Oh, no, you don't!

I'm always shocked to see someone recommending cup plant - and there it is in your article on perennial self-sowers. Trust me, folks, unless you have a huge yard and don't much care what's in it, you do not want to plant cup plant. I've been trying to rid one of my gardens of these 8-foot thugs for 3 years now. It's not just the plants that are enormous - so are the roots. And it's not just the seeds that spread to give you more plants - the roots send out runners. Also, those roots go deep - and are like iron. I'm not strong enough to dig them out, and have resorted to Roundup (pouring a little into the "cups" works better than spraying). Putting plastic over the bed in spring won't faze them, they'll poke right through it. You'd practically have to drop an old refrigerator on the bed to keep them from coming up.

If none of that bothers you, please remember - you may sell your house one day, and the new owners might not want the cup plants. That's how I got mine - I inherited them.

Marcia Purse
Grayslake, IL

(Hope you'll publish this in Letters to the Editor)