Invasives and your experiences with them.

[ducks4you]

I came across this YouTube to share about a list of invasive plants you should NOT buy/plant, that are readily available at garden centers and box stores.

I have not had the terrible spread of mint and lilly of the valley, which are pretty much confined to next to my buildings. Others do.
My pear is a Bartlett and I have had NO volunteer pears from it. I have to deal with fire blight, not baby pear trees invading the lawn.
A recent program had this guy who counted the # of insect predators on native trees vs non native. He discovered that the native trees were full of insects but suffered no real damage from them and actually supported the local insect population.
If you drive in the country in the summer at night you no longer get a windshield full of insect death. THAT is bc of farmers eradicating so many from their fields.
I think that is a bigger problem that the non natives. Still, it's as bad as buying an exotic pet and discarding it in the wilds where it breeds and snuffs out native animals.
Better to plant native milkweed and let monarch caterpillars defoliate it--it will recover--than a burning bush that NOTHING wants to eat and will soon be as tall as my (dwarf) 12ft tall magnolia, which, btw, Does have insect damage.
The NICE thing about the wrong plant, it cannot run away when you pull it up!
What are YOUR experiences/advice when it comes to invasives?

 

[Alasgun]

They are only “invasive” if a county agent says so, which doesnt make a lot of sense!
In some places Yellow sweet clover and Purple Vetch are listed as invasive even though highway departments all across the land use them as a quick fill on new road ditches.

i get it that you’d not want some stuff taking over a region but as corrupted as all things have become; good luck reeling it all back in now!

When we lived in the Dakota’s, Kittens and Puppy’s were an invasive species???
Locals would drive out of town 14 miles to the “Badlands” and more specifically to the bridge over the Little Missouri river to dump unwanted litters because “they are wild animals, they’ll do just fine”.

 

[Zeedman]

I've experienced a lot of invasives in my yard & gardens; plant, insect, and diseases. Dutch elm disease killed all of my beautiful American elms.

A recent program had this guy who counted the # of insect predators on native trees vs non native. He discovered that the native trees were full of insects but suffered no real damage from them and actually supported the local insect population.

Well, the Emerald Ash Beetle has completely killed the white ash which made up the majority of my back-lot mini-forest. So now that area is being taken over by buckthorn, another invasive. The wood is worthless & the berries unusable, but at least it maintains the privacy barrier between me & the new homes on my back lot line.

Japanese beetles are another introduced insect, and have become increasingly destructive since they first appeared several years ago. They are gradually migrating Westward, fortunately at a slow pace... they reached my rural garden, 6 miles away, two years after they reached my home.

Purple loosestrife is an invasive marsh plant which is spreading in marches, ditches, and lowlands locally. Phragmites (Phragmites australis subsp. australis) is another wetland invasive recently appearing in highway ditches, from which it is spreading quickly. The grass is very tall (over6') & so dense that it is displacing cattails (I've actually considered harvesting it for mulch, before the seed appears ). Teasel (a tall thistle-like plant) has appeared here in recent years, and like many other invasives, appears to be radiating out from seed spread on roadways. It is as invasive as Canada thistle, and has completely taken over a field near me in just 2-3 years.

DD is dealing with a Japanese knotweed infestation on one side of her house. It is really hard to kill. But I've actually considered planting it on the back of my property; it gets over 6' tall, and deer won't eat it.

But with the exception of Canada thistle (which spreads because some property owners allow it to seed) all of the invasives I deal with in the garden are local plants. In the garden, my latest, most aggressive invasive has been what I believe is perennial ground cherry. From my fence line, it has sent roots & shoots 6-8' into the garden so far this season!!! It is the worst invasive I've yet dealt with; and given its tenacity & the speed of its spread, may require chemical means to eradicate it.

My other "imvasives" are annual ground cherries, tomatillo, litchi tomato, and volunteer tomatoes... for which I have no one but myself to blame. (We really need a palm to face "oops!" emoji).