The weed that won't die!

[rainbowgardener]

well if you want to grow food, you have to be pretty hard core to limit yourself to natives. And many veggies are annuals. Since we tend not to let them go to seed any way they aren't going to spread. So your veggie garden takes up a bit of space that other wise could be natives, but that's not such a big deal.

Much more important is all the non-veggie garden parts of your yard, which for most suburbanites, is most of it. We could make a huge difference in protecting native species, not only of plants, but insects, birds, frogs, and many other animals, if we ripped out most of the lawn, all of the non-native flower beds and replaced with a diversity of native flowers, berries and other shrubs and trees. And it looks beautiful! Sara Stein is really good on the why and how of this (and her writing is beautiful, unlike Doug Tallamy who is more a hard science guy with a very pedestrian writing style).

[garden5]

Interesting discussion, everyone!

A thought that comes to my mind is if purslane is native to the orient and middle east, would we encounter pest problems if we tried to grow it there?

[applestar]

What Rainbow said! ... and in order to and by creating a bio-diverse wildlife rich environment, you automatically limit the use of harmful chemicals and XXX-cides surrounding you and your family's environment as well as encourage and foster helpful teams of Garden Patrol. Win-win!!

[orgoveg]

Hey, Rainbow-

Did you know about this?

https://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/farmlife/entries/2011/08/01/wildlife_native_plants_doug_ta.html?cxtype=feedbot

[rainbowgardener]

no, but I've heard him talk before. He's a good speaker and has tons of great information.

[rainbowgardener]

Interesting discussion, everyone!

A thought that comes to my mind is if purslane is native to the orient and middle east, would we encounter pest problems if we tried to grow it there?

Might.. theory says it would be expected to be a less rampant spreader and more in balance. I haven't been there or seen any one provide evidence of whether it actually works like that, but it makes sense. Less rampant spreader can mean there are insects/ diseases that keep it in check or other native plants that compete with it better, etc.

[john gault]

Read Noah's Garden & Planting Noah's Garden by Sara Stein or Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Doug Tallamy for more on the natives vs invasives issue and how exotics function/ don't function in the environment.

Thanks again Rainbow, I just placed these books on hold at the library:

- Planting Noah's garden : further adventures in backyard ecology / Stein, Sara Bonnett.

- My weeds : a gardener's botany / Stein, Sara Bonnett.

- Noah's garden : restoring the ecology of our own back yards / Stein, Sara Bonnett.

And I found Doug Tallamy's book at my local branch of the library, so no need to place on hold.

[rainbowgardener]

Enjoy!

[cherishedtiger]

ok... I think this is whats growing in all my beds... never had it before, but this year I got a bag of steer manure to help the garden and since then my garden is full of this stuff... well this or the poisonous stuff. Either way I am constantly finding myself pulling it out of everywhere!!!

[rainbowgardener]

ok... I think this is whats growing in all my beds... never had it before, but this year I got a bag of steer manure to help the garden and since then my garden is full of this stuff... well this or the poisonous stuff. Either way I am constantly finding myself pulling it out of everywhere!!!

Go back to page 1 of this thread, there's a good picture. Purslane is quite distinctive in looks and texture, with thick leaves a bit like a succulent. The point we have been making is, if that is what your garden is full of, consider yourself lucky and start eating it!

[cherishedtiger]

Yeah looked at the photos, I am thinking mine is the latter... the poisonous one as the leaves are thin and have the purple markings... I am not going to risk it, I just pull and toss!