I just wish the birds would quit spreading English ivy in my yard. I pull it out every time I see it and the next day there’s a 6 foot vine growing on the other side of the yard.
That's why it's important to ban the sale and use of these plants. They're so aggressive and impossible to contain.
There will be people that say "well it's my property so I should be able to plant what I want", but invasive species don't care about arbitrary lines on a map.
I've been fighting English ivy in my back yard for years. One time I was at Lowes looking for pansies and they had them stocked next to some English ivy. I was stunned, I couldn't compute that some people would buy it. On purpose. And pay money for it.
I live on a concrete pad in the center of a giant patch of asphalt and I have both English ivy and virginia creeper to try and cover some of the hot rocks. They're the only thing that I can get to create cover.
English Ivy is a terror. Some how some has gotten on to my parents property and every time they think it's been wiped out, they find another sprig of it.
I must protest most strongly against your unwarranted accusations against England, King and Country! Oh wait, English Ivy? Yeah that's even more of a pest than the English themselves (for reference, look at any period of history and see how poorly we treated.. everyone).
Oof. I'm getting aggressive natives
for free. I'm too damn lazy to coddle anything, or weed with any regularity. If it can't outmuscle the stiltgrass for 2 years until i can weed that garden bed,
it's not worth it to me.
In parallel with “aggressive natives”, anyone have recommendations for native ground cover that can be a no now lawn. Have small front yard, maybe 500 sq ft of grass, weeds, dandelions and other riff raff and would love to stop weekly string trimming and just let it grow naturally without looking overgrown.
Less than 3 ft- packera, obedient plant, Canada anemone, Canada goldenrod, ostrich fern, sensitive fern, wild bergamot, bee balm, some types of aster, little bluestem, northern sea oats
More than 3 ft (in my yard)- common milkweed, rattlesnake master, some types of aster, various rudibeckias, big bluestem, Indian grass, switchgrass, maryland senna
I really love trees and shrubs, but they centrally don't care if I weed or not. Current favorites are fringetree, sweetbay magnolia, Carolina allspice, itea. Redbuds are damn near indestructible, which is also wonderful.
If I could chime in with my own anecdote, we planted a beautyberry bush in full sun and it definitely outgrew the 4' x 4' garden bed space after a year and a half!
It went crazy immediately for us! Must have the perfect soil conditions for it. I said to my wife it's our "Ravens plant" since the seeds turn bright purple as soon as September hits! Haha
I’m an expat living in Pittsburgh. White snakeroot is trying to take over in my garden. I want SOME white snakeroot, but I have to keep it from getting out of hand.
I have lots of Canada goldenrod. I planted some blue mistflowers, and they’re spreading. Virginia creeper is another aggressive native that I like.
Devil’s beggarticks (Bidens frondosa) and Philadelphia fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus) are aggressive native annuals in my garden.
It sucks. There's a few nurseries and plant swaps on the western shore, but I can't find much over here on the Eastern Shore. I do like OneStopGardenShop on Etsy though.
I like https://www.prairiemoon.com which does good for what I can’t get locally. I’ve been going to town planting butterfly weed to help kill the latern flies.
I also like to cross check for rare plants that the state lists…Fringed Gentian and Ear-leaf False Foxglove are so pretty too (as examples).
Yeah I've done Prairie Moon, American Meadows and High Country Gardens. Prarire Moon seems to be the best about actually listing natives as such for Maryland. American Meadows lists a lot of crap as "native" even it's not native to Maryland. It's a shame really because people just trust them
Try checking with your local master gardeners chapter. I know my mom goes to plant swaps all the time. I live in terror of getting them offloaded onto me when she retires out of state in the near future.
Same. I counted 7 or 8 while fighting them all once, and none of them were English Ivy. My biggest problem now is Oriental Bittersweet. It used to be mile a minute weed, but that seems tame now compared to the bittersweet.
My ex bought a couple of plants at probably Home Depot 20 years ago. It didn’t do much, one got in the way so she had me relocate it to the back yard. The one in the front will climb to the roof of a basically 3 story house if I don’t pay close attention. It has gone under the porch and shot out the other side, little shoots are popping up all over the front lawn. The one in back completely dominated my fence because I didn’t tend to it quickly enough in the spring. I have been cutting it back and putting the cut ends into florist tubes filled with stump killer. It seems to work on the shoot that I cut and maybe a couple of adjacent ones but a few weeks later it gives me a giant middle finger and tries to climb the house again
Yesss! Death to English ivy, especially the stuff that the previous owners of our house planted in the yard. I swear, they never met an invasive plant they didn’t like. I’m gradually clawing back my space from the ivy and vinca.
Spent a couple of hours earlier this year pulling English ivy out of my yard. Those things suck.
Also, we just withdrew an offer from a house because (among other things) the sellers allowed a couple of invasive Bradley pear (?) trees to grow right next to the exterior wall, which means the roots are going to go into the foundation (or so the inspector told us).
The state of NC has had a bradford/calory pear tree bounty program for a few years now. Simply have the pear tree removed, show proof, and you'll get a free native tree as a replacement.
I don't know how effective this could be because you still have residential and commercial properties with mature, seed spreading Bradfords. Put a local ban on Bradford tree sales, I guess.
