I thought Esh's comments were pretty succinct and he/she went out of their way to point out that the statement was intended to convey the vicious habit of how well these alien plants seem to fit into their new habitats and displace natives and yet be so beautiful and not necessarily directed at you personally. You bet that most people when seeing them en masse along waterways and in natural wild settings assume their native. I first noticed them along one of our rivers........ACRES of them in full bloom and they were drop dead spectacular. I had to look them up to identify them (and I am in the business) and my jaw dropped when I found out it was alien knotweed and I'm not too proud to admit I didn't know what it was or it was not native. In fact it can still be purchased in its variegated form in some local garden centers and the staff will swear they're not invasive. They're in bloom again now and I spotted another wild area polluted with them and you know the first thing I felt? SAD

This was a great thread to read after having moved back in the summer - some very good advice. I was very conflicted about moving but I think it was clear to me that moving the garden wasn't going to happen. As it was I did take well over 100 perennials I potted up as they emerged in the spring (they were mostly splits of plants that really needed it). To be honest this was really too much...I spent a whole week moving car loads of plants before and after work and was already completely exhausted from moving the house. The new tenant at the place asked the landlord if she could contact me about the garden but in the end I said no. Of course a big part of me wanted to still be involved with that garden but I knew I needed to make a clean break and focus on my new garden. This fall I planted about 1300 bulbs and cant wait to see them if this winter ever ends.

"I have read several posts on GW of people saying a certain invasive plant is not invasive in their particular situation as if that is proof of something and a green light go ahead to plant it. This observation seems to be based on what they observe happening on their own property or in a suburban area how it has affected the state for a comparatively short period." This is not necessarily true. Invasiveness of just about any plant is very regionally based, as plants do not grow equally well or perform in the same manner in all areas. There are VERY few plants - just a mere handful - that share a similar potential for invasiveness in all parts of the country. To make the extrapolation that because a plant exhibits invasive characteristics in one area of the country, it will do so anywhere else it is planted is flawed logic at best and a lack of understanding of the factors that climate and other growing conditions will have on any individual plant type/species. A great many plants that exhibit invasive characteristics in the eastern half of the US do not do so in the western half. And vice versa. And this is not due to lack of awareness of homeowners or "how it has affected the state for a comparatively short period", as in many cases these plants have been growing with just as long a track record as they have where they ARE considered invasive. Most states - and especially those with a heavy agricultural base, like many west coast states - monitor potential invasive species very closely. Euonymus alatus - burning bush - is not considered an invasive species across most of the western states, even though it is commonly planted here and has been for decades. The reason for that is the plant seldom ever sets seed here or the few seeds that are set fail to mature sufficiently in our extremely dry summers and with lack of summer heat. This same characteristic is true with a number of other east coast invasives - Japanese barberry, Nandina domestica, Miscanthus sinensis, various exotic honeysuckles, silk tree (Albizia julibrissin), Empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) - they just do not/are unable to routinely set viable seeds. OTOH, we on the west coast have our own set of invasive issues that are not necessarily shared by those in the eastern half of the country, simply because few areas share our mild climate and these problematic plants are not cold hardy enough to be a problem there. So to make broad generalizations that because a plant exhibits invasive characteristics in one part of the country, it should be banned from sale everywhere is a gross over-reaction! It is important to understand and acknowledge the issues with invasives in your part of the country and to encourage awareness of these plants in your locale. It is the consumers' demand that drives the nursery market, not the other way around :-) And FWIW, many nurseries across the country have adopted a 'Voluntary Code of Conduct' that governs what plants they offer for public sale based on their invasive characteristics in that area. This is the result of a nationwide conference held just after the millennium attended by horticulturists, members of the commercial seed and nursery trades, landscape architecture, botanical gardens and arboreta, garden clubs, the conservation community, and state and federal agencies and intended to address just this problem. If you are concerned about this issue - and we all should be - then seek out which nurseries in your state have adopted this code of conduct and patronize them rather than those who have not adopted this policy and for whatever reason just don't care what they sell. But don't tar all plants in all places with the same brush!! It is not a realistic approach nor is it even necessary.

As liriodendron said, you may uncover some family secrets when you research your lineage. That's the best part, it's the things they didn't want known that are the most interesting! In my case my father said that there was a secret in his family but he never knew what it was, his mother did but she was gone. Well that's all I had to hear and I was off to the races, I had to find out! What did they deam so bad they didn't want anyone to know??? So I started digging, looking for any clues. I searched a couple generations and found nothing. But the generation prior I found something unusual for this very WASPish clan. Amidst all the Scottish/Irish names I see a woman with a very different maiden name...mediterranian maybe. Was this it? The big secret was that there was an Italian in the family tree??? LOL. I laughed because that would be something this family thought to be shameful (btw, my mother was Italian). It took some doing but I finally tracked down the mystery woman's lineage and that's when I saw it...siblings with Jewish names! That was all it turned out to be, my snobby grandmother who bragged about being a Daughter of the American Revolution was technically speaking, Jewish. I called my father up laughing, "hey Dad, you're technially Jewish! That's your mother's secret". He said, "that's it? that's all?". Here I was looking for a mass murderer and it turned out just to be bigoted grandmother. OY! But wait...there's more. ;-) Years before I got into geneology I was talking to a Jewish gal who says to me, "you're Jewish right?" I said no. "Yes you are" she replies. "no" I repeat. I remember this conversation because of what she said next, "You ARE, you just don't know it!". We laughed. I wish I still knew her because she would have gotten such a kick out of my geneology discovery. Even though I'm only 5% Jewish she could tell it's in there somewhere!