[Guest post by Stephanie Cohen]
I know this topic has been covered a zillion times by both the nursery industry and concerned environmental experts. Before we begin, I have given many talks on native plants at environmental conferences. I should also tell you that I have a master’s in Environmental Studies.
This makes me sound like a cross between a tree hugger and the I don’t give a damn what I grow nursery grower. I’m neither. I’m like a character called Candide in Voltaire’s book who wanted the best of all possible worlds. I love new plants, regardless of their origin. In today’s multicultural world most of us are hybrids anyway.
However, what I have been saying for over 15 years is that we need to be on guard as to what we introduce.I hate anyone telling me what I can grow. I think all of us resent the government breathing down our necks.
The problem is there are hundreds of new plants being introduced each year. Plants in each region do not behave the same. What we need are dedicated nursery people issuing an alert when a plant begins to invade in a certain zone. We also know that certain plants like Hostas or Peonies are not invasive.
We also know that we have to watch when we introduce a new plant from the knotweed family. Most perennial growers do not limit their palette. Yes, of course, there are specialty growers. However, the majority of growers have pages of plants to sell. If you knew you had to stop growing 2 or 3 plants, or phase them out, would it bankrupt you?
I think not. I happened to grow a plant called ‘Plant at Your own Risk’ I planted it in late April and by July it had run through an entire bed. I had to redig the bed. Imagine a new gardener who pays little attention to how fast a plant invades their space. They are going to be mad at the garden center for selling them the plant that ate inner space. In turn, the garden center, may be “ticked off” at the grower. This is going to become the story of why Johnny kicked the dog!
If I were like everyone else, which I’m not, I would have kept quiet. I called the people who introduced it and told them. You probably are saying to yourself- what a nerd! The people who introduced said offender changed their web site immediately. It was too late to do anything about the tags. I recently saw this plant for sale, I was happy to read the grower’s tag which said the plant was aggressive. I hope gardeners can read, but sometimes they don’t. What if we stopped producing this plant? Would it hurt the economic situation?
I don’t care where these plants come from. I refuse to have them in my garden. I have equally pulled out native species that were just as offensive. So where are we going with this issue? Recently a wholesale perennial catalog came to my home and I’m paraphasing what it said:
”This great plant makes gardening a pleasure. Comes back year after year and is truly care free. Grows in full sun, shade, and in any soil”
This plant steals an inch and takes a yard. Maybe the grower didn’t do his homework.
First of all we need to communicate with each other when a plant goes amuck. We need to tell the zone and the exact growing conditions. We need to alert garden writers not to promote these plants.
For instance, the straight species of Soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) to quote Dr. Armitage
“Once plants are established, they also reseed themselves with abandon, providing a most Soapworted garden.”
The problem is that many of the writers do not always get accurate information. Sometimes by the time they get it, it is too late to do much.
What I am proposing is a net site for growers and writers to be able to access and check when looking for new plants or writing about them. I want us to police ourselves as much as we can. This way we can start to eliminate some of the issues that make us so vulnerable to government intervention. I wanted to write about this year’s ago, but I was told it was too controversial. I think it may be too late. I hope not.
I also know they may not be yours. I think in these troubled times, a healthy dialogue about what is good for the planet impacts on all of us.
So if your perennial plants invade my space, you will be hearing from me either by phone, email, the lecture circuit, or however I can get the word out. I am alerting the “horticultural police” to be on the look out and post a warning for any alien or native that is a space invader.
[Stephanie Cohen is devoted to lecturing and writing about everything pertaining to gardens. She specializes in perennials, but she is equally versed in most of the other plants. Author of The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer, and Fallscaping: Extending Your Garden Season into Autumn, and The Non Stop Garden: A Step by Step Guide to Smart Plant Choices and Four Season Designs]
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts about invasive plants with us, Stephanie! I get so annoyed when I visit my local big box store and see them pushing so many plants as “vigorous growers.” These usually include English Ivy, pachysandra, Oriental Bittersweet, and other plants that should not be continually added to our landscapes, as most of the woodlands near me are overrun with these and other thugs.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Give a Little Back to Wildlife for the Holidays
Carole and Stephanie -
Great idea to post an “Angie’s List” for plant species. Two damaging spreaders that I would add right away because they are not yet noticed by more than a few of us so far:
Japanese tree lilac (Syringa amurensis japonica ) – We inherited a mature tree when we moved into our house in 1981. Since we do not mow much of the yard, we began seeing seedlings pop up. And more, and more. Eventually we paid attention, cut the original tree in the early ’90s and and are still pulling an occasional seedling (2011). The seeds appear to be somewhat wind-dispersed, also by water. I have spotted, and reported, a huge infestation of S.a.j. along a waterway in W. Lebanon, NY…easily identified by the profuse flowering around Mother’s Day, which is, of course, why gardeners and landscape professionals like it and are planting it more frequently.
