Hi everyone, I was browsing the headlines and saw a good article about invasives and what some nurseries and growers are doing to help. Unlike a lot of stories, this one is based in the Midwest region which I thought was interesting since usually it's my home state, CA, and HI that get the most news. The article names some retailers that are doing the responsible thing, so I hope all the DGers go out and support them and tell them how much you appreciate it. Vote with your dollars!
Invasive decorative plants targeted
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 29, 4:52 PM ET
Bamboo-like plants that grow taller than adults have choked out native plants in a marsh that once teemed with life at Maumee Bay State Park along Lake Erie.
Wild flowers at the park have disappeared. Migrating birds have gone elsewhere. The parkland has changed so much that naturalist Dana Bollin no longer leads tours past the common reed grass towering along Maumee Bay's boardwalk.
"I hate to spend an hour talking about invasive plants," she said.
Environmental groups hope to slow the spread of decorative but invasive plants by persuading nurseries to stop selling them and instead promote native species.
Big-box retailer Meijer Inc. announced in March it is removing two invasive trees — Norway maple and Lombardy poplar — from its stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.
In California, a partnership of nursery owners and environmental leaders is working on a campaign called "Plant Right" that will help gardeners find native plants suited for their regions.
Only a small percentage of plants sold in nurseries are nonnative troublemakers that crowd out other plants and rob animals of their food sources.
However, environmental groups cite the ease with which these invasive plants can end up in the hands of gardeners or landscapers.
Some, like Norway maples and Japanese barberry, are big sellers.
Others are not a problem in most places, such as baby's breath. Few gardeners know that it is taking over from the natural grasses that help stabilize sand dunes along Lake Michigan.
"It's a cute name and you think it's so harmless," said Melissa Soule, a spokeswoman for The Nature Conservancy in Michigan.
Environmentalists hope getting information to consumers will lead them to embrace native plants.
Meijer stores in the Midwest now have brochures in their garden departments promoting native plants and tags on plants and trees that are recommended by The Nature Conservancy.
"We can reach everyday shoppers and help them understand there is a choice that can be made," said Meijer spokeswoman Stacie Behler.
A few states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, have banned the sale of dozens of invasive plants. New Hampshire's ban on Norway maples, Japanese barberry and burning bush took effect this year.
Over the last three years, nursery owners, landscape architects and environmental leaders in California have developed a list of about 20 invasive plants that they want to stop.
It will be up to nursery and store owners to decide whether they will follow the recommendations.
"It can be good for business, and it will be good for the environment," said Terri Kempton, of Sustainable Conservation, an environmental group based in San Francisco.
Nursery owners and retailers are getting involved, in part, because they want to act before other states attempt to ban plants. The industry also recognizes how fast these problem plants have spread and how much is being spent to control them.
"There's no denying that some of the plant materials we've sold over the years have become problems," said Bob Falconer, executive vice president of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers.
The federal government spent $631 million dealing with invasive plants and animals in 2000, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report.
California, Florida and Hawaii have big problems with the invaders. Florida spent $54 million in 1999 on trying to control nonnative plants, the GAO report said.
The Nature Conservancy's work with the horticulture industry in Florida led Lowe's Cos. to stop selling about 50 invasive plants at its home improvement stores in the state. Other nurseries in the state also have pulled problem plants.
A big key in getting stores to stop selling the plants is showing them just how destructive they have become, said Kristina Serbesoff-King, invasive species coordinator for The Nature Conservancy in Florida.
"They are willing to listen if it's based on sound science," Serbesoff-King said.
___
On the Net:
California Invasive Plant Council: http://www.cal-ipc.org/
Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org/initiatives/invasivespecies/features/
Sustainable Conservation: http://www.suscon.org/
Support nurseries that choose not to sell invasives
Good news! I'm surprised and pleased to see that Lowe's is pulling invasives from their FL stores; wish they would do so here in NC. If the big box stores get on board, the impact on the average consumer would be huge.
Why is it legal to sell invasive plants? Home Depot sold me one this weekend. I planted it and figured out today that it is invasive. The informed gardeners can boycott HD all they want. It won't stop them. They need to either be convinced they are doing harm, or laws need to be enacted. Otherwise they will sell those things to all the uninformed people who wander through.
I sent email to HD about this issue today. Maybe they will be more responsive if they get more email. You can boycott too, but they probably won't notice.
