Re: Concern for us collectors(Please Read)/ Diann

Well, Gene, I'm wondering who he's passing them along to??  As long as
they're trustworthy experienced gardener friends and not selling them to the
public at a minimum!  Interesting.

Something that bugs me about nursuries selling invasive plants is when they
label them "vigorous" instead of "INVASIVE!!" and don't say a word about how
to contain them if you just have to have them anyway. Even the Amer Hortic
Soc's A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants edges around this distinction.  The
common $&%$* english ivy groundcover (and vinca for that matter) that the
previous owner planted all around my yard are invasive as heck.  And the
violets...GEEZ. (Let's not talk about all those canny native prairie weeds
here in the Midwest--our as-yet unplanted back lot breeds its own daily at
the most amazing rate; and yes, I once read a post by an apparently
idealistic young gardener about how she would not remove poison ivy because
it's native....)  I pull up about 300 Norway Maple seedlings (from two trees
that never stop putting out seeds) and twice that many honeysuckle-shrub
babies every year; the dogwood sends its progeny everywhere and our lovely
black locusts sprout immortal suckers in prolific randomness throughout the
land....ANYWAY!  Drawing lines over all the known universe of plants will
raise just as many profound arguments as all these varmints put together and
multiplied times the stars....

I found Connie's discussion about the homogenization of the world (human
cultures and plants, for example) very interesting.  (Her mention of natural
extinction is somewhat relevant, but not something we would deliberately
allow--in fact we go to great legal lengths to avoid--as I'm sure she would
agree.)  I often feel quite sad how the world is losing its distinctions of
cultures (in large part, I'd put the major onus on television--and yet
sooner or later it seems bound to happen).  But as Connie says, this is the
way we're evolving, for better AND for worse.  I am so very enriched and
grateful in my life able to grow the plants that come from China, Japan,
Korea, etc. etc. etc.!  And where is the line between vigorous and invasive?
(NO EXPORTING OR COMMERCIAL SELLING OF VINCA IS PERMITTED!!  YOU MAY GIVE
AWAY BISHOP'S WEED BUT YOU MAY NOT TAKE A PENNY FOR IT!)

No, there's no easy answer to this.  It's a topic very much worth
discussing, just like abortion and capital punishment.  We're probably bound
to seesaw over it for the next millenium.  Does this path have heart?  (My
test of value in any endeavor.)  Yes, but only taken in rational steps, two
forward and one back.

Diann



> -----Original Message-----
> From: PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of
> GeneBush
> Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 2:57 PM
> To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Subject: [SG] Concern for us collectors(Please Read)/ Diann
>
>
> Hello Diann,
>     Got to thinking about this one and went to the library....
> (behind my computer
> desk) I have a copy of Hinkley's The Explorer's Garden.
>     On page 22 he has two headings.. Plant Exploration & Ethics
> and then On
> Exotics and Natives. He does speak of watching the plants and
> destroying the
> overly vigorous that invaded his natives. At the same time he
> states in part " I
> believe that our vegetable and ornamental gardens can harbor a
> cache of plants
> that speak different languages yet still communicate in a
> respectful tone to our
> surrounding environments"
>     Skip to the first chapter on plants where he talks of Anemone
> and he tells of
> the invasiveness of some species, how they were dug out of a
> garden and given to
> him. And he still has them, passes them along. Perhaps he feels a
> bit like Anna on
> this list.
>     Most of us who collect will probably be just a bit divided on
> this area.
>     Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
>           around the woods - around the world
> genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Diann Barbee Thoma <diannthoma@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Subject: Re: [SG] Concern for us collectors(Please Read)
>
>
> > I recall an article by Dan Hinkley (or was it in his book??)
> where he talked
> > about his special garden where he grew all new specimens for
> several years
> > to make sure they were good plants, including that they weren't
> invasive. He
> > said he threw any plants that didn't make the grade onto the
> compost pile.
> >
> > Diann
>
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