Not sure if this link has been posted before:
https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact.htm
[img]https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/img/invadersofnatareasl.gif[/img]
-
shadowsmom
- Senior Member
- Posts: 212
- Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:40 pm
- Location: NJ
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Nice list! I battle several of those in my yard: the Japanese honeysuckle shrub, tree of heaven, garlic mustard, knotweed, english ivy.
The worst part of it is that a number of the plants on this list are still sold in nursery catalogs. I know I have seen
Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
Russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)
Fiveleaf akebia (Akebia quinata)
and probably some of the others for sale in catalogs. You would think they would have to stop selling invasives like that.
I was surprised to see common mullein on the list. I really thought that was a native wildflower. The North Carolina Native Plant Society does list it in their native plant gallery, though with the note Watch List A - Naturalizes and may become a problem https://www.ncwildflower.org/index.php/plants/details/verbascum-thapsus/
Around me they are not that common and tend to occur as single individuals
The worst part of it is that a number of the plants on this list are still sold in nursery catalogs. I know I have seen
Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
Russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)
Fiveleaf akebia (Akebia quinata)
and probably some of the others for sale in catalogs. You would think they would have to stop selling invasives like that.
I was surprised to see common mullein on the list. I really thought that was a native wildflower. The North Carolina Native Plant Society does list it in their native plant gallery, though with the note Watch List A - Naturalizes and may become a problem https://www.ncwildflower.org/index.php/plants/details/verbascum-thapsus/
Around me they are not that common and tend to occur as single individuals
-
microcollie
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 319
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:17 pm
- Location: Western MA
So now I'm staring out the window, counting how many of those I have growing on my property. Some, (goutweed, purple loosetrife, oriental bittersweet) I would gladly be rid of, but have been fighting a losing battle in the years that I've been here. Others (akebia, mullein, leafy spurge) I have been allowing to grow in a restrained way in my garden, as I think they're pretty (and didn't know they were an enemy until now)
The worrisome thing about this list is the recommendation of herbicides for control. One would think that the cure is worse than the ailment. Treating purple loosetrife in my wetlands with Roundup is not something I will do in this lifetime.
I'm also not sure at what point some of these become a "native". If you read the history of many of them, they were introduced centuries ago and have been thriving ever since. If they haven't been brought into submission yet, I'm not sure that they're going to be. Since the world is not a static place, will these eventually become part of the landscape of the future? The fact that humankind became very mobile over the past few hundred years makes me think that it's unreasonable to expect out environment to remain unchanged. Probably the majority of readers here are not native, nor are our pets, livestock, or many of the things we consume. We've changed the landscape to such an extent that I'm not sure if we can get back to a "native" place. At what point do we have to reassess the world that we've created and figure how to move forward from there in a way that's sustainable and yet within the realm of do-able?
Perhaps I'm taking a bit of the devil's advocate stance on this. For the record, I care deeply about our planet and do what I can toward leaving it a better place than that I came into. Just want to know if ripping down my five leaf akebia is going to get us anywhere in the big picture.
Sorry if I rambled a bit. I was arguing with myself in my head as I was typing
The worrisome thing about this list is the recommendation of herbicides for control. One would think that the cure is worse than the ailment. Treating purple loosetrife in my wetlands with Roundup is not something I will do in this lifetime.
I'm also not sure at what point some of these become a "native". If you read the history of many of them, they were introduced centuries ago and have been thriving ever since. If they haven't been brought into submission yet, I'm not sure that they're going to be. Since the world is not a static place, will these eventually become part of the landscape of the future? The fact that humankind became very mobile over the past few hundred years makes me think that it's unreasonable to expect out environment to remain unchanged. Probably the majority of readers here are not native, nor are our pets, livestock, or many of the things we consume. We've changed the landscape to such an extent that I'm not sure if we can get back to a "native" place. At what point do we have to reassess the world that we've created and figure how to move forward from there in a way that's sustainable and yet within the realm of do-able?
