Lawanda's Garden

      Good gardeners know that before choosing a plant for a specific location, some research should be done as to what plants grow best in the conditions at the site.  You wouldn’t plant shade-loving hosta on the hot, dry south-facing side of the house anymore than you’d plant tulips in the deep shade of an evergreen or a cactus in the bog garden.

      There is one more factor to take into consideration.  We need to educate ourselves on which plants are considered invasive and to refrain from planting them.. 

      The Invasive Plant Association of Wisconsin (IPAW) categorizes plants this way:

• Invasive Plants are non-indigenous species or strains that become established in natural plant communities and wild areas, replacing native vegetation.
• Weeds are undesirable and troublesome plants growing in disturbed areas, especially cultivated ground.
• Potentially Invasive Plants are species that are invasive in parts of North America having similar climates and plant communities, and that are thought to have the potential to colonize and become invasive in Wisconsin.
• Indigenous means occurring naturally in a specific area or plant community; not introduced.

      Many of us are familiar with the most famous invasives:  purple loosestrife, buckthorn, reed canary grass, various thistles and garlic mustard.  But there are many more invasive plants that are sneaking into Wisconsin.  I was recently asked what the pretty yellow ground cover was that grows along Jackson north of Oshkosh.   The homeowner wondered if it would be a good plant for a berm alongside their road and asked if it grew from seeds or where they could buy it.  I knew without driving down Jackson that they were referring to bird’s-foot trefoil, a rapidly spreading plant that was planted along roadsides to control vegetation and that now has spread tremendously and crowded out native vegetation.  My reply to the question was a more tactful version of “DON’T PLANT THAT!” and then I suggested an alternative or two.

      You would be surprised at what plants are already considered invasive or have the potential to become so.  Here are a few plants considered invasive that you might not know about:  orange daylily, Norway maple, Russian olive, Queen Anne’s lace, forget-me-not, several honeysuckles, white poplar, multiflora rose, Canada goldenrod, tansy, common periwinkle, black locust, cattails, Japanese barberry, tree-of-heaven, burning bush or winged euonymus, white mulberry, willows, English ivy, European highbush cranberry, creeping bellflower, lily-of-the-valley, oxeye daisy, baby’s breath, yellow or water-flag iris and spearmint.  There are many more and I haven’t even listed the grasses and water plants.        

      You don’t have to memorize a long list of plants to avoid, but I urge you to take a look at IPAW’s website:  www.ipaw.org or the book Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest by Elizabeth Czarapata to at least get a feel for what plants might be invasive before you plant anything new in your yard.