This is the second of three posts highlighting Garden Problems. The first was “Deer Browsing, Ticks, Coyotes, and Vehicle Collisions: Garden Problems, Part 1.” Visit our website next week to read the next installment of our Garden Problems series regarding water in our garden.
Wind rustling through a stand of dame’s rocket makes a serene, relaxing sound, and a meadow full of it is rather pretty. Problem is, it’s invasive. Multiflora rose is also a pretty plant and smells divine, it’s scent perfuming the air for quite a distance. Problem is, it’s also invasive. And Morrow’s honeysuckle? So pretty and so fun to pluck off a blossom and drink its sweet nectar. Problem is — you guessed it — it’s invasive.
When we first arrived on our property, we expected to find an abundance of vegetation, and we did. There are trees and vines, flowers and leafy greens, shrubs and berries. Most of the property was returned to the wild long ago, and we expected Mother Nature to take care of herself with native plants. We did not expect to find an abundance of invasive plants, but we found exactly that.
There are large swaths of our property where nothing at all is native. Most of the herbaceous plants and shrubs are introduced plants and many of them are invasive. Some of the trees are native to this part of the country, but we’ve found many introduced species of trees as well.
This bounty of invasive species surprised us until we started learning more about the history of our land. First, most of our property used to be cleared farm and pasture land. The previous owners did a little flower gardening close to the house but didn’t need the pasture and decided to let nature have its way. They planted a few pine trees but mostly let the property fill in on its own. This has resulted in a hodgepodge of whatever the birds and wind have dropped.
We expected native plants to be the first to grow as they are naturally acclimated to the place, but we don’t find many of those growing here. Then, we learned why that might be — the deer. If you haven’t had a chance, yet, take a look at my previous post, “Deer Browsing, Ticks, Coyotes, and Vehicle Collisions,” where I discuss our biggest gardening problem. I’ve learned recently that deer — a native animal — love native plants because they evolved together and will eat those first. I can’t exactly tell you which native plants they love because I absolutely do not know. All of them, I would suspect based on what I’ve observed. If there ever were any native plants growing here at all, they are mostly gone now because of our dear friends the deer. What we have left is a forest without much understory in some areas and invasive plants the deer won’t eat in other areas.
Invasive plants are interesting though. Many of them were introduced to the United States on purpose and for practical reasons — garlic mustard to flavor food and kudzu for erosion control to name but two. Some are quite lovely and smell divine like my favorite multiflora rose. Others want to hurt us — poison hemlock and wild parsnip come to mind. I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet of all the flowering plants on the property, and I’ve become quite dismayed at the disproportionate levels of invasive plants we have here. It is nearly impossible to find native plants on our sixty acres.
If I were to guess which invasive plants are most abundant, I would have to propose a three-way tie between multiflora rose, Morrow’s honeysuckle, and dame’s rocket. All three are pretty plants, so it’s a bit sad knowing they are invasive.
Multiflora Rose
Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) smells absolutely divine. We found two large rose bushes the first year we were here. They are planted exactly where one would expect them to be — along the edge of the large meadow. I don’t know if there were others planted in line with those two at some time in the past to create a hedge, but I would consider it likely. We’ve found other smaller bushes also where one would expect them to be — along the edge of the trail.
Multiflora rose was introduced in the late 1700s to aid in soil conservation and to act as a natural fence for pasture land. It was a popular plant well into the twentieth century when it was determined to be a bit too abundant and overpowering. Our multiflora roses don’t seem to be acting in the ways an invasive plant should. They aren’t spreading and haven’t choked out any other plants. I’ve thought many times that maybe I misidentified the plant, but I’m pretty sure I got it right. Our roses just seem to be polite.
Morrow’s Honeysuckle
Morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) is a different story. We have this stuff everywhere. It is definitely moving in to any place it can take root. We’ve found at least three different kinds of honeysuckle on our property, but the Morrow honeysuckle is by far the most abundant. I absolutely love it when it blooms, but I can definitely see myself becoming quite annoyed with it when it’s time to build our gardens.
This honeysuckle was introduced to the United States in 1852 by Dr. James Morrow for whom it was named and was sold as an ornamental plant and for erosion control well into the twentieth century before it was deemed invasive. Buzzy insects love it.
Dame’s Rocket
The third plant on the list is dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis). This is an interesting one. We find this plant just about everywhere on our property, and it has definitely, noticeably crowded out other plants. Where it grows in greatest profusion, no other plants grow, and there is more of it year after year. Of the three I’ve mentioned in this post, this is the one that is definitely, without any shade of doubt whatsoever in my mind, an invasive plant, and yet, it is not included on the invasive plants list for my county. Eight miles away in the next county, it is on the invasive plants list, but not here. Weird.
Dame’s rocket, or false phlox, is easy to spot in the spring. It’s a tall flower that looks like . . . well . . . phlox. At a glance, they look almost identical. Two differences between the two are the flower petals and the bloom time. Dame’s rocket has four petals and phlox flowers have five. Dame’s rocket blooms in spring while phlox tends to bloom later in the summer. There are other differences, but those are the easiest identifiers.
Where I live, it grows in the ditches and along the forest’s edge. It’s one of the first and longest lasting flowers to announce the start of summer. Until recently, dame’s rocket seeds were included in many wildflower seed mixes sold in stores. You might still be able to buy them at some retailers, but they are no longer supposed to be sold in many areas of the country.
We have not tried removing any of the invasive plants in great number, yet, so I cannot speak from experience on how difficult they will be to eliminate. We have cut back wild parsnip, and that one does seem to like to come back to get us. Because we have so many of the rigorous growers, we will work in small sections as we build our gardens and remove plants only as we need to do so. If you’ve had any experience removing invasive plants, let me know in the comments.
We have a short video of dame’s rocket on our YouTube channel. We hope you take a moment to watch and enjoy.
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