The Fastest-Spreading Perennials (And How to Control Them Before They Take Over)

Non-native invasive plants tend to be the fastest-spreading perennials. They lack the competition they face from other plants in their native range, and there are fewer pests of them in the U.S. They’ll root, reseed, and creep all over your garden. 

Others are aggressive plants with spreading tendencies. They can be native or non-native, and they’re easier to control than invasives. They may require annual upkeep, but they’ll behave well in the garden.

Both non-native invasives and native spreaders benefit from regular upkeep. Unless you have acres to let them spread, you’ll want to limit them before they take over. Chop, pull, and snuff the plants during the growing season. 

How to Control Unruly Perennials

Use these straightforward techniques to battle fast-spreading perennials in the garden. Avoid using herbicides, as they often have drastic consequences on the environment. Many of them use toxic surfactants that aren’t listed as active ingredients, and these surfactants harm local wildlife. 

Pull Them

Hand pulling is often the best option for removing weeds and unruly plants. It’s easy to do, and it works well when the soil is soft and moist. The roots come out of the ground with little to no effort, and the plants won’t return.

Use hand pulling to limit the size and scope of your spreading perennials. Remove outer portions of a clump, or excavate unruly seedlings that sprout far from the original plant. Do so in fall or spring when the weather is mild, the soil is soft, and weed seeds are sprouting. 

To aid in your pulling, use tools like the CobraHead Weeder. It has a diamond shape on its end that helps uproot deep-seated plants like dandelions and clovers. 

Dig Them

Digging is an option that’s great for hard-to-pull plants. It also works well for removing large swaths of perennials. Say you have a big patch of ivy or blackberry. Instead of pulling each stem, you may dig the clumps to remove the roots. 

Use a hand trowel for digging a perennial or two, and use a larger, normal shovel for digging big plants or wide patches. 

When digging, first dig down. Dig deep enough to remove all of the roots, then pull the plant out. If you dig too shallow, you may leave some roots in the ground that’ll resprout. 

Snuff Them Out

For the fastest-spreading species, hand pulling and digging work well to a degree. They’re excellent for most yards, though large gardens with many acres may need more comprehensive removal methods. 

Snuffing out is one technique that works well for large swaths of perennials. You’ll lay a tarp over the plants during the growing season to heat them beyond what they tolerate. They’ll be unable to access air and moisture, and they’ll die within a few weeks. 

There are a few different materials you may use for snuffing. If you’re planting other plants in the area, try cardboard. Lay it down on the perennials, and place compost on top. The cardboard will smother the underlying plants, and you may plant new ones in the compost above. 

Tarps are another option. Clear tarps are great for solarization, while opaque ones work for occultation. Solarization heats up the space, while occultation heats the space and blocks the sun. Use solarization in hot areas and occultation during the cool seasons. 

Chop and Drop

It’s difficult to remove plants in the summer. Their roots anchor them to the ground, and dry soil makes pulling them a chore. Instead of removing them now, it may be better to limit their spread and pull them in the future.

This is especially true for reseeding perennials, like clovers and mint. Rather than battling them now, chop their stems and drop them in your hot compost pile. The hot compost will kill the seeds before they can sprout. 

Avoid dropping the chopped stems near the plant, as they may have seeds in the spent flower heads. You may let them break down on the ground if their stems are free from flowers or seeds. 

Install Barriers

Barriers are excellent for getting ahead of the problem. Rather than controlling perennials after they colonize the garden, barriers limit their spread before they take over. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Use edging barriers to prevent groundcovers and vines from spreading. Submerge them in the ground so half of the barrier is below ground and half is above. When the plants hit it, they’ll have to grow over or under the barrier to continue spreading.

Once the plants surpass the edging, simply trim or pull them away. The edging creates a distinct line that helps you control these fastest-spreading perennials. 

A fence is another barrier that works well. A strong, sturdy fence protects the site from reaching perennials, like blackberries and honeysuckles.

The Fastest-Spreading Perennials

These perennials are unruly with their spreading capacities! They know no bounds, and they’ll continue growing in spite of your best efforts. Avoid planting the invasive species, and remove them promptly if they’re on your property. Non-invasive species require some control, though they’re not as damaging as the invasives.

Mint

You may have heard of the dangers of planting mint in the garden. Plant it once and you’ll have it for decades to come! It anchors itself to the soil with strong roots, and it spreads through seeds and rooting stems.

Though not technically invasive, mint is quick-growing and spreads rapidly when happy. Grow it in a container or planter to limit its spread, and remove the spent blooms to prevent it from reseeding. 

Bee Balm

Bee balm, like mint, uses both rooting stems and seeds to reproduce. It’ll quickly overtake bare spots in the garden, and it’ll creep into nearby perennials and annuals.

Bee balm species are in the genus Monarda, and they’re native to the U.S. As they’re native plants, they cannot be invasive in their native range. They may spread, but not aggressively so. Limit them by pulling their stems, and divide mature clumps to rejuvenate them. 

Yerba Buena

Yerba buena is also native to the U.S.! It’s a West Coast wildflower that works well as a substitute for mint in both the garden and the kitchen. It’s aromatic and flavorful, and its leaves work well for infusing teas, syrups, and desserts.

Yerba buena, like mint, spreads with creeping stems and sprouting seeds. Reduce its growth by snipping the stems before they root in the ground. After they root, you must pull the stems to get rid of them.

Vinca

Vinca, or periwinkle, is a vining spreader with the capacity to overrun your yard. A small planting will quickly expand into a large mat of foliage. It’s loved by gardeners for its purple or white flowers that bloom all over the vines. 

