Although I am confounded about what is left out there that we gardeners can plant with a clear conscience.
Here I’ve been thinking that give my one-third of an acre three years of neglect and it would revert to the alders and elders that were merrily inhabiting it before I showed up and spoiled their fun. Oh no, not so.
All of these mountain ash, carragana (Siberian peashrub) and Tatarian honeysuckle will be running amok in a heartbeat. Good grief, what a scenario. This could be a one-act play, just think of it: “Chives Defy Pushki!” Standing room only! I could make a fortune, but at the expense of our environment.
At this class we were given an excellent handout: “Reducing the Spread of Non-Native Invasive Plants in Alaska, Voluntary Codes of Conduct for the Gardening Public,” publication number FGV-00142. This is a Cooperative Extension Service publication that is available at the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District office on the corner of Lake Street and Pioneer Avenue, in the blue building.
There are 13 points listed in this code of conduct. The one that most interested me, obviously, is number 7: “Ask garden writers and other media to emphasize the problem of invasive species and provide information. Request that garden writers promote only non-invasive species.”
Well now.
The list of invasive species that are growing in my very own garden is rather formidable. I have long known that they are thugs but a danger to our environment is an altogether other matter.
“ ... (P)romote only non-invasive species.” Yo, that list just got really short.
This is an extra interesting conundrum.
But here is a good place to start: Stop planting wildflower mixes unless you know there are no invasive species in there. That “two percent unknown” can be dangerous. And all those daisies? Nooooo.
An alternative is to buy individual seed packets of plants that you know about and combine them for your own custom-made blend.
What about bird seed? Think again.
The more we ask, and demand, seed that contains zero noninvasive species, the sooner manufacturers of these products will wake up and give us what we need. Sort of like electric cars. And roundabouts.
Take a good look around your garden. Here are some familiar invasives that you can spot in a heartbeat: Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs), orange hawkweed, yellow-flowered hawkweeds (there are about a zillion different kinds of these), Canada thistle, oxeye daisy, spotted knapweed, bird vetch, hempnettle, ornamental jewelweed/Himalayan balsam and foxtail barley.
Forget-me-nots (the light blue nonnative, not the indigenous species, our beloved state flower), bachelor’s buttons, creeping veronica, campanula glomerata and garden pinks (dianthus deltoides). Every one of which I have, right now, at this very moment.
What about the trees that we have all been planting? Those gorgeous maydays? Apparently, they are seeding all over the place. Mountain ash? Good grief.
The invasion of these species is just that. We could lose our natural meadows to these plants. That would equate to loss of habitat to birds and animals. (Unless, of course, cougars like all of this stuff.)
When purchasing ornamental trees and shrubs, ask questions of the nursery people. Inspect the root ball to be sure there are no invasive plants hitching a ride into your garden.
If you do find yourself with a nasty plant there seems to be little alternative than to dig it up and either burn it or put it into a double bag and take it to the landfill. There is no composting of these doozies.
The dreaded orange hawkweed that most of us are now familiar with is a tenacious plant. The first defense is to keep it mowed so that it will not go to seed. But it will also spread through roots, and it only takes a tiny bit of root to keep it going, therefore rototilling is not the answer.
If you cannot part with your plants be sure to keep the seed head cut off, a practice known as deadheading. But the reality of this is that you will not get all of the seed heads.
What happens when I die and there is no one here to deadhead? to monitor? to burn? to double bag?
I feel like Chicken Little.
Here is an invasive plant Web site that you can visit for more information: akweeds.uaa.alaska.edu/akweeds ranking page.htm.
Take heart, gardeners. There must be hope out there for us. Consider one of the presenters at the class: He has a master’s degree in ecology and part of his job is to remove invasive species from a 9,000-acre tract of Alaska wilderness near Seward. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go for his Ph.D.
Rosemary Fitzpatrick has been gardening with gusto in Homer for 27 years.
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