Garden Thugs

Aggressive plants can be more than pretty perennials that have gotten out of hand in your garden. As I mentioned in the Garden Thugs article in Garden Gate issue 69, some can become invasive. They escape from a garden and spread into the wild. Often they’re so fast spreading and rampant that they kill native species that get in their way. To learn more about this serious problem, check out these links. For a list of invasive plants infesting natural area across the United States, as well as plant descriptions and information on managing them, check out: www.nps.gov/plants/alien/ For an extensive list of invasive plants with great photos and descriptions, click on this website: www.invasive.org USDA listings of invasive plants, including weeds as well as woody and aquatic plants with links to many more sites for information on specific plants: www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov University of Vermont Extension Service listing of common perennials that can become invasive: www.uvm.edu/extension/publications/oh/oh65.htm Live in the Southwest? This list compiled by Northern Arizona University will inform you about invasive species specific to your area: www.usgs.nau.edu/SWEPIC/swvma/index.asp Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service compiled this list of well-known perennials, explains how they spread and rates them in terms of how they will behave in your garden: www.hort.purdue.edu/hort/ext/Pubs/HLA/HLA_001.pdf