Guarding the Wild From the Wild

Alien invasive species of plants are the single most important cause for population declines and extinction of native species, although habitat destruction by clearcutting and development surely must be equals.

   Billions are lost and millions are spent annually on control of those invasive species, which do enormous economic damage, especially out West, such as yellow star thistle and sotted knapweed.  

   Daylilies usually don’t come to mind in that context; they do no discernable economic harm and the native plants they displace are up to now mostly common ones. That can change, once they start forming colonies along brooks and move into the woods.

   Most invasive alien plants expand along roads and radiate out from settlements, be they barberry, bush-honeysuckle and garlic-mustard, burning-bush, bittersweet and multiflora rose or daylilies. They all are still expanding their range, which is, if you are an optimist, good news of sorts, because it means that there are still places where they are absent.

   But as more homes are built in the woods now than ever before, there is real danger that in not too short a time, unless homeowners care as much, or more, about the surrounding forest as they do about their homes, the rich and spectacularly beautiful biodiversity which characterizes the Connecticut woods will take a further dive. Old-growth stands of azaleas have been obliterated by access roads to remote homes; less spectacular  hobblebush and fly-honeysuckle are already rare outside strictly protected forests. Gardening next to the woods has become a serious responsibility. Any plant which reseeds itself and pops up in unexpected places like the European yellow foxglove should be watched and prevented from going to seed. Common daylily, pachysandra and aegopodium are best not planted at all.  

   Sometimes extinctions happen fast and can be traced to a specific cause, like an introduced predator; count humans among them. The most famous example is the last Stephen’s Island wren, which  got done in by the lighthouse-keeper’s cat.

   More generally, extinctions happen slowly, and are barely noticeable. When we see a flock of a thousand grackles, it is hard to grasp that they, and many other common birds, are down  50-70 percent over the last 40 years, this according to the Audubon Society’s recent report. Canada lily, like the grackle, will never make the endangered species list, but is it a possibility worth contemplating.

A mere 150 years ago nobody would have predicted the demise of the Carolina Parakeet, the Passenger Pigeon or the Eskimo Curlew only a few decades later– that massive were their numbers.

 Loss of biodiversity, species becoming rare or extinct - when it happens somewhere across the globe, all I can do is throw up my hands or write a check to some NGO;  when it happens right in front of me, I can use my hands to pull and cut.. I have learned over the years that gardening in Connecticut is 80% ripping out. I also learned that it is quite straightforward to kill large specimens of woody invasives like Oriental Bittersweet, Bush Honeysuckles, Barberry and Multiflora Rose: cut or saw the stems and dab the cuts with strong Roundup. The real work is schlepping it all onto the brush pile; (safety goggles are recommended). It is much more difficult to dislodge smaller seedlings and old, hidden rootstocks, or escaped daylilies, Pachysandra and Aegopodium; all gardeners can do is prevent their escape. There are many more attractive alternatives, native and non-native, and many non-invasive daylily cultivars. There are ferns, Mayapple, Solomon’s Seal, Virginia Bluebells, Trillium, Senecio, Foamflower, Anemones, Blue-stemmed goldenrod,  Wild Pink, Aconitum, Red and White Baneberry, Bleeding hearts and Helleborine, even Woodland Sunflower.  Once I got rid of the Honeysuckle, Multiflora rose and Barberry, the native shrubs-in-waiting filled in: Hawthorn and various dogwoods and viburnums, even spicebush and witch-hazel. Best of all, once I cleared out as well as I could Aegopodium and Pachysandra, False-Solomon’s Seal and radiant white wood asters showed up, and on the meadow, unmowed for years now, a Fringed orchid.  New England nature makes its own spectacular gardens all by itself, given a chance.  Still waiting for that Canada lily though.