Invasive! ... ?

Exotic. Invasive. Native. Three descriptive adjectives seen more and more these days in gardening books and posts to email lists. Numerous web sites are devoted to one or more of these adjectives. Exotic and invasive are usually paired, followed by an injunction to plant natives.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

It's taken many years to make the public aware that there are such things as invasive plants or even desirable native plants. The lesson is sinking in and, with some, it's become an obsession amounting to almost religious fervor. Not only are more people becoming aware of the dangers of truly invasive plants, many are labeling just about any plant that reproduces easily as "invasive".

A plant will be mentioned on an email list and someone will pop up with "it's invasive" because it seeds around, increases quickly or is found on one of the proliferating lists of invasive plants. Well, there are many plants whose purpose is to cover ground. If you have a small garden, think twice about 'vigorous' plants; if you have a large one, you need to cover ground or Mother Nature will do it for you with something you really won't like.

I've even seen responses to posts on lists by people who fear they have to rip out established plantings because they are "invasive". Not that they have ever seen any signs of the plant in question being invasive where they garden, but "invasive" has become such a buzz word these days that those who have not delved deeply into the issue react by thinking they are supposed to remove any plant that someone says is invasive or potentially invasive somewhere.

The government is getting into the act. Not only does the federal government publish a list of plants that are invasive or could be invasive, but just about every state has their own list of alien invasives, as do various universities and assorted native plant oriented societies. While many listed plants are, indeed, noxious weeds, you have to wonder about the inclusion of others. For instance, the state of Virginia lists tall fescue (Festuca elatior), a major component of lawn seed mixtures, marketed as Kentucky 31 as an invasive alien plant. Obviously, eradication of this plant would mean removal of most of the lawns in the state, not exactly a practical proposal.

Do, by all means, check out these official lists; you'll find them to contain mostly really noxious weeds. But also, be aware of the bias of the authors of the lists...some contain garden worthy plants that do not meet the criteria for true invasives.

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