• My account
  • Cart
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

The Coeur d'Alene Coop

Raising Chickens and Urban Gardening

  • Home
  • About Our Heirlooms
    • About Candace
  • Garden Consulting
  • Shop
  • CdA Coop Blog
    • Gardening
      • Soil and Compost
      • Garden Seed Series
      • Growing Tomatoes Series
      • Growing Garlic Series
    • Backyard Chickens
    • Recipes
    • Garden Glossary
      • How Often to Divide Perennials & Winter Care
      • Q/A Sheet: How to Decide What to Grow in Your Garden
      • Ripe for the Picking: A Quick List of Common Fruit and Vegetables to Ripen On or Off the Vine
      • Vegetable Plant Family Chart
      • Seed Starting Charts
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Gardening / Loose as a Goose

September 3, 2010 By Candace Godwin Leave a Comment

Loose as a Goose

Gooseneck Loosestrife

Last summer while visiting friends in Portland I was introduced to “lysimachia clethroides,” better know as Gooseneck Loosestrife.  The introduction came via a huge bucketful of white flowers that truly resembled a gaggle of geese.  I was smitten.  Who wouldn’t want to see this dazzling display swaying in the summer breeze in their backyard? 

Luckily my friend had a few plants to spare and I happily trucked them back to Coeur d’Alene.  I wasn’t very timely in getting the transplants in the ground – in fact I’m pretty sure it was late September before I managed to dig them in.  Knowing my penchant for digging things up (not always by accident), I placed a large marker in the spot and anticipated my own flock of geese in the spring! 

Whenever I find a new plant I eventually get around to a little research.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered Gooseneck Loosestrife was listed as an invasive species! But, oh what a beautiful species.  Nothing like the miserable Lemon Balm that I am constantly pulling out!  If you are going to have something march across the garden you may as well like it and it better be beautiful.

Even with the plant marker I managed to rip out a shoot during one of the marathon weeding sessions this spring.  But I guess invasive species are hard to knock down, and I am delighted to say that my GNLS is a healthy flock of two with some goslings shooting up alongside.  Hal swears we’ll wake up one morning surrounded by white goosenecks. 

Burgundy Gooseneck Loosestrife
Last weekend at the Manito Garden’s fall plant sale I purchased two more Loosestrife plants, Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais,’ or Loosestrife-Burgundy Gooseneck.  It’s a bird of a different feather with mounding silver foliage, deep purple stalks and is not invasive — or so they say.  It is also a beauty and at this point, very welcome in the garden.  

We’ll see what next spring brings; but in the meantime, don’t turn me in to the EPA!    

Filed Under: Gardening

Get Garden Tips & More

« Time for a Change
Sadness in the Coop »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts from The Coop

  • How to Preserve Your Garden’s Best Plants Year After Year September 5, 2025
  • The Culinary Flavor Bomb You Need To Grow This Fall August 29, 2025
  • The Juicy, Weird, and Wonderful Secrets of the Tomato August 15, 2025

Search Our Plants Here

Shop by Category

Cart

the coop on facebook!

The Coeur d'Alene Coop The Coeur d'Alene Coop is in California.

1 week ago

The Coeur d'Alene Coop
Heading south on the 5 just beyond Sacramento and passing truck after truck of Roma tomatoes! Salsa, anyone?#thecoeurdalenecoop #truckloadoftomatoes #ontheroadagain ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

the coop on instagram!

thecoeurdalenecoop

#thecoeurdalenecoop
@thecoeurdalenecoop
Heirloom tomatoes 🍅🍅
Organic gardening 🥕🌶
& Urban chickens! 🐔🐓

Heading south on the 5 just beyond Sacramento and Heading south on the 5 just beyond Sacramento and passing truck after truck of Roma tomatoes! Salsa, anyone?

#thecoeurdalenecoop 
#truckloadoftomatoes 
#ontheroadagain
Follow on Instagram

Join the Flock!

Sign up to get gardening & chicken keeping tips delivered to your inbox.

Copyright © 2025 The Coeur d'Alene Coop · Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814 · Privacy Policy · Log in
Website Design: Godwin Marketing Communications LLC