my treasured natives invasive?

16 years ago

I've let my backyard natives flourish, and have been thrilled w/the woodland garden thats resulted. I have Jack in the pulpits, a few kinds of trillium, ferns, solomon's seal, trout lily and virginia creeper.

I treasure all of these plants, so I am always keeping an eye out for anytyhing choking them out.

The solomon's seal has grown VERY prolifically--almost becoming a ground cover-its everywhere!! I have both false and real solomons seal.

The virigina creeper is everywhere as well.

I also have yellow cinquoil that is blanketing areas very densely.

Will either of these kill off the trillium and the jacks?? I had a jack sprout out from underneath a gravel surround I put around my shed, so it seems to be pretty heardy.

I suppose in a true native habitat, they'd have to fight off each other, so I could just leave well enough alone but my trillium and jacks are so cherished.

any thoughts???

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Comments (7)

lycopus
16 years ago
You might want to control the Virginia creeper. It can be more aggressive in a backyard woodland than it would be in a forest. In addition, if your solomon's seal is a cultivar it may grow more prolifically than a wild type. Otherwise everything should get along fine but that doesn't mean you can't move things around to suit your liking.

Not sure about the cinquefoil. The common one (Potentilla simplex) is somewhat of a weedy species that thrives on disturbance. If that is what you have it might be worthwhile to keep it under control.
Iris GW
16 years ago
Plants that get good garden soil and optimal light and water conditions can sometimes turn more "opportunistic" than they were before. That could be some of what you're seeing. Given that the virginia creeper is deciduous, I don't think it will out-compete the jacks and trilliums, but certainly keep an eye on their vigor over the years. If they start to decline, then either move them or whack back the competition.
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One has to distinguish between plants that are invasive in natural settings and plants that are invasive in gardens. Lots of natives are invasive in the garden sense of the word. They spread in the garden and may require that the gardener control them. On the other hand, I don't know of any situations where a native plant has been invasive in a natural ecosystem, with the exception of Common Reed Phragmites australis (and it may be that a non-native variety of Phragmites is responsible for the invasion of east coast marshes). On the other hand, some species that are invasive in natural settings don't create much problem in the garden. For example, if you plant one of the shrub honeysuckles (e.g. Lonicera mackii) in your garden you'll probably have few problems with it - it won't spread about the garden very much, At the same time, however, it may be spreading seedlings throughout the local woods, displacing native plants and eventually taking over the understory of the woods. So think twice what is meant when someone says a plant is invasive. But your question is whether invasive and non-native mean the same thing, and whether it is OK to grow nonnative plants in your garden. Not all non-native plants are invasive, and almost everyone has at least a few non-natives in their garden. Almost all vegetables are non-native, as are most lawn grasses. I think it is fine to grow non-natives, but I try to avoid them as much as possible. If there is a native alternative then I select the native plant, and I try to avoid any non-native plant that shows a tendency to spread, especially if it spread to any wild areas. Lots of plants commonly recognized as invasive were at one time grown as garden plants, and I bet that there are garden plants we use now that will in the future turn out to be troublesome invasives. For example, butterfly bush (buddleia davidii) is invasive in some parts of PA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it listed as an invasive plant in future years. In the mean time, however, lots of people, even people who are concerned about things like invasive plants, are growing butterfly bushes not realizing they may be a problem. I won't even point out that Norway Maple, Bradford Pear, Common Privet, Water Hyacinth, and even Purple Loosestrife are commonly sold in nurseries - all are extremely invasive over a wide geographical range. I think that plants that have been in cultivation in the US for a long time are probably less likely to be a problem than pants that are newly intruduced, but you can never be sure. So, I think that non-native daffodils are fine, but I'd get rid of that Russian Sage...
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soitgoes
16 years ago
I have had Virginia creeper go about 100 feet in a growing season. We pull/whack/kill it wherever we find it, even though I am planting almost exclusively natives. In a cultivated area, it is very invasive and will wind around, over, and through everything else. It grows in sun or shade, poor overly-drained soil or good rich soil. It'll grow in rocky soil or compacted soil, and happily spreads out or climbs up or twines around.

I know they sell it in the stores but I treat it like an invasive even though it's native.

Just my two cents. :-) Also, there are several kinds of cinquefoil, and the common one is very weedy. It will grow into lawns or beds. The shrubby one that looks like marijuana plants is better-behaved.
ken_mce
16 years ago
They can be native and still be managed. It's your yard. Adjust it to your liking.
mosswitch
16 years ago
I also grow natives, and yes some of them can be invasive! I have Virgnia creeper, and do let some of it grow, as there is a butterfly caterpillar (forget which one) which needs it for food supply, but I pull out a lot of it so it doesn't take over my world. As for the cinquefoil, I notice in an adjacent field next to my property that a large patch of it has little or nothing else growing in that area. I am wondering if it is alleopathic. No proof of this, just an observation. It spreads very rapidly.
naturesurrounds
16 years ago
"Invasive" means a plant that's introduced and crowds out natives. So a native, by definition, can't be invasive. That being said, some natives do grow more enthusiastically than others, and in particular circumstances certain plants will crowd out others. Plants are always in competition with each other for light, space, nutrients, water. There's a lot going on that you can't see. Your site may be better adapted to the Solomon's seal than to the jacks because of something in the soil. And vines, in particular, are always prolific because they can't fruit until they get full sun. Sometimes it helps to try to see it from the plant's point of view!

There's nothing wrong with moving things around--maybe you need to divide the Solomon's seal (next spring), or maybe you need to try the trilliums in different spots. And I too grow Virginia creeper and need to cut it back throughout the growing season or it would overpower some of my perennials.
jcalhoun
16 years ago
Virginia creeper is a very aggressive native here. It will take over any shrub or tree it get's into. It can also cover small buildings if given a chance.

my treasured natives invasive?

Comments (7)

lycopus

Iris GW

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