Don’t Plant a Pest!
According to the Nature Conservancy, invasive species are one of the top threats to our natural heritage, costing the US over $120 billion in damage and control. But the greatest cost of invasives is that they can crowd our native plants, effectively denuding an area of food and habitat for native wildlife. Do a little research before you buy. Some suggested sites containing good information are below. And always ask the nursery or other plant seller if what you are looking at is native to Maryland.
But what about our current gardens? Some of the most commonly known invasive plants - English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle, lesser celandine, garlic mustard, porcelain berry, oriental bittersweet, butterfly bush, and orange daylilies, for example – are already in our yards. Unfortunately, suggesting that when they die we replace them with native plants doesn’t work, because these plants never seem to die. No, instead, we gradually have to dig them out and replace them with plantings that help our environment rather than continue to damage it.