Hardy kiwi (Actinidia spp.) – Widely advocated by permaculture and ‘edible forest’ gardeners, this plant is beginning to be noticed in MA as an invasive vine that is extremely damaging to our authentic forests. The vine can grow 20′ in a season, is densely furnished, will drag down big trees and shade out seedlings. Think “kudzu.” Seeds can be spread by fruit-eating wildlife. I have heard more than one gardener complain of the aggressiveness of this plant.
I have experience with Hardy Kiwi in Southern CT; I didn’t observe it propagating from seed, bird spread or otherwise, but I can attest that, once established, it grows like Kudzu – easily 20′ a season and very heavy twining vines.
Hurrah! I’m so glad you speak up about aggressive and invasive plants, Stephanie! And your point is excellent: Not producing the worst offenders isn’t going to bankrupt any grower or nursery. And being honest about which plants are problems is good customer service for gardeners. The feds have several invasive species web sites; seems like the horticultural industry could set one up with a forum for gardeners, landscapers and others to comment. It would be good PR, and would help the industry gain some collective knowledge and good will. Besides, it’s just the right thing to do… ;~)
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Stephanie,
Thanks for this post. Down here in Florida, we probably have more problems than other areas because of our warm climate, but that doesn’t stop nurseries or big box stores from selling known invasives. I always speak up whenever I see nandina, Chinese tallow, Mexican petunia, and so many more. I also write letters to the editor when so-called experts recommend invasives in articles. Even the Arbor Day Foundation offers the invasive golden rain tree as one of the free flowering trees when you join. But if we keep yelling, maybe it will make a difference when enough of us do so.
I’m also a big supporter of the Florida Native Plant Society, which works hard to fight invasives and promote natives.
Stephanie, thanks for this post about the elephant in the room! When I was researching my book, Cat’s Claw (a mystery featuring herbs that go by that name), I ran across this important website: http://www.texasinvasives.org/. It posts alerts to many invasives (flora/fauna), and provides “eco alerts” by region. In the Edwards Plateau region, where I live/garden, the worst invader is King Ranch Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica) which is taking over what little prairie we have left.
Thanks again. This is information that every gardener ought to have!
Unfortunately, the plant which is rare in one environment may be aggressive in another, even within the same geographic region. More commonly, plants that barely survive in one part of the country take over in others. I can think of water hyacinth and water lettuce, both of which are well-behaved in the north where they can’t survive cold winters but I’ve been told have invaded much of Florida. Butterfly bush may be well-behaved in part of the country, but in the Northwest it’s invading riparian zones and crowding out the native species that both provide shade for spawning salmon and food for the insects toward the bottom of the food chain. Nationally, the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health website, http://www.invasive.org/, provides a resource to check up on potential problems.
Like you, Stephanie, I grow both native and non-native plants in my garden. I don’t think any of my introduced plants are getting away from me. Perhaps the concrete surrounding two-thirds of our lot helps.
Mark -
a problem we’re experiencing in the Northeast is that the increased temperatures are turning once non-invasive alien plants into invasives – Bradford pear, for example, used to be a problem only down in NJ but now I’m struggling with it.
Also it’s hard to know when plants whose seeds are spread by bird or wind are getting away from you – they might not be propagating successfully in your neighborhood but doing only too well out in the woods. Japanese barberry is an example of this.
Stephanie bravo for speaking up…it is hard to deal with invasives and aggressives once they start and you were not aware. Now I check several sites to see if 1) a plant is invasive for my area in NY and 2) if it is aggressive so I know whether I will plant it or not…it would be great to have a website for gardeners to help police ourselves.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Visiting Mountain Natives
Hi Stephanie,
I applaud you …now how do we get others to be responsible enough to follow suit? I live in Florida, land of the invasives where the nursery industry is less than responsible in what they provide. If it sells, they don’t seem to care whether or not it is detrimental to the environment, given the number of Class I (FLEPCC.org list) invasives that are sold at big box stores and other nursery centers. So I’m not sure that self-policing is a practical solution…but it certainly can’t hurt to try. Every little bit helps, but my stand is that I wish there was MORE government intervention when it comes to the plant industry. The damage from invasives is just too costly to correct once they take hold, if correction is even possible. I hope others heed your advice and get on board with what you suggest.
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Stephanie – great post! I love your idea of a new website where we can share our experiences with a plant. I wonder how to get that off the ground, or whether we can begin using an existing resource like Dave’s Garden in that way to reach a broader group of people?
Genevieve Schmidt recently posted..The Color of the Year, Adapted for Deer: The Garden Designers Roundtable on Deer
I think the information exchange is a great idea. At this point, there is no early warning system – all plants are presumed innocent until they are out of control, while garden-aggressive and uncultivated-area invasive don’t always overlap, as other commenters have noted, every bit helps.