Concern for us collectors

  The conversation groups, native plant societies. "Exotics" and
"non-native invasives" are buzz words now.
>All the major gardening magazines have picked up on the subject as have the
>newspapers. It is a hot button that gets fast interest and reaction.
>What is invasive in your neck of the woods may or may not be invasive in
>my garden. We go through that one
>all the time here on these gardening lists.
>     If events happened exactly as the "whitepaper" envisions then I along
> with
>most other small nurseries are out of business. I, however, do not think
>it will
>end up that way. Will there be more legislation on import of plants? Probably.
>Government is the worse offender and needs to clean its own house first.
>     Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
>           around the woods - around the world
>genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com


Gene,
First of all, may I say that I really agree with you. Some exotics are real
weeds, but we have quite a few pests of our own. Seems silly to ignore
things like poison ivy..... a true native if there ever was one. Crazy as I
am about ferns, some of our natives are truly pests. My present soap box is
protecting areas to death, totally ignoring human intervention that has
made the ecology there unique. Dolly Sods in the Monongahela Forest is an
excellent example. It may have gone so far now that it is not reclaimable.
Originally, a german family named Dahle used the top of the mountain to
graze their cattle. In the process, they burnt it off every year. They
created a heath, where only acid requiring or tolerating plants would grow.
The balsam firs were kept back to the edges, and all sorts of huckleberries
and blueberries grew among the rocks. Trailing arbutus and dwarf
cranberries were underfoot, and there were all sorts of azaleas,
rhododendrons and mountain laurel. The plumy bleeding heart was as near a
weed as there was, and ferns and lycopodia covered the area. Now weeds
cover the area where the huckleberries and blueberries grew. There are
still a few left, but not for long. Did not see the first dwarf cranberry
or trailing arbutus, when before you could not help walking on them. There
was a lot more spotted knapweed than plumy bleedingheart. I could care less
if the weed trees are native or not, if the soil was still as acid and
depleted as it was, these things couldn't grow. So now it is a wilderness
area, and is supposed to be taking its natural course.... there was never
anything natural about what brought it into existence. They have a list of
shame for groups that came with too many people. They can do without
me..... I'll not be back. It isn't unique anymore.    Nancy

Nancy Swell <swell@erols.com>
Richmond VA   Zone 7 --- colder than Raleigh and Norfolk, warmer than
Baltimore and Blacksburg
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