from Hacker News

Many invasive plants are still being sold at garden centers

by malingo on 8/22/21, 4:55 PM with 108 comments

• by temp0826 on 8/22/21, 5:21 PM

  >> Other invasive species being sold include Japanese barberry, Chinese privet, whitetop, Norway maple, Brazilian peppertree, Russian olive, garlic mustard, yellow star thistle, Canada thistle, kudzu and Johnsongrass, among others, the study states.

  Part of me wants to plant a garden containing all of these to see which one wins

• by legohead on 8/22/21, 5:56 PM

  Russian Hogweed [1] [2], which the Russians actually bred and initially controlled, is a huge problem over there. Interesting plant, which burns you if you get the sap on your skin (reacts to sunlight), so you can't just go chopping them down willy nilly. And even if you do, it grows back. They have to be destroyed methodically. They grow at an incredible rate and dominate whatever is around them.

  [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/opinion/sunday/russia-hog...

  [2] http://www.russiaknowledge.com/2020/07/14/the-day-of-the-gia...

• by susiecambria on 8/22/21, 7:32 PM

  My HOA recently approved an environmental stewardship policy and plan. Among the requirements: plant natives first. You'd have thought the people supporting the plan were proposing to kill members' grandchildren. The rhetoric was unreal for such an issue that no one had ever really thought about.

  It doesn't help that local hardware stores and the biggies sell fewer natives than non-natives.

  Both the policy and the plant sales significantly matter here: we are in Virginia a stone's throw from the Chesapeake Bay. Doing right by the environment (plants, wildlife, water) is important in its own right but the beauty of the environment is also why so many people moved here to retire.

• by taylorfinley on 8/22/21, 5:47 PM

  I'm particularly sensitive to this as a native plant nerd here in Hawaii. Home Depot and Walmart are filled with (beautiful) invasive plants like Medinilla magnifica, Kahili ginger, Lantana, so many others. I've spoken to the managers about it from time to time but nothing changes.

  I used to work at a botanical garden here on Hawaii Island that boasted of their 6 different species of Medinilla, even selling a fridge magnet in the gift shop. I tried and tried to explain how backwards this was and how these magnets would be viewed by anyone who knew or cared about fragile native ecosystems. Their response always came down to something like "but these ones are prettier." They also sold little bagged starts of two horribly invasive plants! (Bamboo orchid and Kahili ginger)

• by ahnick on 8/22/21, 6:00 PM

  I'll see your cogongrass and raise you trumpet vine. I kid you not, every 3 weeks during the summer I am out cutting back the vine on top of my pergola that is a good 6 feet from my house and it still feels like I'm losing the war. This thing drops seeds all over the place and vines start sprouting from all the beds and grass. If it reaches a tree it starts to climb it like crazy and if it touches the house for long enough it will suction on to the mortar/woodwork and you will have a devil of a time getting it off. (https://www.botanicalamy.com/warning-about-invasive-plants/)

• by tyingq on 8/22/21, 5:23 PM

  I didn't see bamboo mentioned. It grows crazy fast. I don't know if it's technically "invasive", but I imagine it's fueled quite a few neighbor feuds.

• by ineedasername on 8/22/21, 5:47 PM

  I thought it would be Kudzu, but nope. Though Kudzu is still mentioned.

  It's kind of amazing that weeds are a real life example of where "kill it with fire" is actually a realistic and appropriate response, and less harmful than herbicides.

• by AuryGlenz on 8/23/21, 3:54 AM

  I live in Minnesota, where a good portion of the forests have been absolutely ruined by buckthorn. It changes what should be fairly open woods with large trees to something you literally can't walk or see through. In my experience it also gives cover to mosquitoes, protecting them from predators.

  If I were a billionaire I'd fund research to create some sort of Dutch-elm like disease for it and release it in secret.