Perhaps I'm taking a bit of the devil's advocate stance on this. For the record, I care deeply about our planet and do what I can toward leaving it a better place than that I came into. Just want to know if ripping down my five leaf akebia is going to get us anywhere in the big picture.
Sorry if I rambled a bit. I was arguing with myself in my head as I was typing
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Nice points, microcollie. For me the important part of native isn't how long it's been here, it's whether there are any natural controls for it and therefore how destructive it is in the landscape. That's why I also questioned the inclusion of mullein. In the landscape I am familiar with, mullein is not destructive, doesn't spread or take over, out-compete, become a mono-culture etc.
All the ones that I struggle with- honeysuckle shrub, garlic mustard, english ivy, etc do all those things. Honeysuckle is actually quite a nice shrub, green a lot of the year, fragrant flowers, etc. If you could have just ONE I wouldn't mind it. But where the honeysuckle is, nothing else lives, so it has to go.
All the ones that I struggle with- honeysuckle shrub, garlic mustard, english ivy, etc do all those things. Honeysuckle is actually quite a nice shrub, green a lot of the year, fragrant flowers, etc. If you could have just ONE I wouldn't mind it. But where the honeysuckle is, nothing else lives, so it has to go.
-
microcollie
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 319
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:17 pm
- Location: Western MA
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I'm afraid we've passed the point of no return with some of these non-natives. I have a couple acres of wetlands that are covered with purple loosestrife. I know that, in theory, this is not a good thing, but the area is teeming with wildlife and appears healthy and happy. It's been like this for decades.
My options would be to remove it by mechanical means (not even sure that that's possible at this point), by chemical means, (I think we all would agree that this spells disaster) or letting nature play out the hand that we've dealt it. The first two options would undoubtedly bring an end to the ecosystem currently in place. The third option, while not leading down the path that would be taken if we could turn back time, seems the most viable. My hope is that nature, with its ability to evolve and adapt, will find a way to coexist with our mistakes.
The trick will be to get society to quit making the same mistakes again and again. But with it being drilled into our heads that we have to have the brightest green lawn on the block (planted with any number of non-native grasses) or breed echinacea into something that nature wouldn't recognize, I fear we're not heading in the right direction.
That's a long way of saying that I'm so confused by this issue that my head spins when I think about it. I watch birds flock to the bittersweet and honeysuckle that they've come to depend on as a food source, and wonder what will happen if we take it away now that they're depending on it
My options would be to remove it by mechanical means (not even sure that that's possible at this point), by chemical means, (I think we all would agree that this spells disaster) or letting nature play out the hand that we've dealt it. The first two options would undoubtedly bring an end to the ecosystem currently in place. The third option, while not leading down the path that would be taken if we could turn back time, seems the most viable. My hope is that nature, with its ability to evolve and adapt, will find a way to coexist with our mistakes.
The trick will be to get society to quit making the same mistakes again and again. But with it being drilled into our heads that we have to have the brightest green lawn on the block (planted with any number of non-native grasses) or breed echinacea into something that nature wouldn't recognize, I fear we're not heading in the right direction.
That's a long way of saying that I'm so confused by this issue that my head spins when I think about it. I watch birds flock to the bittersweet and honeysuckle that they've come to depend on as a food source, and wonder what will happen if we take it away now that they're depending on it
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30543
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
The scale of what you're saying is staggering, to say the least.
My brother once snickered at me over the phone that the so called conservationists promoting Native Plants over Invasives are out there right this minute spraying Roundup on acres of environmentally sensitive areas.
I guess your Purple Loosetrife is as good an example as any. What if they were Swamp Milkweed instead? Just as valuable as a nectar source and will attract all kind of insects (hummingbirds like it too, do they feed on PL's as well?) but also great food source for Monarch butterflies. We could also replace them with red and purple Lobelias, Ironweed and Eupatoriums. Enough to go around that the predatory insects and birds/animals that depend on them will also be served. Then we could consider shrubs like Winter and Inkberries for birds, Spicebush, Buttonbush, etc. and trees like Swamp/Red Maple and Swamp White Oak, Overcup Oak, Willows, etc.
