Re: iris declared noxious plant


   As for loosestrife, or
Lythrum, I have had a plant in my garden for years, and it has never
been a problem.  It does shed seeds, but they either don't grow or
are easily hoed out.
***

But -- the seeds are tiny and are easily carried on the wind to every nook
and cranny where water stands -- along railroad tracks in drainage ditches
along the highways... and before you know it, the plants are everywhere, 
choking out the native grasses and plants that sustain the birds and water
creatures.

You might think that yours are innocent, but if you put together all the 
folks who say, I just dig mine out, and discount the wind borne seeds, you
are contributing just as much as if you consciously planted them.

This is a nimby approach to a terrible problem.  Here in New York State, 
the department of Environmental Conservation has released two kinds of 
beetles which feed only on the purple loosestrife, one which eats the
bloom stalk, the other eats at the roots.
 I suppose this is OK, but it is introducing yet another non-native wildlife
species --

Kathyguest and I and about a hundred other folks heard Mr. Cathy (???)
from the American Horticultrual Society talk about gardening, and he touched
several times on the absolute need to preserve our enviornment by planting
native species in places where they were meant to grow, and to do our
best to erradicate those species which have been introduced which are
invasive!!

Dennis Bishop, the dahlia-man on Hawaii who is also on the Iris LIST has
been telling us of his adventures with ANTS which have invaded his dahlias
the ANTS (about 100 species) were introduced onto Hawaii and are just 
awful pests.

We need to begin to think of the whole world as our (front yard) garden!!

Carolyn Schaffner -- think of Sally in S. Africa with no rain!!
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