a few persistent unwelcome plants in my garden

I don't know if I would  call them weeds. They certainly don't feature on official lists of plants most feared and hated. Other plants have lived in my garden for a while,  and have accepted that they are no longer wanted, allowing themselves to be dug up and go to compost or other people's gardens. But these plants keep returning. What is it with them? They just don't get the message: Go away!  Digging them up doesn't work. Glysophate weedspray doesn't deter them. So I just keep them in check the best I can, in a kind of uneasy truce.

There was a time when wisteria covered the deck. For a few weeks a year it was divine. Lovely perfume wafting, long purple flowers hanging down. But if I wasn't vigilant it would grow into the roof and start lifting the tiles. I was an inexperienced gardener and found it scary. Then the deck started to rot and needed to be replaced so it was a chance to get rid of it and replace it with something more benign and useful - a grape vine. I cut the wisteria right back and painted it with the poison. That would have been maybe 10 years ago, and it's still coming back. Minus the flowers. I can't dig it up. Sometimes I poison it, sometimes I prune it back. More and more often lately I just leave it.  I have to accept the wisteria will still be in the garden when I have left it.

Wisteria climbing on the deck

 The acanthus story is similar. In front of the kiwi vine-covered screen acanthus thrived in the shade of the large tree next door. But the kiwifruit didn't do well without being watered and in time the screen was removed. Garden change happened.  In many respects the changes were planned and managed. Except the acanthus rebelled. They are joined deep underground so digging them up doesn't work. The chemical solution is only short term. I do love them - in moderation - so I might abandon the power struggle and aim for influence instead of control.

Acanthus keeps returning

It was a special birthday, 20 years ago, and M. gave me a bridal veil creeper in a pot. I kept it in the pot for years and loved its delicate dark green foliage and small white flowers. Then it escaped into the garden. It's easy to pull up but you never get it all, and it too will outlive me in the garden.

Bridal Veil Creeper creeping and lurking in the undergrowth

Then there's ivy. It's lovely, reminds me of old houses in England. I knew it was rampant, so only grew it in a pot - where it stayed.  Over time the couple next door grew old and died. Their house was sold, pulled down and a modern swish-er house built. My neighbours decided to grow a kind of ivy on their side of the fence. Which they are entitled to do but surprise, surprise ... the ivy doesn't stay on the other side of the fence. So now I continually pull out little ivy seedlings. If I stop doing this I will have a garden of ivy. Could be nice, but it's not really what I have in mind.

Ivy on the fence

The last unwanted plant is infuriatingly cunning and clever. I don't know what it's called and hope someone can identify it for me. Its leaves and habit look exactly like a forget me not except that it never flowers.  It's only when I have pulled it out that I know for sure which one it is because the roots are different.  Forget me not roots are long and thin and not clingy, unlike this mystery plant, which has many strong wiry fine roots.

Forget Me Nots with possible imitators nearby