Invasion Of The Unwanted Aliens

“It is now within the power of individual gardeners to do something that we all dream of doing: to make a difference.

In this case, the “difference” will be to the future of biodiversity, to the native plants and animals of North America and the ecosystems that sustain them.” - Douglas Tallamy Bringing Nature Home Yard work” does not carry the same cachet that “gardening” does, probably because pulling weeds, setting up watering systems, wheelbarrowing heavy loads and doing all the other strenuous ground work needed for food production or fl ower glory is not very rewarding.

This labor is gardening, too, of course, but I’ve come to realize if I had been smarter over the years, I would be spending a greater percentage of my time with the more enjoyable aspects of digging in the dirt instead of always being in a battle to the death with certain plants.

My biggest slip-ups on the horticultural learning curve have been bad plant choices. Most of us, even the so-called pros, are guilty of not knowing enough about what we stick in the ground, so we sometimes turn loose real monsters in our particularpart of the world. Friends should not let friends plant invasives, if possible, because the consequences rarely are benefi cial to rural or urban landscapes or friendships.

For example, in the South almost everyone has seen Kudzu vines hauntingly draped over trees, hillsides, or even buildings. This “escape species” was actually introduced on purpose into the U.S. from Japan in 1876 at an exposition in Philadelphia, and planted far and wide for erosion control and for forage.

The problem is that Kudzu grows about a foot a day in the summer and soon can “take the place” (my mother’s expression for things out-of-control).

Kudzu, expensive and nearly impossible to kill, climbs up and shades over everything in its path.

We casually plant hundreds of other “alien,” “noxious,” or “exotic” botanicals outside their original ecosystems, but they arrive without their native predator bugs or diseases to keep them in check. This gives the aliens advantage over our native plants that do have local controls.

One must becomemaniacal to fi ght privet hedge, but I think Fayetteville’s worst invader is exotic bush honeysuckle, which comes in four species native to Asia and Western Europe. I don’t know who or what brought this curse to our fair city, but it was a dastardly deed.

Bush honeysuckle’s red or orange berries attract birds that, naturally, deposit the seeds everywhere. Prolifi c offspring eventually grow very large umbrella-like canopies that shade out native plants, rob soil of moisture and nutrients, and, according to the Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council, are suspected of producing “an allelopathic chemical that suppresses the growth of surrounding vegetation.” Under these bushes there is a deserted atmosphere that provides no food for native wildlife.

Like Kudzu, this bush also seduced state and federal agencies into promoting it as good for wildlife, erosion control, and for ornamental uses, becoming yet another example of botanically leaping before looking.

Obviously either the wrong questions or no questions are being asked in the world of horticulture before plants are bred and spread. Also, avoiding local insects has been a wrong-headed criteria forchoosing plants because without native bugs, native bug-eating birds go hungry and disappear, native pollinators do not get enough of the fl owers they are specialized to feed on, native frogs and lizards can’t get the critters they eat, and onward throughout the chain of life.

We seem to be in a constant state of denial that we live in that chain and are part of a vast system, and that when we disrupt any food cycles, we also affect our own.

We need to think ofall the players in our ecosystem before we are charmed by outsiders that can do great harm. Vining vinca, English ivy, some clematis and euonymus varieties, thistle, burning bush, Bradford pear trees, and liriope (monkey grass) are just a few of the invaders we have invited into our surroundings that are not doing us any favors. And, we can’t seem to make them go home.

The websites of the Southern Exotic Pest Plant Council, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service,and Fayetteville’s current city newsletter (accessfayetteville.org) have unwanted plant lists.

First we need to admit we have a problem.

Secondly we need a communitywide eff ort to dig out (not broadcasting poisons) and destroy these invaders.

Onward with smart gardening.

FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.