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FORBIDDEN FRUIT

© Connie Krochmal

No, these aren't the famous apples that Eve found irresistible. Instead they're exotic, invasive species.

Invasive plants are a worldwide problem. In the U.S. over 100 million acres are infested with these species with their damage and control costing around $122 billion a year.

The National Association of Exotic Pest Plant Council created a list of the "worst" invasive plants in the continental U.S. sold in the nursery trade. Sadly, it contains some fruits.

The Russian olive is a real problem in the West, prompting the Colorado Department of Agriculture to prohibit the state's nurseries from selling it. Autumn olive, a similar species, is invasive in some areas. It has escaped in the Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.

Barberries have become naturalized here in New York and elsewhere. They're in the woods around my house. Barberries spread by seed, but also by vegetative means.

Apart from being invasive, akebia or chocolate vine is an ideal hardy twining vine or groundcover. Sometimes called the fiveleaf akebia, it has escaped and is naturalized in sixteen eastern states. Niche Gardens, a mail-order nursery in Chapel Hill, N.C., no longer sells akebia.

Kiwano, the horned melon, is relatively new to the American diet. Some gardeners have successfully grown them in home gardens. Kiwano vines are five to ten feet long. Yet some considers this member of the cucumber/gourd family invasive. In warmer climates they self-sow. Apparently the spiny fruits can harm cattle or other animals grazing in fields. The University of California Small Farm Center website acknowledges that the plants have a "weedy" nature, describing the plant as a robust, vigorous vine that can quickly spread.

Even the beloved rugosa rose, bearing delicious rose hips, is on the invasive plant list. Perhaps birds or other animals spread the seeds around.

Alas, the English hawthorn is another exotic weed. Also known as the singleseed hawthorn, it only has one stone. The famous English hedges, some of which are now disappearing, contain several kinds of hawthorns, including this one. When Frederick Law Olmsted, America's most famous landscape architect (he designed Central Park), visited England in May of 1850 he admired the beautiful hawthorn hedges in bloom. He wrote about his trip in "Walks and Talks of An American Farmer in England," published by the University of Massachusetts Press. For the singleseed hawthorn, substitute suitable native ones, such as the mayhaw. It is used in the South to make the well-known mayhaw jelly.