These plants can create a maintenance nightmare near your home.
Do you like cleaning up a messy lawn? Yeah, we didn’t think so. While we adore vigorous plants that grow without being babied, what we don’t like are messy plants that drop sticks, seeds, and berries all over your walkways, deck, and in your swimming pool.
Many of these plants are beautiful, and they certainly have their place in the right garden setting. But they can also create a maintenance nightmare because you’ll constantly need to sweep or blow debris off of surfaces or fish it out of your pool. Fallen blossoms and foliage also can stain surfaces if not cleaned up quickly.
Some of these plants work perfectly fine in garden beds where they can drop their debris without creating a slipping hazard or clogging pool drains. The age-old saying of “right plant, right place” is certainly true here. So, if it's not on our list and it’s a plant you’re unfamiliar with, make sure to do some reading first before planting.
Finally, you should always consider a plant's mature size. While that plant is tiny now in its gallon-sized pot, it may present an issue down the road when it’s full-size and dropping seeds and berries everywhere. Read on to learn about the messiest plants you shouldn’t plant near patios, sidewalks, and pools:
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This late-blooming shrub has gorgeous blooms in mid to late summer, when many other garden plants are winding down for the season. However, the dropped blooms get mushy, leaving behind a slippery tripping hazard on walks and pool decks. Some types also reseed heavily.
Solution: Plant this shrub in garden beds instead, where you still can enjoy the beautiful flowers but won’t have to deal with slick surfaces. And stick with new hybrids to avoid random seedlings from popping up everywhere.
Oh, Bradford pear! You once were the belle of the ball, widely planted by developers in the 60s and 70s when first introduced. The pretty white flowers, symmetrical shape, and glossy foliage are appealing. But this tree stinks, as in, the flowers smell like rotting fish. Not to mention, Bradford pears are prone to storm damage and crack down the center, right about the time they start to look really lovely. Worst of all, this cultivar has morphed into an invasive species, outbreeding native plants.
Solution: Do not plant this invasive species ever!
Read more: Here's Why Planting a Bradford Pear Tree Is Never A Good Idea
Cottonwood trees are often marketed as fast-growing trees for shade. But these trees are losers: They have weak wood that drops sticks and limbs all season, they’re late to leaf out, they have zero autumn color, and they shed fuzzy, white seed capsules in late spring to early summer. These fluffy piles end up in unsightly drifts on your patio and get sucked into window screens and air conditioners. Then the tiny seeds will sprout everywhere.
Solution: Where else can you plant this tree? Nowhere!
River birches get ginormous, ranging up to 40 feet wide and 70 feet tall, so they’re not right for most small yards. In addition, they also drop debris all year long. They'll lose sticks every time there’s a mild breeze, along with a ton of catkins in the spring. If you don’t want to rake and pick up sticks all year, skip this tree.
Solution: It’s fine to plant at the back of your property, where it offers winter interest with its lovely peeling bark, but keep it away from your living areas.
Not all ornamental grasses fall in this category, but some types are a big pain. They require cutting back at just the right time, either spring or fall, depending on the species, or they look scruffy for the rest of the growing season. Some, such as giant reed grass, have become invasive and should not be planted at all.
Solution: Choose dwarf varieties or stick with annual types that won’t need to be hacked down every season.
The feathery leaves and puffy pink blooms of this medium-sized tree make it appealing. But it is an invasive species that also drops tons of flattened seed pods, which end up all over the garden or floating in the pool.
Solution: Do not plant this invasive species. Period.
Read more: 12 Invasive Plants That You Should Rip Out of Your Garden Immediately
With their lovely pink or white blooms, crabapples are a welcome sight in early to mid-spring. But older varieties with large fruits can be problematic because the rotting fruit can attract insects and rodents.
Solution: Choose new cultivars with small fruits that stay on the tree longer to provide winter color, such as ‘Prairifire’ and ‘Royal Raindrops.’ Or plant sterile varieties that do not fruit, such as ‘Marilee’ or ‘Spring Snow.’
Read more: We found the BEST Pink Flowering Trees to Boost Your Curb Appeal
You’ll see these flowers growing along roadsides, so they’re often called "ditch lilies." But this bright orange plant, first introduced in the 1900s, has since become an invasive threat to native plants. It also drops greasy, slimy flowers, leaving behind large stems that turn brown and foliage that turns yellow. Bottom line: It’s messy and just not an attractive plant.
Solution: Plant cultivated varieties of this plant, which are more attractive, less messy, and not invasive.
Read more: How to Plant Daylilies
This elegant-looking tree will become your worst nightmare if you plant it anywhere near your home. Willow trees grow 30 to 50 feet tall and wide, so they’re not ideal next to paths or pools. Plus, they drop sticks constantly. Their roots also seek water, so they can become problematic in sewer lines.
Solution: Give this beauty plenty of space at the back of a spacious property, or don’t plant it at all.
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