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Tutsan - St John's Wort

KevInYorkKevInYork Posts: 6
in Plants
It took me a while to identify it, but over the past year some Tutsan has appeared in my garden, and initially I liked the red stems and colour changing berries (yellow to black) so left it be. It's fairly localised and certainly not making a bid to take over (yet!)

However it is growing by my rhubarb / apple trees and I'm now wondering if it's a very bad idea to have something edible and something discribed by wikipedia as toxic so close together! There are no pets or children to worry about, just the soil.

Should I be taking it out? I see it is classed as invasive in some countries, but not the UK (I'm based in York) so potentially that is a reason to let something else have a chance in the garden instead.

Thanks for your advice!

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,158
    no worse an idea than having those poisonous Rhubarb leaves at the end of the stalks.
    No worries re the Hypericum, plants don't leak anything into the soil to be picked up by other plants. Many garden plants are poisonous, Tutsan not particularly so compared to many


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • KevInYorkKevInYork Posts: 6
    Thanks nutcutlet!
    I hadn't even thought of the rhubarb being poisonous too. I do like the coulours of the both together, so will keep them and enjoy them from now on.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,051
    edited September 2018
    Rhubarb leaves are also highly toxic and they're actually part of the same plant. Just don't eat stuff unless you know it's harmless.
    Devon.
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    I suspect that it's classed as 'invasive' due to how easily it self seeds all over the place. Once you've learned to recognize the baby seedlings they're easily pulled out to stop it spreading KevInYork. 

    If it's getting too big you can chop it right down in the spring and it will bounce right back again. I do this with mine every year, it's currently about 4ft high again.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,051
    Sorry @nutcutlet, for some strange reason, your post wasn't there when I posted mine. 
    Devon.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,158
    Hostafan1 said:
    Sorry @nutcutlet, for some strange reason, your post wasn't there when I posted mine. 
    :) Hosta


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    edited September 2018
    nutcutlet said:

    plants don't leak anything into the soil to be picked up by other plants.
    Sometimes they do, it's called allelopathy, Google it!  It's one of the ways plants compete for space.  They make the ground around them toxic to other plants.  When they produce toxins against other individuals of their own species, it's called autotoxicity, a plant equivalent of family planning.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,158
    but the affected plants don't suck up the poison do they? they just don't grow very well


    In the sticks near Peterborough
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