This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

what is invasive?

Margaret's comments about terms other than "invasive" that we, as writers, can use makes sense. Some exotics are invasive across many regions while others only in specific climates. One of my professor urged us to use the term "invasive" for exotics — the beloved English holly (Ilex aquifolium), for example, which is colonizing our nearby woodlands. Some label the Northwest natives hardhack (Spiraea douglasii) and salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) as invasive, but as these are our natives, I prefer to use "aggressive." These plants are not invading areas where they are not native — they were here long before our gardens.

I recently wrote an article for my newspaper on Eucalyptus, and received two or three slaps on the hand from gardeners in California (reading the article online). They are horrible, exotic and invasive weeds! I suggested that many gardeners in the Pacific Northwest would be delighted if they could just keep them growing; there was no chance of invading anything. And, I hope that online readers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer would notice that the Web site of the newspaper does contain the word "Seattle".

Marty Wingate

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
"Organic-Gardening" <organic-gardening@lists.ibiblio.org>

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index