Though pretty, vinca is invasive in states like Virginia, South Carolina, California, and Alaska. It spreads through seeds and rooting stems that form dense mats of foliage. Consider using native alternatives such as wild strawberries or creeping phlox. 

Blackberry

Blackberries grow off of rambling, thorny canes that root at their ends. Some wild specimens, like the Himalayan blackberry, invade local forests and turn them into monocultures. They’re prickly, hard to remove, and fast-spreading.

To remove blackberry patches, you must remove every single piece of the roots. Any leftovers will resprout into new canes. 

Remove the blackberry by digging it out first. Then, lay a tarp over the area to solarize it. After solarization, check on the spot routinely and pull out any blackberry sprouts that reappear. 

Sweet Woodruff

Sweet woodruff is, as its name suggests, sweetly aromatic. It has a scent similar to jasmine or sweetbox. Its white flowers emerge between the hand-shaped leaves that sprout along the ground. 

Though gorgeous and fragrant, sweet woodruff tends to escape the garden. It’ll creep and crawl over bare soil. Each year, its patch will expand unless you pull up the sprouts. 

Creeping Jenny

Creeping Jenny is another pretty spreader that quickly turns unruly. As with mint, you’ll plant this groundcover once before learning your lesson. Not only is creeping Jenny aggressive, it’s also invasive in many parts of the U.S.

You’ll find the most rampant growth near lakesides and streams. The consistent moisture helps the creeping Jenny thrive, allowing it to cover vast areas. Pull it routinely to prevent it from growing, and consider replacing it with a better-behaved alternative. 

Spotted Deadnettle

Spotted deadnettle grows all over the U.S., partially because gardeners planted it years ago. The planted populations escaped cultivation, and now spotted deadnettle grows wild in forests, meadows, and shaded landscapes.

Though aggressive, spotted deadnettle isn’t as invasive as other spreading perennials. Uproot the fleshy stems to limit their growth. The roots sit shallow in the ground and are easy to excavate. 

Kudzu

Kudzu ate the South! This vine has a long, infamous history in the region, as it was widely planted in the past to combat erosion. After planting, growers soon discovered the vine thrives in disturbed areas and it has the capacity to grow up trees.

Nowadays, kudzu isn’t as pressing an issue as it was made to seem. Populations are dying out because of the Japanese kudzu bug, and new ones aren’t sprouting to take their place.

If kudzu is near your garden, kill it before it enters. It thrives in the warm South during the growing season, and it’ll overrun sunny spots of your yard. Pull it, snuff it, or install a fence to keep it out.

Clover

Clovers are cute, dainty little groundcovers that blanket the ground with lush growth. They’re favorites of pollinators, as their flowers are rich in nectar and pollen. 

Clover species are now a common part of alternative lawn seed mixes, as they need less water and mowing than grasses. Microclover, white clover, and crimson clover are common. 

Though clovers are beautiful, they’re also unruly. They’ll spread outside their bounds, especially if the soil is consistently moist during the growing season. Limit them with mowing, pulling, or snuffing. 

Blue-Star Creeper

Blue-star creeper does indeed creep! It’s a groundcover that thrives in the shade. I love it for its walkable qualities, as it tolerates regular traffic. 

Blue-star creeper is easy to remove but difficult to limit. It’ll continuously roam so long as it’s in the garden. Hand-pull its seedlings, and rake out the stems if they spread out of control. 

English Ivy

English ivy is an invader of the Pacific Northwest. I see it growing in forests, meadows, and abandoned lots. It feeds birds with its berries, but it smothers beneficial native perennials in natural landscapes. 

A groundcover, English ivy sprouts woody vines that root along the ground. The vines crawl up anything they can. They’ll cover trees, shrubs, and gardens. Once they reach a certain height, the branches transform into a shrubby form.

The shrub form of ivy grows flowers, fruits, and seeds that spread the plant throughout the U.S. Birds eat the seeds and plant them all over. 

Remove ivy with digging and hand pulling, then smother the area with mulch. Pull up any remaining sprouts, and the plant will disappear within a year or two. 

Lesser Celandine

Do not, I repeat, do not plant lesser celandine! This water-loving plant is crazy. It may not be the fastest-growing, but it’s quick-sprouting and extremely difficult to remove. 

Lesser celandine spreads through seeds, underground tubers, and aboveground bulbils. With three means of propagation, it can rapidly smother the spring garden with vegetation and yellow flowers. 

Hand-dig patches when they appear in late winter or early spring. If the area is large, consider placing a tarp over the site and weighing it down. Leave the tarp for two years to kill most of the tubers, and pull any remaining sprouts after removing it. 

Japanese Honeysuckle

Japanese honeysuckle may look harmless when it’s young. It features white and yellow blooms that carry a pleasant fragrance. The leaves are glossy and green, and they sprout from fleshy tendrils that turn woody with time.

As it ages, the honeysuckle spreads through various methods. It uses underground rhizomes and aboveground runners to spread vegetatively. It also uses seeds to sprout new plants far from the original one. 

I don’t recommend planting Japanese honeysuckle. Choose an alternative like the native trumpet honeysuckle. 

Strawberry

Strawberries are as varied as they are delicious. There are dozens of species and hundreds of varieties. Some stay in the same place, though many of them spread with runners.

Runners are aboveground stems. They have baby strawberry plants on their ends, and they root wherever the stems roam. A single strawberry can turn into a huge patch in a year or two!

Pull or hand-dig strawberries, and snip the runners before they root to limit them from roaming. Or, let them grow! More strawberry perennials mean more strawberries to harvest and enjoy.