• by onecommentman on 8/22/21, 9:23 PM

  “The researchers discovered that 61 percent of 1,285 invasive plant species remain available through the plant trade, including 50 percent of state-regulated species and 20 percent of federal noxious weeds”

  What is invasive in Georgia can be well-mannered in West Texas or North Dakota. Barberry is not invasive in the high deserts, where it continues to be a valued ornamental. Russian olives can raise havoc in riparian areas, but be fine for areas where birds can’t spread the seeds to moister soils.

  There is a “patchwork” of state regulations because there is a patchwork of climatic zones and ecosystems in the US. There is no mention in the article that, although nurseries sell invasives, most nurseries have policies not to ship invasives to the individual States where they are identified as such by local authorities.

  Saying that, non-invasive natives are generally better, but not so much better that non-natives (that could be invasive in other climates) don’t have a role to play in landscaping and gardening. Skip the giant hogweed….

• by gregjor on 8/22/21, 8:59 PM

  Hand-wringing by members of the ultimate invasive species.

  I went with my son’s middle school class on a field trip to the Audubon Society preserve in Portland, years ago. The guide gave the kids a long lecture about evil English ivy, explaining the concept of non-native invasive species. Portlanders organize groups to tear down the ivy in parks, often trampling the native ferns in their zeal.

  Not ten minutes later the same guide showed the class a family of ducks crossing the path. Everyone oohed and aahed — ducklings, so cute. My son pointed out that they were mandarin ducks, a non-native species. The guide went quiet.

• by Sunspark on 8/23/21, 3:10 AM

  It's wild how invasive creeping bellflower is. It's pretty purple flower, so people think that it's just another flower which is part of why it has staying power. The rest of it is the fact that each plant can generate 15,000 seeds, can spread through a root system under the soil, and can regenerate from fragments of the root. If you have it, you'll have to keep digging it up every year for some time.

• by bawolff on 8/22/21, 5:32 PM

  Finally, a plant i can keep alive!

• by MattGaiser on 8/22/21, 7:33 PM

  > Other invasive species being sold include Japanese barberry, Chinese privet, whitetop, Norway maple, Brazilian peppertree, Russian olive, garlic mustard, yellow star thistle, Canada thistle

  Who are these people who want to own a thistle, yet alone pay for one?

• by metabagel on 8/22/21, 7:46 PM

  Not only that, but in SoCal, it seems there are a dearth of landscapers who are familiar with and can obtain native plants.

• by thebeardisred on 8/22/21, 6:38 PM

  They lost me at: > However, the study concludes that consumers need to be more aware of what they are buying.

  I can't "slow clap" enough for this statement.

• by EGreg on 8/22/21, 5:43 PM

  By the way, I would like to make this linguistic comment:

  While the headline is misleading, it is also technically correct in an interesting way

  The article says “ONE OF the world’s most invasive weeds.” Let’s suppose it was #22 on the list of all known invasive weeds ranked by invasiveness

  But as a MEMBER of that group, one can legitimately label it as “A world’s worst invasive weed” and then drop the “A”

  Interesting techique to make hyperbolic claims that are technically true due to the rules of English!

  Do people do this elsewhere?

• by ourmandave on 8/22/21, 5:33 PM

  ...the study concludes that consumers need to be more aware of what they are buying.

  “...it’s clear we as a public also lack awareness about which plants are invasive and how they spread to new areas,” Beaury says.

  One good thing: the study is generating interest by enforcement agencies who want to crack down on illegal sales.

  "Whoa, I just saw old widow Johnson down the street doing the perp walk. What was her crime?"

  "Opening planting cogongrass in her front yard."

  Speaks directly up at US AG dept drone hovering nearby, "Uh, I never did like her."

• by Alex3917 on 8/22/21, 5:33 PM

  If you can't keep your property free of invasive plants, the government should seize it and auction it off. Right now a big part of the reason why real estate is overpriced is that the costs of maintaining it are artificially low, because the government allows people to push externalities like this onto their neighbors. The government shouldn't be forcing the poor to subsidize the rich.