These ornamental plants may look nice growing wild, but they are wreaking havoc on our environment by Todd Meier My friend Nancy was enchanted with a volunteer plant sporting magenta spikes and a regal bearing that made a surprise but welcome appearance last summer on the bank of the stream that meanders through her yard. And it's not the only invasive plant causing problems.
Purple loosestrife has a dark side.
It commandeers wetlands, and like most invasives, chokes out native plants like cattails that are integral parts of natural ecosystems. Where there isn't a shrub layer, it's creating one. It now covers over 7.2 million acres in nine states and two Canadian provinces. Most of this was spent killing agricultural and rangeland weeds, but much of it went to fighting the 450 or so exotic pests originally brought here as ornamental garden plants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Many of these plants are still being sold in nurseries today.