We’ve grown Hydrangea macrophylla, aka: mophead hydrangea for over 50 years, so I was shocked this week, to find that they had seeded into the cracks of our concrete paver walkway. I’m sure it won’t take long for the native plant zealots to call for an immediate ban on all non-native hydrangeas. Sadly, that’s the way many of our current crop of alarmists react, who think the world should never change, unless they approve.
News update….the world is always changing. Always has, and always will. 20,000 years ago, when humans first set foot in North America, the Bronx, NY was under 2,000 feet of ice. Within 10,000 years, the last glacier in NY had melted, and the plants we now know as native to the region were just getting a toe hold. The little Ice Age in the US only ended in 1830, so what grows well now has little relation to what grew well then. As I often repeat, native is not a place in location, it is only a place in time.
Hint…people who expect the world to conform to their expectations and not change, are always going to be angry and outraged, and look for an outlet for their anger and fear that will make them feel like they are actually accomplishing something, like “saving the planet”. If your drawers are all in a proverbial wad about Hydrangea macrophylla taking over your favorite patch of woods, let’s see if we can start by explaining some critical thinking terms, like logic and perspective. To solve any problem, the first rule is to start with the biggest issues, often referred to as “low hanging fruit”, and eventually work your way down to the truly insignificant issues.
In case of people who fear the world is coming to an end because we grow non-native ornamental plants, you should logically start by first eliminating all the non-native agronomic crops (i.e. corn, wheat, vegetables, fruit, etc.), which currently takes up 328 million acres of the US. If you actually believed in the ethnic superiority of native plants, forging would be the only allowed way you should get your meals, instead of consuming non-native hybrid cultivars, something most zealots vigorously protest against.
Along with the edible crop acreage of non-natives, the 3.8 million hives of non-native honeybees must also go, since they’ve changed the pollination patterns of countless native plants. Then, there is the non-native livestock, which occupies a massive 665 million acres. Again, back to foraging we go. Oh wait, the people we mistakenly call “Native Americans” already killed off most of the big game. Regardless, if you really want North America in its natural state, before humans arrived, all of these must go. If you’re counting, we’re already up to 993 million acres of the 2.2 billions acres in the US….that’s 45% of the land.
Oh wait…there are those pesky, non-native humans, which first set foot in the US, some 20-25,000 years ago. Yes, all 342 million of them, now occupy 105,000 square miles, along with their 400 million non-native pets…they certainly must all go, as well.
Are you starting to see that the outrage against non-natve ornamental plants isn’t based in any science; it’s simply an emotional outrage, aimed at truly insignificant things, which are least likely to cause outrage among logical thinking humans. I’m sure you wouldn’t have nearly as many people hoping on the bandwagon to ban humans, agricultural products, and pets, as there is to ban non-native ornamental plants. Just something to consider…
Spot on, Tony! Despite being a largely unaccepted viewpoint, the reality is precisely as you voice. Thank you!
Balance. But it’s not easy. I am still going to be upset about venomous lionfish becoming common in Florida waters making my swims less safe and the boa constrictors creep me out. A lot of the worst invasive plants do take over and become a backbreaking problem in a garden or a farm. I appreciate warnings about those so I don’t spend all my time weeding and can sit and relax with a variety of plants. I think over reactions can be corrected with a few years experience, but a little caution can slow down the expensive to fix problems.
That said, most of the problems I have seen are people dumping things they no longer want without thinking, pets, plants and garbage. Ship bilge water was responsible for introducing a mussel to the Great Lakes that multiplies and clogs the lock system and their drinking water intakes. The same cause introduces other random expensive problems in ports all over the world. It’s been a long time since the US government made mistakes of promoting species that turned out to be serious problems like kudzu.
And I don’t like “invasives” because that means the seed or send out roots everywhere and they are too much work. A neighbor planted bamboo and now all his neighbors including myself, have to deal with it. I didn’t agree. When you plant a serious pest plant, you are impaction other people who don’t get a vote or know about it. It’s just that the right balance is hard to find and only comes with experience. When a plant is a known serious invasive in your area, don’t plant it.
Great comment. We should all focus on the right plant for the right place. It’s interesting that running bamboo fits no meaningful definition of the term “invasive”, since it only flowers every 100 years, and then dies. It is, however, a truely noxious plant in most garden settings.
Tony – excellent points. Science seems to have proved that in most living things, biodiversity is best. I think some people want to re-introduce native plants because they believe they will benefit pollinators, and they want to discourage invasive plants, and finally, favor ecosystem balance over pesticides that might harm the soil and the plants. People get an idea — and perhaps they take it too far. Reintroducing some natives ends up with some people insisting that it should be all natives. You are the expert! We’re just out here enjoying Plant Delights and JLBG, learning from you, your websites, your blog, and trying to grow a few plants. Thank you for all your efforts! (I now have started an epimedium collection!) I do get tired of trying to control inherited invasive plants, and I do get a chill when the neighbor sprays his yard from a giant RoundUp jug.
Go Tony!!
Great essay! Thank you.
Splendid, guy! Cheering from here. ‘Bout time, too!
‘…a place in time.’ Interesting way to think about invasive/non-invasive plants.