[APWG] New York Times taken over by Aliens? Invasions - Sciencearticle

[Saline County Weed Control]

A fine example of a national concern taken the wrong way.  Thanks for
bringing this article to everyone attention.  I say, plant every invader in
the yards of these writters and let them lead by example. :)  Or course we
can not do that, but this story from the NY times just makes me wonder.
There is truly only 2 percent of the people concerned and those try to
educate the other 99 percent, then a story like this comes a long.  The
writter obviously mistakes invaders with tested horticultural flowers that
are not escaping.  Perhaps one should take him to Montana and see the leafy
spurge or California to see fields of Yellow starthistle or Florida and the
list goes on and on.

I think this might be a good thing to put on my gpniw.org website and write
an article myself about it.  When it's finished it would be nice to have
everyone comment on it.
Thanks again for sending this out.
Chris Kelly
Saline County Weed Control, NE
Five Rivers WMA


-----Original Message-----
From: APWG-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
[mailto:APWG-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Craig Dremann
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 9:32 AM
To: Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Cc: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [APWG] New York Times taken over by Aliens? Invasions -
Sciencearticle

Dear All,

Here's an interesting Op-ed piece from the NY Times, I think the paper
has been taken over by Aliens?   Sincerely,  Craig Dremann

------------------------------------

Jonathon Rosen

THE horticultural world is having its own debate over immigration, with some
environmentalists warning about the dangers of so-called exotic plants from
other countries and continents "invading" American gardens. These botanical
xenophobes say that a pristine natural state exists in our yards and that to
disturb it is both sinful and calamitous. In their view, exotic plants will
swallow your garden, your neighbors'
gardens and your neighbors' neighbors' gardens until the ecosystem collapses
under their rampant suffocating growth.

If anything suffocates us, though, it will be the environmentalists'
narrowmindedness. Like all utopian visions, their dream beckons us into a
perfect and rational natural world where nothing ever changes - a world that
never existed and never will. 

Native plants are the survivalists of the botanical world, and in the
appropriate settings - wilderness areas, home and botanical gardens, public
parks and sidewalks - they bless us with their beauty and awe us with their
tenacity. Our lives would be poor and grim without the strawberry,
cranberry, columbine and trillium. They've always been here, in the same way
that Native Americans have been; only their arrival and settlement are more
ancient. 

Their presence illustrates a geologic time, about 8,000 years ago, when the
glaciers receded and unimaginably vast deluges swallowed the surface of the
future United States - an airplane ride over the Midwest reveals enormous
lakes formed by even larger melted ice masses. As the landscape changed, the
botanical world sorted itself out, leaving us with the hardy "natives." (It
should be noted, though, that many plants now considered natives - like
sycamores, magnolias and cinnamon - arrived from other continents, just as
we did.
They are products of adaptation.)

Like human survivalists, natives are also subject to exploitation by the
horticultural equivalent of radical fundamentalists. The anti-exotics argue
that gardens should be populated exclusively by native plants, as if the
exotics were trying to enter the flower bed illegally. The consequences of
such a stand could be dire. Should we eat no onions or garlic, apples or
lemons; feast our eyes on no magnificent tulips or roses - all exotics of
Eurasian origin? Should Asians not enjoy their distinctive peppers,
tomatoes, beans, squash, sunflowers and corn - all from the Americas? 

Indeed, the world's most popular root crop, potatoes, started life as a
staple of the Andean people and achieved its first international fame as a
slave food. By the time it reached France, the "earth apple" was a delicacy
likened to truffles; their flowers were featured in tiaras of court ladies.
Exotic indeed.

Should we deprive ourselves of petunias, begonias, impatiens and hollyhocks
- not a one of them "native"? Must we, on pain of being cast out of the
garden as horticultural pariahs, deny the elephant his peanuts? This
wouldn't be merely ridiculous. It would compare with the denial of human
immigration on grounds that certain ethnic groups breed in numbers "too
prolific" for the existing elite to tolerate. Imagine, then, a horticultural
ruling class. No "invasives"
need apply: let the lily find another valley. Such prohibitions of exotic
plant species demonstrate only an elitist snobbery that is as dangerous to a
free society as it is to a free botany.

No one, and certainly no gardener, grows truly destructive invasive plants
in his garden. The devastating kudzu in the South, star thistle in the West
and purple loosestrife in the East were accidental introductions from Asia,
most often mixed with the feed and bedding of livestock. Yet the pro-native,
anti-exotic partisans also wish us to stop enjoying the charms of harmless
and beautiful plants like Queen Anne's lace, yarrow and chicory. Aside from
requiring a bit of weeding, exotics are safe as milk, unless one considers
gardening a chore rather than a passionate hobby. If so, forget the
forget-me-nots.

Let's welcome, as spring arrives tomorrow, as many huddled masses of
flowers, herbs and vegetables as can fit in our unique melting pot of a
nation, unrivaled in its tradition of lush diversity and freedom to grow
rampantly.

George Ball, a former president of the American Horticultural Society, is
the president of the seed and plant company W. Atlee Burpee & Company.
------------------------------------------------

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