Invasive plants: The one plant a gardener warns you should never plant outside | Spider plants, agapanthus

Gardener Reagan Nelson has seen firsthand what plants can do to a garden if planted in the wrong spot.

He’s been sharing these experiences in a TikTok series about his most hated plants and flowers that he deals with in his business If You Mow You mow.

Among the dozen he’s covered so far is one very common and popular plant that is best kept inside, and he’s now told 9honey why it can be such an issue.

Watch the video above.

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That plant is the humble spider plant, which makes for a nice house or pot plant but can quickly take over your yard if you’re not careful.

“It’s so easily spreadable, it’s so hard to get rid of – especially when it roots around other root balls or trees. I was dealing with a garden where there were so many spider plants around the base of the tree trunk, and you can’t get all of those roots, like the opaque carrot looking things, out,” he tells 9honey Living.

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The tuberous roots of a spider plant will start growing more spider plants, as will the so-called baby spider plants that emerge from the foliage and embed into the ground.

While Nelson has no problems with them being grown as houseplants, one person who watched his TikTok video shared a disturbing experience.

“A friend of mine years ago had a spider plant in their room. I was helping them clean up and move house and the little baby plants rooted themselves into the carpet. It was awful to try and get them all out…” they said.

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To remove spider plants from the ground outside, Nelson advises digging them out with a shovel and pulling out as much as you can with your hands.

“If they’re going to be rooted around other bushes or trees, it’s so hard to remove every single root cause they can go quite deep so you can feel like you’re ripping it all out,” he says.

“But if you rip it off at the surface of the soil, there’s going to be deep roots that are still in there and they’re going to shoot back.

“So the best way that I’ve found is just by digging it out or hand pulling if you’ve got good soil conditions.”

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Other “hated plants/flowers” on Nelson’s list include agapanthus, bamboo, agave and onion weed.

Like spider plants, Nelson reiterated that he has no problems with people growing these plants in pots.

“There are a lot of plants that we don’t know that are going to get invasive or out of control and I understand that. But most of the time all the plants that we’re talking about, – spider plants and even agapanthus – if you can contain it in a pot it’s minimising the chance for it to spread, so I don’t have a problem with that at all.

“But as soon as you plant it in the ground, it has a high potential of taking over the garden or just smothering other plants, which is a no-no.”

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In the case of agapanthus, since posting his video about the plant many fans of the flower have advised Nelson that it’s possible to buy agapanthus seeds or potted plants that are designed not to spread.

So if you want to add agapanthus to your garden, that is the best option to prevent it taking over.

As for what to plant in areas where you would normally see plants like spider plants and agapanthus in gardens, Nelson has two words for you; native plants.

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Nelson is particularly a fan of grevillea, correa and bottle brush, plants that are easily maintained and flower most of the year.

”There’s all sorts of natives you can get, you can get bushy ones, shrubs, trees, anything to basically bring way more wildlife pollinators, insects that are gonna benefit the ecosystem,” he adds.

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