- Author: Lowell Cooper
I thought that the drought was all I had to worry about in tending to my garden this very dry summer. It has been an ordeal to take seriously the challenge of spreading around this very scarce resource – water – so that most of my garden can stay in tact. However, it is like driving forward with one foot on the brake; every growing thing slows down and hurts a little bit for a good cause.
But just when I thought I had the right enemy in my crosshairs, I saw an article in the July-September “California Agriculture”, the UCANR magazine, by Brusati, Johnson and DiTomaso about the imminent dangers of invasive plants. Now I had something new to ponder. To make matters worse, the New York Times had an article (on August 12) about an agricultural plant invader that sounded like it could only be eliminated by nuclear carpet-bombing. On the one hand there are invited intruders sold to us innocently by nurseries. It seems that the invasive plants originate often as hearty ornamentals sold as easy to grow. And they are. But then they take over and go everywhere uninvited. On the other hand, there are the buff invaders who are the product of glyphosate and other powerful herbicides being overused for weed control and ‘accidentally' breeding a very robust weed which just keeps getting stronger and more herbicide resistant.
So we are beset with unwanted ornamentals which thrive in home gardens under our watchful and loving care and noxious weeds in our state's agricultural industry. While it is enough to make me grateful that I am not doing serious agriculture, it is difficult to avoid unleashed nuisance ornamentals. Just reading about it makes me feel like I invited in house visitors who then refused to leave and invited in all their relatives.
What to do? Several very useful suggestions seem to emerge from my reading. 1. Use herbicides, especially glyphosate, with great care and watch for unintended consequences. Not only can good plants be impacted, but the survivors can thrive. And there will be survivors. 2. Notice the unwanted spread of an ornamental. I use as a guide my feeling that a plant is becoming a weed and is popping up everywhere. Best to dig it up fast and soon; coddling it only gives it more time to move around. Note whether the spread is fostered by an herbicide treatment of another plant. 3. When I go to buy plants at my favorite nursery, I think it judicious to have a list of prominent invaders we all have to deal with (and there is at least a partial list at the end of the Brusati, Johnson and DiTomaso article) and interview the nursery people about the origins of the plant I am interested in. For, instance, be careful if the plant is imported. Remember the eucalyptus!
So, I want to continue to enjoy my garden. Now I have something besides water to struggle with to keep it manageable and part of my community rather than a breeding ground of local invaders which put neighborhood ornamentals at risk.
Happy gardening.