Uh oh, just realized the prominantly featured specimen tree in my neighbor's front yard just 10 feet from my property and another literally against my back yard fence but in the other nextdoor neighbor's yard are Chinese Tallo trees, near the top of a list of the most invasive plants in Louisiana. No wonder I am constantly finding seedlings sprouting throughout my yard. Grr.
I am reading a new (to me) book on planting native gardens to help rescue our ecosystems and endangered species. Lots of great information on the intricacies of the food web and how to feel better about those bugs eating our plants, that we absolutely CAN garden in harmony with them. Anyway, lots of information also on the stunningly extensive level of alien plant invasions and native species decimation has already occurred. It is pretty shocking. But judging just by the results of my efforts at planting a polinator-friendly garden just last year, it is really encouaging to see how quickly the wildlife that still exists finds its way to the garden. "If you build it, they will come."
BTW, the book is "Bringing Nature Home," by Douglas W. Tallamy. He has a new one just out, too, aparently expanding on the same information.
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MikeInBatonRouge
Level 8
Feb 16, 2020
0
People love maple trees around here but I consider them invasive, and perhaps some are listed as such. As with the Chinese Tallo, seedlings are everywhere!
itsmedammit
Level 8
Feb 16, 2020
0
Maples are an interesting example. It is a large family of trees, and different maple species are native to different locations but fail to be a useful part of the food change if grown in the wrong regions. Frustratingly, nursery centers far and wide routinely promote the alien varieties, precisely because pests won't eat them. That attribute is exactly why they are bad for the ecosystem.
I remember the Kudzu in Louisiana when I lived there. Great idea, bad research.
HippieChick58
Level 9
Feb 16, 2020
3
...and in Alabama. Interestingly, kudzu is no longer so ever-present. I have not paid close attention to why but suspect that concerted strategies to eradicate it.
One point made by the book is that there is really no way to know which species will run rampant, nor how long it takes to become invasive. Case in point: Japanese Honeysuckle originally seemed to be a well behaved garden import. But it was several years before people realized that birds had spread its seed far and wide outside of tended gardens, and it has wreaked havoc on certain ecosystems. There are countless examples like that.
@MikeInBatonRouge @HippieChick58 I think Kudzu=NC that crap is everywhere. Luckily goats like it and there are some peope who are learning to use it in foods & such.
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