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Invasive Plant Solutions
*Organic Gardening would like to thank Doug Johnson and the California Invasive Plant Council for the use of their invasive plant shopper's card.
It's quiz time, gardeners: Japanese honeysuckle, Norway maple, and Scotch broom all have something in common, and it's not the punch line of a joke. What do they have in common?
A. They are attractive, yet overused, garden plants.
B. They are invasive plants that are banned from sale in many states.
C. You can buy all three at many garden centers and big-box stores--in the very same states that have laws banning them.
D. All of the above.
The answer is D. Surprised? These plants, and many others, are illegal to sell in some states because they spread so easily from gardens that they crowd out other species in the wild. Invasive plants can turn a beautiful and diverse landscape that provides food and shelter for a wide variety of wildlife into a sterile monoculture. "Think of them as biological pollution," says Doug Johnson, executive director of the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC).
As an organic gardener, you can help contain the problem with these hints.
Know the bad guys. Just because your friendly neighborhood nursery sells a plant, don't assume it's benign. Familiarize yourself with the plants known to be invasive in your area. Go to invasive.org for state-by-state listings with images of invasive plants and noxious weeds (those that interfere with agriculture). Keep a copy of your state or regional list in the glove compartment of your car for reference, suggests Donna Ellis, an extension educator at the University of Connecticut.
Beware of "fast-growing." When shopping for plants, watch adjectives like "fast-growing," "wide spreading," or "vigorous." Check plants touted with those words against your list.
Vote with your pocketbook. Don't buy invasive plants at your garden center, big-box store, supermarket, or local plant sale. If consumers don't ask for Japanese barberry, growers won't stock it.
Let the retailer know. Don't just pass up a plant; tell an owner or manager that you know a plant he's selling is invasive and that's why you're not buying it. Or e-mail the company; Southern California Wal-Mart stores stopped selling pampas grass when consumers complained.
If confrontation isn't your style, Cal-IPC has a "shopper's card" that consumers can print out, fill in, and leave with retailers, and has given permission for OG readers to substitute their own states' information.
But buy something else. There are plenty of beautiful native and nonnative plants that have all of the attributes of the troublemakers without the aggressiveness (see below). Encourage commercial growers and nursery owners to move away from selling invasives by requesting and buying sustainable substitutes.