I don't know, it's a lot of work. I guess it depends too on what's EATING the loosetrife. Is the existing wildlife as diverse as it could be if something else was growing there? Is it holding back local ecology from natural succession? I guess that's the question.
My brother once snickered at me over the phone that the so called conservationists promoting Native Plants over Invasives are out there right this minute spraying Roundup on acres of environmentally sensitive areas.
I guess your Purple Loosetrife is as good an example as any. What if they were Swamp Milkweed instead? Just as valuable as a nectar source and will attract all kind of insects (hummingbirds like it too, do they feed on PL's as well?) but also great food source for Monarch butterflies. We could also replace them with red and purple Lobelias, Ironweed and Eupatoriums. Enough to go around that the predatory insects and birds/animals that depend on them will also be served. Then we could consider shrubs like Winter and Inkberries for birds, Spicebush, Buttonbush, etc. and trees like Swamp/Red Maple and Swamp White Oak, Overcup Oak, Willows, etc.
I don't know, it's a lot of work. I guess it depends too on what's EATING the loosetrife. Is the existing wildlife as diverse as it could be if something else was growing there? Is it holding back local ecology from natural succession? I guess that's the question.
-
microcollie
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 319
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:17 pm
- Location: Western MA
Thanks for your reply, Applestar. In a perfect world, I would swap my loosestrife for milkweed in a heartbeat. My point is that I think, after decades of insurgence into our landscape, I will never get rid of my loosestrife without ruining the wetlands that I'm trying to protect. If I cut it down, it comes right back and, in the mean time, I've mowed down an existing habitat for frogs, snakes, bugs, birds, etc. It would take years for them to rehabitate the area. If I dug it out, much the same. If I used roundup, I've killed everythind. And I'm just one person. Driving through the Berkshires where I live, there are acres and acres of loosestrife. It would take such an effort by all the landowners, town governments, state and national parks, etc., all working in unison, that I think, realistically speaking, it can never happen. So until such a time as there's a practical method for removing these well-established plants from the landscape, without destruction of thriving ecosystems, I see no alternative but to live with them as best we can and hope for the best. I will do all I can to educate both myself and others about good choices and methods when making new plantings, in the hopes that we can hit a point where nature can take over and, I hope, repair what's been done over the past hundreds of years.
-
The Helpful Gardener
- Mod
- Posts: 7491
- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
- Location: Colchester, CT
Of course the birds mob bittersweet. There is a native form nearly indistinguishable from the Asian invader... why would they not?
But the birds are the biggest part of the problem now. Any really bad invasive has a bird borne vector; all of them.
In Connecticut we have released a beetle to eat the loosestrife and have seen some success. Help is on the way MC. But now who eats the beetle?
We will find the answer to our issues in the natural world. Chemical controls are always of the moment and generally backfire. Where they used DDT to prevent malaria in Africa, the malaria rates increased five years down the road. Natural predators didn't recover as fast as mosquitoes did. We continually need new pesticides as bugs become increasingly resistant to the ones we have.
So we turn to other biologies to counter the problems we create. The greenhouse industry is finally coming around to this and growers are learning new techniques using mites, nematodes and wasps. The beetle release seems to be working. We are learning...
[quote]“If we throw nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.â€
But the birds are the biggest part of the problem now. Any really bad invasive has a bird borne vector; all of them.
In Connecticut we have released a beetle to eat the loosestrife and have seen some success. Help is on the way MC. But now who eats the beetle?
We will find the answer to our issues in the natural world. Chemical controls are always of the moment and generally backfire. Where they used DDT to prevent malaria in Africa, the malaria rates increased five years down the road. Natural predators didn't recover as fast as mosquitoes did. We continually need new pesticides as bugs become increasingly resistant to the ones we have.
So we turn to other biologies to counter the problems we create. The greenhouse industry is finally coming around to this and growers are learning new techniques using mites, nematodes and wasps. The beetle release seems to be working. We are learning...
[quote]“If we throw nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.â€