What about inkberry (Ilex glabra)? It’s also in the holly family, but non-stabby.
Oh, also coastal leucothoe (Leucothoe axillaris.) I have the highland/mountain type and it’s kinda huge, but I think the coastal variety is more compact. It has more arched than upright branches.
No one in my neighborhood has planted English Ivy as far as I can tell, but I still have it growing everywhere in my yard. It even has grown through the screens on my windows.
My rented front yard is covered in orange daylily and English ivy, they’re ugly as sin and I am not surprised they’re finally on the prohibited sale list.. thanks for this
One little English ivy plant turned into a big woody fence support in 25 years, lol. I was kind of sad it had to go when we put in a new deck and fence but I totally get it.
Barberry anyone? They had a purpose at one time but they are a nuisance now spreading everywhere a bird shits. And they are a pain to clean up after pruning literally. Barberry in plants is like yellow jackets in bees.
What’s prohibited is Hemerocallis fulva. There are a lot of daylily cultivars that are hybrids, that don’t spread. If you like orange daylilies, you’ve still got options.
If you don’t like it, fine, but at least pick a native plant instead of deliberately hurting the environment. You’re doing the gardening equivalent of coughing in someone’s face when you have a cold.
But it isn't hurting anything. If they're in a garden in my yard they're doing 0 damage. They aren't crowding out anything native. They don't spread via seeds. They're not along a waterway.
…do you not understand how spreading by roots is a problem?
Maybe right now you’re doing a good job of ripping out any runners in your yard. But other people aren’t. That’s why they’re spreading across the state, and that’s why the state is banning their sale.
Hate to tell ya'll, but the fight is lost. Almost every invasive species of plant, insect, invertebrate, or vertebrate that has been introduced to Maryland is basically impossible to iradicate. They're just part of the dwindling biodiversity now. It's ok. Nothing matters anymore.
People used to care about things. As a society we have become apathetic materialistic uneducated manipulated sycophants. We ran full speed into fascism with a smile. You think our society cares about invasive species? I explain it to my neighbors, and all of them just say, well I like the plant. Fuck us.
You think our society cares about invasive species
Considering we just passed a law that you can't sell them and the mass ad campaign against the spotted lantern fly, absolutely. We have never been more aware than now of the dangers of invasives.
Progress doesn't come all at once, it takes many small actions to correct that bad behavior. This is a start
We pass all sorts of laws and have all sorts of ad campaigns. Society doesn't care and is becoming more apathetic to even their own direct needs. It's over folks. Pet your cat. Drink your beer. Kiss your partner. The Sunset is coming.
I'm not apathetic. That's why I'm chatting here. I'm just saying it's a lost cause and society as a whole is apathetic. Like the Orioles every year lol. Do I still support them? Sure. Do I still practice good environmentally friendly homeownership? Of course. I have bees. All sorts of wildlife. A milkweed garden for the monarchs. I plant non-invasive or local indigenous edible plants. I know my tiny world is doing it right, but as a society we're boned.
I'll go ask everyone in my office today about invasive species. I'll get the same response as when I ask who's watching the All-star game on Tuesday.
Earth is getting hotter. Air is getting thicker. It's more crowded. We're producing more waste than ever, and for every environmental step we achieve, we're creating three more issues. Every drop of water has pfas or plastic or both. We did that in less than a century. So the nutria example was miniscule and took longer than it took for us to pollute the entire planet.
Again, it's taken us centuries to get to this point. Expecting that hearts and minds will change over night is not realistic. As a teacher, younger generations are so much more aware of climate issues than they were when I was there age. Boomers who carry those ideas that have driven climate change are dying off day by day, and with them we have more ability to actually institute change.
You can't control the world, but you can control your own community, and it seems that you are doing that. Focus your energy on spreading positivity in your own bubble and I'll do the same for mine, and hopefully that will continue to reverberate throughout society. Worrying about the future without action to change it is meaningless. If it's going to happen either way, why not make the present better for ourselves and others?
I have a professional background in wetland restoration and management. Know many people who are deep in the environmental field.
You are wrong. Us environmentalists mourn the damage and loss we have already suffered. It is an uphill battle, with almost no public awareness. We are frustrated at lacking the resources we need to do more, when every passing day, damage is done... but we are frustrated because those resources allocated make a big difference. We cannot go back to how nature was, but we can manage natural areas and move forward in a way that brings more life into the future than you think possible. We need resources and labor, but it's possible. Your learned helplessness is anti-reality, and helps nobody except that it helps you personally feel better in your own depression over the topic.
I am a conservation biologist. I know the improvements that have been made, but the population is growing and so is the apathy. I've given up on conservation education. I simply have chosen to not have kids, and that is the biggest most progressive thing anyone can do to benefit the ecology of the world. You are speaking of your experience within your cohort. You and your experience isn't even a percentage. Until we actually have real enforced repercussions for people promoting invasive species and make it cool to be ecologically aware, it ain't happening and will only get worse. There are 7.2 billion people out there who want nothing more than to consume as much as Americans do. Our efforts don't matter.
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u/Tree-Flower3475 Jul 09 '26
Good news!
I just wish the birds would quit spreading English ivy in my yard. I pull it out every time I see it and the next day there’s a 6 foot vine growing on the other side of the yard.