Invasive!

It's the end of the semester, and work is really hectic, so I'm sorry not to have posted much lately.

I have been spending a lot of my time in the car, commuting between home, work, and school. The fabulous DC highway system allows me a lot of time to look at the "scenery" on the roadside, and the beautiful weather that we've been having has allowed me to spend much of my commuting time with the windows and sunroof open. I've noticed a lot of these trees, which have an very sweet fragrance, almost like grapes (reminds me of the kudzu flowers from my hometown down South). So, I decided to look them up and find out what they are.

My search lead me to the National Park Service Alien Plant Site. I found this site to be really interesting and informative. A lot of plants that I've seen growing around my house, like this garlic mustard, I wasn't familiar with (have I mentioned that I'm not from around here?), and had no idea were introduced by humans and considered invasive (it certainly does seem to be everywhere) and also lethal to butterflies! No wonder we had no butterflies in our backyard, the lot behind us is covered with this stuff. I was also shocked to learn that the pretty Empress tree that I'd admired on my commutes was considered invasive, and produces something like 2 MILLION seeds every year!



It came as no surprise that my old friend, the kudzu, was considered invasive. However, one of the biggest surprises on this list was the urban ubiquity, the Bradford pear. Our street is lined with them (anyone remember our experience with one from late last year?), and recently I've noticed entire fields full of them along I-270 near work- I kind of wondered if they were able to self-propgate, but I had no idea that they were invasive. This list references invasive plants of the mid-Atlantic region. I was shocked at some of the plants listed here- many are things that I've considered planting, or that I see commonly planted in my neighborhood- do you have them in your yard?

Butterfly bush
Wisteria vine
Mulitflora rose
Norway maple (those are gorgeous, and I've never seen any that weren't obviously planted, but NPS knows better than me...)
Honeysuckle
Periwinkle

So, first thing in the morning, I'm pulling as much of the garlic mustard as I can in the backyard in hopes that we get more butterflies this year. And please check the websites listed above before you head to the garden center this summer- there is no need to contribute to the demise of native species. Consider it outdoor preservation!