Kris
jillofall, I hope you are more successful than I was at geting HD's attention to their selling invasives. I wrote to company headquarters last year and did get a response from them. They said they would take the issue into consideration, BUT the following season they were selling the same wretched stuff. It's all bottom line. The invasive stuff is cheap for growers to produce and gives the retailer a good profit margin. Until the public is better educated and HD has plant stuff left sitting at the end of the season then it probably will continue.
BTW I still wander through their nursery. (Plant addiction!) In this region their plant material is really, really poor quality. On top of that the staff doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to keep stuff looking decent and watered regularly. It looked like a bomb went off and nothing had been watered for days. Given the relative good condition of nursey plants at nearby competitors I wonder how much plant material they are actually selling.
What if you want an invasive plant for a hillside or something?
Why would you want one? I hope you are not talking kudzu here! There are plenty of suitable hillside ground covers that are not considered invasives. Take a look at this link about invasive plants. You might be confusing definitions. Also, Wickipedia has some great (although exhaustive) information about what makes a plant invasive. A plant can spread and control a hillside or a slope and not be invasive. A ground cover is not synomous with invasive.
It is a good question to ask. More and more, the average gardener/homeowner has to be vigilant that they are not contributing to the demise of native or indigenous plants. You can't depend on nurserys or growers to be responsible for everything we choose to put in the ground. What is invasive in one locality may not be a problem at all in another. Hence, gardeners have to do their homework regionally. Research before you buy or plant.
Number one: Wickipedia is not always accurate because it can be amended by anyone. And, (2): invasive means, at least in my dictionary, "...tending to spread or tending to invade...." I don't believe I mentioned Kudzu. Nor do I believe nurseries in my area sell it.
Sorry kyjoy. The kudzu reference was meant to be illustrative. It is a ground cover but it is also an extreme example of an invasive. The Wickipedia suggestion was also meant to help clear up any confusion between invasive and ground cover. I won't attest to its complete accuracy except to say that in this subject the information is correct as it coincides with all other definitions/explanations I have ever read. Perhaps this link can explain it better than I. It was meant to be included in my first post but, regretfully, I somehow left it out.
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazylandscaping/g/invasiveplant.htm
My general understanding of invasive in plant terms means that the plant will spread or reproduce and eventually crowd out desired, native or indegenous species. This can cause a loss of natural habitat and all that goes with it in terms of animals and insects. Some of the the difficulty lies in the fact that a plant can be terribly invasive in one area of the country and cause no problems in other areas. The last link provided is from the State of Ohio and what they determine to be invasive. This is the best link I can think of for the moment. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Resources/mgtplans/invasives.htm
I hope you take no further offense as none was intended. DG is a great place to ask questions and learn. I depend on it to keep me gardening well and I wouldn't ever want to do anything to upset or discourage anyone else. I consider posting here a priviledge.
Invasive plants as defined by the State of Kentucky
http://www.se-eppc.org/ky/list.htm
I would agree with mellielong and already began avoiding nurseries that sell the worst of the worst. It's a matter of public health to me so when I see well behaved plants I do comment and will buy more than what I had intended in an attempt to support them.
Lowes has not stopped selling highly invasive plants by me. They have rows of Japanese Barberry, cultivars of Buckthorn, and Bradford pears just to name a few.
Home Depot is one of the worst as far as what they offered this season by me. I get the feeling that when eastern states took that aggressive stance a bit ago listing a wave of plants as invasive that all that plant material formerly shipped out east made its way to states where it was still legal to sell. Fire sale. And people bought them.
I applaud Meijer Inc. for trying. It's hard to stay in business without selling invasives.
Here is some info about North Carolina ... Invasive Exotic Plants in NC -
http://ncwildflower.org/invasives/invasives.htm
Also The Nature Conservancy - http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/northcarolina/initiatives/art19765.html
Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very nice links greenthumb_NC!
I worked at a nursery that sold lots of invasive plants even made cutting from them They did stop selling Lytrum Purple Loosestrife As far as others I don't know I had to quit got sick from working out in the cold there I worked there for 24 years Have you's heard of Spring Garden Nursery going towards Aylmer Ont.I took cutting from the Trumpet vine'English ivy Boston ivy Even lots of perennials Iliked working there til the boss made me work from 7 to 11pm It was to much
We uused to go out the bush and get Lily of the valley,Ferns,Perewinkle etch Then sell them I did't think that was right But that was my job.