An article in the Los Angeles Times gardening section today takes on weeds -- especially those that were deliberately introduced by nurseries for landscaping purposes but have naturalized, spread wildly and are crowding out native species that provide wildlife habitat.
Freelance writer Emily Green centered her story on the UC ANR publication "Weeds of California and Other Western States" by UC Davis Cooperative Extension weed specialist Joseph M. DiTomaso. In an interview with Green, DiTomaso said pampas grass is a perfect example of a landscape plant gone wild.
Pampas grass was introduced by a Santa Barbara nursery in 1848, according to the article. When commercial production began in 1874, the plants were propagated by dividing them at the root, and only females were selected for their superior plumes.
"To simplify the process, they turned to seeds and planted the seeds and sold plants as tufts before they flowered, so they did not know if they were males or females," DiTomaso was quoted. "Males got out in the environment and boom, within about 15 years, the plant became an invasive problem. We actually had the solution, but we didn't stick with it."
Other common landscape plants that have turned into difficult weeds are salt cedar, arundo, English and Algerian ivy, ice plant, periwinkle and nasturtiums.
To address the problem, the article says a diversity of groups -- including Sustainable Conservation, the UC Davis Arboretum, Nature Conservancy, California Farm Bureau, California Native Plant Society, Huntington Botanical Gardens, California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Assn. of Nurseries and Garden Centers -- worked together to form an organization called PlantRight, www.plantright.org. It doesn't mention UCCE.
PlantRight has started its effort by enlisting UCCE's Master Gardeners to find landscape plants the group has identified as weeds in local nurseries. The group will then ask nurseries to take the offending plants off their shelves, the story said.
An interesting side note: In her article, Green officially christens the word "invasive" a noun.
