for the plant! They all have value, some are just less suited to certain regions than others.

I have several varieties of lamium and really like them. With my sandy soil and shade they do very well. They are easily pulled if they get to "enthusiastic" I did however plant a beautiful variegated artemesia, a patented plant no less, which has really gone places I didn't want it to. I chuckle when I think about my patented "weed".

My trumpet vine had the most lovely blooms that were hummingbird magnets it was on a very strong narrow trellis pruned it to resemble a weeping tree it was beautiful. Too bad it got so rambunctious with sprouts and height wanted to get in the power lines running to the house it grew rapidly. We have since planted two honeysuckle vines which are much easier to prune, plus they also attract the hummingbirds and bloom from spring to frost.

A person living out on a farm where it could be planted away by itself where you could run a mower around it to keep sprouts cut off and not have to be concerned about how tall it gets might enjoy having one.

For me, it has been running bamboo, mint, and chives. It took years to eradicate the bamboo, and I'm still digging out mint and chives.

"Obedient Plant"- definately a misnomer!

Funny, Karen - just yesterday I weeded my mint patches and noted that I've once again lost two of them. How can that be, one might ask? Beats me, but I am down to a 1'x4' strip of apple mint and smallish clump of chocolate mint. Lost mojito mint, spearmint, pineapple, and orange mint. Several catnips (rolled to death). Perhaps others as well that I've planted over the years. To be truthful, though, my mint bed is on the east side of our barn, is bordered by a gravel driveway, and gets no supplemental water. I just keep popping new and interesting mints in and hope for the best. It's a nice softening edge between two hard surfaces.

Chives are mostly well behaved for me. I have one clump in the herb garden and another outside the kitchen door. Both increase in girth, but don't re-seed. My worse problem with chives is keeping them clear of pasture grass, which mimics the chives.

I will keep it to 2 Spiderwort and Houttuynia . There have been others but I have been able to get rid of them . But these 2 , it seems no matter what you try just keep coming back.

creeping jenny for me. it was a terrible idea and sadly my back garden got neglected while i worked on the exterior and interior of my actual house. now it's in my back lawn and under my shed so i'm having a hard time keeping it from taking over. year over year it's been better, but i've been working at it for the past 5 years. one tiny piece and it's all over again in the spring.

i had lamium but yanked it this spring and so far i haven't seen any sprouting again so i'm crossing my fingers!

JL Williams, The lamium here had taken over so much I had it dug out. The remaining pieces get yanked as I find them. It is a great ground cover except over time it chokes out good perennials.

DebbieC said:"Obedient Plant"- definately a misnomer!

I agree. I planted it at my last home. I spent years pulling it out of the garden. It grew through the cracks of the railroad ties that had been placed to outline a garden area.

Another plant that is awful is gooseneck lysimachia or loosestrife. I planted it in a clearing created by utility cutaway about 1/4 mile from my house that is now almost inaccessible due to new construction. I started with only 3 plants. The last time I was able to get back in there it had spread through underground roots and was virtually indestructible.