the odd & exotic

Pagistaan/Kati noticed how different some of our flora and fauna is from that of northern Europe and Scandinavia, even though we are in similar latitudes.

There are many plants that were introduced from Europe and other places into North America and are now endemic. Some varieties of plants may have been native, but subspecies were introduced. This happened any number of ways including gardeners and farmers bringing seeds intentionally for growing on their new homesteads, seeds hitching a ride in the gut of the domesticated anitmals immigrants brought to the New World, seeds hitching rides in clothing, feed, etc.

A recent example is purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, a very attractive perennial which loves marshy areas. Introduced as an ornamental plant, many of the varieties have become a pest in this part of the world, replacing nearly all native vegetation and destroying wetland areas. An huge effort has been made in recent years to educate gardeners to its tendency to spread and escape and to eradicate it in critical waterways.

However, I'm of two minds regarding what people call weeds. I believe Mother Nature has a purpose for every single plant and organism. And I believe, plants and animals have been migrating around the world without our help for ages; we are trying to take all the credit for something that does happen naturally to some extent. Nothing is static in nature. Something is always becoming and something is always disappearing. Nature will balance itself.

The imbalance seems to be the most common result wherever humans act. Sometimes we deliberately introduce things for our own purposes, whatever they may be. Sometimes we deliberately destroy things, for similar purposes. Most often, we pillage and plunder and destroy, without regard to what we end result will be, most often putting profit before all other considerations. For example, the wild turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo, recently reintroduced and apparently thriving, are causing some farmers around here to be concerned that they may be "damaging crops." I see the turkeys foraging among the stalks of last summer's corn and wonder if they aren't perhaps doing the farmers a favor, cleaning up weed seeds and waste corn that might molder and harbour diseases that could damage next years corn crop, for example.

Anyway, I think modern agriculture is doing more damage to the environment than we can easily wrap our minds around. Monoculture invites pests. The heavy equipment required to farm these days, the chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, and then the runoff into the groundwater, or even directly into streams and rivers, does more to damage fragile ecosystems than the odd imported exotic ever did. Most exotics have to be molly-coddled and protected to survive a harsh change in environment and promptly die if neglected.

And yet, like Don at Iowa Garden, I've spent hours on my hands and knees also, pulling up garlic mustard aka stinkweed, Thlapsi arvense. I console myself with the thought that doing penance on my hands and knees is better than blanket-treating the garden with roundup, etc. I can hardly bear to thin extra seedlings, never mind risk losing beautiful, desirable, well-established plants to roundup or the like. Besides, I think the most marvelous thoughts when I'm weeding. Time flies by. The only down-side to weeding for me is that it's so hard to straighten up and stand/walk afterwards!

Having trouble uploading some pictures of plants that are the early-showers around here. Ah well, I'll try again later.