Invasion by garden plants

[Paul mabbott]

A study on garden plants that pose a threat to native species and habitats:
BBC - Earth News - Alien plant invaders threaten UK National Parks
One of their startling conclusions is that sale of these plants should be banned ..... why didn't I think of that?

[SheffieldLass]

Interestingly on the list of plants that Plantlife are concerned about are Rosa rugosa, and Cotoneaster horizontalis, Cotoneaster microphyllus. Yet these are actually on the list from Natural England as being good garden plants for wild life ..... admittedly NE do say that the two Cotoneasters can be a pest if they get into the wild.

I've got a few Rosa rugosa in my garden. They can sucker, but I've not had any problem with self-setting seeds. The greenfinches seem to be particularly efficient in eating all the seeds. They are quite often put in with 'good for wildlife' hedge mixes though, and I have seen some field hedges that have been planted with this type of mix, rather than a properly native mix.

And the previous occupants of my house have in part deliberately planting, and in part by dumping garden waste into the woods, allowed alien plants to get established in the woods. So there is Rhododendron, laurel, spanish bluebells, monbretia and also a range of bulbs ... daffodils etc. And as fast as I try to reverse it, a neighbour keeps tipping more garden waste including aliens into the wood ... (and of course builders rubble). Admittedly the wood does comprise rather a lot of conifers though .. it is plantation. But there are remnants of older woodland and woodland plants such as the English bluebell.

Plantlife haven't yet added cultivated daffodils to the list. But they are turning up all over the place. Not just restricted to verges outside peoples houses, but extending up the sides of lanes from villages out into the countryside, and now almost anywhere.

Diverging slightly ... Why is it that it is always assumed that it is town dwellers that drive out into the country to dump their garden waste and other waste? In my experience the country dwellers are the main culprits.

[aeshna5]

Rosa rugosa in my experience only seems to be a problem in some sand dunes. I remember at Dawlish Warren in Devon Natural England officers were present while I was looking for some of the interesting plants (+ birds) + there was a lot of R. rugosa looking very attractive, but they were talking of spraying it off.

I've also encountered it in dunes on the islands off the Estonia mainland.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Plantlife haven't yet added cultivated daffodils to the list. But they are turning up all over the place. Not just restricted to verges outside peoples houses, but extending up the sides of lanes from villages out into the countryside, and now almost anywhere.

....Purely out of ignorance and curiosity, why are cultivated daffodils a problem?

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Rosa rugosa in my experience only seems to be a problem in some sand dunes. I remember at Dawlish Warren in Devon Natural England officers were present while I was looking for some of the interesting plants (+ birds) + there was a lot of R. rugosa looking very attractive, but they were talking of spraying it off.

I've also encountered it in dunes on the islands off the Estonia mainland.

A shame, becasue it was I expect - displacing nothing, and helping to retain the sands.
And also a source of nectar.

I expect it wasn't threatening anything.

Another case of misplaced idealism, IMO.

Perhaps they woudl consider replacing it with the Burnet Rose - R.pimpinellifolia syn. R. spinossima. wWhich is native, but does partically the same thing. I don't see that both could not be in the same site & co-exist happily.

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

....Purely out of ignorance and curiosity, why are cultivated daffodils a problem?

To my 'eye' they do look out-of-place, in the same way that Eucalyptus trees in England also do.

But hey ho - that's what one likes, in this respect.


I do not know if these larger varieties could make the Englsh ( 'Tenby' ) daffodil - Narcissus pseudonarcissus obvallaris -------- weaker by making them 'impure' - anyone?

However it's a totally different "ballgame" when we are talking Bluebells. There is a REAL RISK that the larger-flowered SPANISH bluebell species - now planted by the thousand in this country - could displace the English one. And these larger specie does not have that scent.

Instead - it has NO scent.

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Interestingly on the list of plants that Plantlife are concerned about are Rosa rugosa, and Cotoneaster horizontalis, Cotoneaster microphyllus. Yet these are actually on the list from Natural England as being good garden plants for wild life ..... admittedly NE do say that the two Cotoneasters can be a pest if they get into the wild.

I seem to remember these 2 Cotoneaster were also reccomended as part of the 'shrub mix' or 'shrub layer' in the planting / improving of woodlands for Pheasant Coverts, in the past, by some Game organisations. The same area would also include species/variety of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Lawsons Cypress ) - this species is good for shelter for a lot of species of birds, and is adaptable as to the soil/ climate.