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| Pueraria montana var. lobata (Kudzu) |
There are eighty known species which have been brought
to the United States that are now known to be invasive and detrimental to our
soil. How many do you have in your yard, garden or fishpond? They are as follows:
Acer platanoides (Norway Maple)
Aegopodium podagraria (Goutweed)
Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven)
Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine also known as Five-leaved
Akebia)
Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree also known as Mimosa Tree)
Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard)
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (Porcelainberry)
Aralia elata (Japanese Angelica-tree)
Arthraxon hispidus (Small Carpetgrass)
Arum italicum (Italian Arum)
Bambusa vulgaris (Common Bamboo)
Berberis
thunbergii (Japanese Barberry)
Broussonetia
papyrifera (Paper Mulberry)
Buddleja davidii (Orange-eye)
Centaurea stoebe ssp. micranthos (Spotted Knapweed)
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| Canadian Thistle |
Cirsium arvense (Canada Thistle)
Clematis terniflora (Sweet Autumn Virgins-bower)
Cynanchum louiseae (Black Swallow-wort)
Cynanchum rossicum (Pale Swallow-wort)
Dioscorea polystachya (Chinese yam)
Elaeagnus
umbellata (Autumn Olive)
Epipactis helleborine (Broadleaf Helleborine)
Euonymus alatus
(Winged Burning Bush)
Euonymus fortunei (Winter Creeper)
Fallopia japonica (Japanese Knotweed)
Ficaria verna (Fig Buttercup)
Glechoma hederacea (Ground Ivy also known as Gill-over-the-ground)
Hedera helix (English Ivy)
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| Orange Daylily |
Hemerocallis fulva (Common Daylily also known as
Orange Daylily)
Heracleum mantegazzianum (Giant Hogweed)
Hesperis matronalis (Dame’s Rocket)
Humulus japonicus (Japanese Hop)
Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish bBuebells)
Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrilla)
Kalopanax septemlobus (Castor Aralia)
Lamiastrum galeobdolon (Yellow Archangel)
Lespedeza cuneata (Chinese Lespedeza)
Leucojum aestivum (Summer Snowflake)
Ligustrum obtusifolium (Border Privet)
Ligustrum ovalifolium (California Privet)
Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet)
Ligustrum vulgare (European Privet)
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| Japanese Honeysuckle |
Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle)
Lonicera maackii (Amur Honeysuckle)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow’s Honeysuckle)
Lythrum salicaria (Purple Loosestrife)
Mahonia bealii Lleatherleaf Mahonia)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stiltgrass)
Miscanthus sinensis (Japanese Silvergrass)
Morus alba (White Mulberry)
Murdannia keisak (Marsh Dewflower)
Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrot-feather)
Myriophyllum
spicatum (Eurasian Water-milfoil)
Oplismenus
hirtellus ssp. undulatifolius (Wavyleaf Basketgrass)
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| Nodding Star of Bethlehem |
Ornithogalum nutans (Nodding Star-of-Bethlehem)
Ornithogalum
umbellatum (Sleepydick)
Paulownia
tomentosa (Princess Tree)
Perilla frutescens (Beafsteak Plant)
Persicaria perfoliata (Mile-a-Minute Weed)
Phellodendron
amurense (Amur Corktree)
Phragmites australis (Common Reed)
Phyllostachys aurea (Golden Running Bamboo)
Pseudosasa japonica (Arrow Bamboo)
Pueraria montana var. lobata (Kudzu)
Pyrus calleryana (Callery Pear)
Quercus acutissima
(Sawtooth Oak)
Rhodotypos
scandens (Jetbead)
Ripidium ravennae (Ravenna-grass)
Rosa multiflora (Multiflora Rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (Wineberry)
Salvinia molesta (Giant salvinia also known as Kariba-weed or as Water Fern)
Schoenoplectus mucronatus (Bog Bulrush)
Spiraea japonica (Japanese Meadowsweet)
Trapa natans (Water Chestnut)
Urtica dioica (European Stinging Nettle)
Viburnum dilatatum (Linden Viburnum)
Vinca minor (Common Periwinkle)
Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria)
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria)
This week, as the weather has warmed, I’ve come to more fully realize how very blessed we are to be living in the Shenandoah Valley. Like most folk who grew up here, we’ve always raised a large garden and canned hundreds of jars of vegetables each year. We also had a large freezer and raised all of our own meat.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, we actually have four tables, all of which seat eight to twelve people. As we have always loved to have family and friends visit and share meals with us, our home was also always opened to all of our daughters’ friends, thus the need for the tables. Entire casts of school plays, cheerleading squads, debate teams and believe it or not, even college football squads have all been a delightful part of our lives.
As our daughters grew older, I became interested in flower gardening. My grandmothers had both enjoyed flowers. One day, when they were both together, I asked them why they felt flower gardening was so important…they looked at me, then at each other, and both burst out laughing. I had no clue what I had said that brought on such gales of laughter until they “patiently” explained to me that a good mattock was a wonderful stress reliever. That it was far better for a woman to “soundly whack” the ground, and crumple it in her hands to plant or move a flower than to “whack” their spouse or children who most assuredly deserved it.
As the girls and their friends left to become part of the college scene, they all did their best to drop in on us whenever they were in the area. It was about this same time that those who had developed a deeper understanding of horticulture via their science classes also showed a deeper interested in my flower beds, meaning they knew where they could get various varieties for class projects and experiments for “free.”
This week, our eldest daughter [Whitney Leeson}, spend the best part of two days with us helping to sort and pack things for our upcoming move. While we were outside, we noticed that not only did I have thousands of various varieties of daffodils blooming, but we also found those wonderful teeny, tiny, almost invisible “weeds” that grew in my grandparents’ wood. Evidently, in the past, I was too busy planting “house” flowers that I actually destroyed, by cleaning away, the tiny bluets and the many other microscopic plants which had always brought such joy to my heart as I grew up “knowing” that they had been planted by the fairies.
There are many ways in which we all still keep our European heritage alive: food, gardening, needlework and best of all, folk stories. I feel blessed to have seen the teeny flowers which are also a real part of our world; that is, if we allow them to be.
Please join me today at www.BillieJoMonger.com to come face to face with a list of plants which are NOT native to our nation and which are considered invasive species. I was shocked to see how many plants which I have planted that our government is trying their best to permanently eliminate. While I would never consider planting Kudzu, I am very afraid that anyone who knows me, knows that I would drive “miles” just to smell a good stand of “Honeysuckle” and also that I am notorious for adding its tendrils to any floral arrangement I make.