DAK 0 Report post Posted September 26, 2012 Hello, I have this very interesting plant growing near my front porch. I did a little research and think it is a pokeweed, which is a perennial and toxic, but birds can tolerate the fall berries. Wondering if fellow gardeners had an opinion on keeping it or pulling it...no pets or kids would be around it. Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MG gal 5 Report post Posted September 26, 2012 I grow pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) to attract the cedar waxwings. My plant is quite large this year and full of berries. Now I am waiting to see the birds. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted September 26, 2012 I like pokeweeds. The birds do love the berries (leading to little, purple "cons" all over everything) but I just like the way they look with the bright green leaves that never seem to fade or dry out or get shredded by bugs, the cool racemes of purple berries, and the bright red stems. I also like that older, happy, established ones go from zero to nearly small tree-size in a single season. It's one of those "If it came from China, was picky about growing conditions, and was hard to come by, people would line up to buy them" plants. Grandpa always left the poke weeds when he came across them, then teased Grandma about making him poke sallet in the spring, but she always refused. It was kind of a family tradition. So I always leave poke to grow when I find one. They aren't weedy monsters in my area. In fact, they're pretty few and far between in spite of the number of berries they produce and the willingness of birds to distribute them. When I was a kid, I had a little section of garden in our suburban back yard, and a humongous poke weed was one of my prized specimens. It was accompanied by a plot Jerusalem artichokes (which ARE weedy monsters, by the way). That combination was a butterfly, then later bird, magnet. When I came back home in the spring of my freshman year of college, I found Mom had reclaimed that bed and dug it up. It had a MASSIVE taproot that looked like a giant horseradish. I found the root and tried to plant it elsewhere, but it did not survive. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Margaret Thele 16 Report post Posted September 26, 2012 Egad - all you poke lovers. It reseeds everywhere and has a darn taproot that goes to china. It is my opinion that poke doesn't belong anywhere near an ornamental garden - maybe in a naturalized area. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted September 26, 2012 Ha ha just like some of the non-natives that in one place are perfectly well behaved, while elsewhere they are invasive monsters. "My" pokeweeds are up at the old family place (where monarda fails, sweet autumn clematis disappears, and gooseneck loosestrife just sits there). They're definitely not all over the place. The one when I was a kid was in Muskegon's sandy, acid soil. I don't remember it seeding around all that much either. I guess I won't bring one home where the soil is better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites