Beware of the Weeds: Invasive exotic plants threaten Georgia’s biodiversity. By Leslie Kimel
Following is an excerpt from an interesting article on the Georgia Wildlife Federation website which addresses the impact of Invasive plant species.
...Today, thirty years later, the woods are still there, behind my parents’ house, but they are completely different—the same size, yet eerily diminished. In the shrub and herb layers, just three plants predominate now, all invasive exotics, escapees from my parents’ yard and the yards of their neighbors. They are English ivy, nandina, and ardisia—very popular landscaping plants in Florida—and all three are found on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s “List of Florida’s Most Invasive Species.” Three plants—that’s just about all you’ll see now, in a place that was, a relatively short time ago, diverse and complex. All the subtlety is gone from our woods. All the wonderful sense of surprise, the possibility of discovery. Our woods are boring, ruined...For the full article click here.
