Years ago I was reading a supposedly scholarly article which stated that pine trees weren’t native to the American continent. Too many similarities to trees in other areas of the world…
I’ve seen simular arguments for many other species, from lavender to watermelons, from honeybees to wolves. The general consensus seems to be that if it is similar to another organism elsewhere, it MUST have been imported.
I may be entirely wrong, but I tend to think that many of the “rules” were made up to support previous generations’ preconceptions.
So are Invasive species and Landrace Gardening Ideas incompatible? If so then How do we as Landrace Gardeners Bring the Native Only Gardeners together? We both care about our environment but differ in methods completely. Is it even worth the effort of working with them tho? Or is it like the Gardeners Equivalent to Politics where nothing gets solved & everything is a Negative downward spiral.
Are Invasive species (Just like Weeds) a Man made concept therefore don’t truly exist in Nature? I’ve Read the Book “Beyond The War on Invasive species” didn’t finish it but got the gist.
Really interesting book, Kind of Breaks the Invasive species concept, and explains the history of that mindset. From this book I learned that Apparently Pesticide Companies like Monsanto Lobbied Colleges to Push their Dogmatic views hence why it’s so prevalent today (Thankfully now science is catching up and peeling back this dogmatic view)
I think this forum is gonna make Luther Burbanks than you could’ve ever imagined.
I’m already standing on the solders of giants like Luther Burbanks, Ivan Michurin, Joesth Lofthouse, Charles Dowin, Paul Gouchi, Matt Powers, Samuel Thayer, Arthur Haines, Blanche Cybele Derby, Andrew Mallison, Billy from Perma Pastures Farms, Dave Wilson, David The Good, Elaine Inghram, Jo Jenkins, Migardener, Arkopia, Micheal Greger, Michael Mazourek, Paul wheaton, Ross Raddi, stefan sobkowiak, and so many more People I’ve Learned from.
All Giants in their respective fields, from Landrace, Breeding, Foraging, Permaculture, Pruning, Gardening, Nutrition, etc. All these People I respect very much because of what they do. All Their Philosophies/Perspective Differ meaning enough things to learn from thus creating your own new path to carry the torch forward! Heck even you, I’ve already learned a Crap ton from.
This is why I joined this forum, to Soak in as much info as I can! To Learn as much as I can, To test my Theories on different perspectives! So we can all Benefit from Cross Pollination of Diverse Ideas!
huh that’s interesting, so then what would be native to anything then? Is Native also a man made concept like weeds? Where neither truly exists in Nature?
Previous Generations Preconceptions…? Interesting what are our generations Preconceptions? In other words what are our generations Blindspots? I guess we will find out when we get older, Wiser and when we even Learn more!
The very first thing I do when I move to a new area I have not gardened in before is to look up the list of all the invasive plants for that area. I then look up all food producing plants that are related to any plant on the invasive list if the plants listed are not directly useful food plants themselves. This to me is a good first start at finding plants that will grow locally without huge inputs or massive amount of effort on my part trying to keep them alive.
You my dude are thinking Exactly how I am thinking. Domesticating Wild Edibles is what I am attempting to do, because I love plants that don’t require much work, who grow without fail in my Environment. Nature already proved their genetics are good or that we have an Abundance of Deer & Groundhogs.
In my region, these edible plants are Often labeled as “Invasive species”
Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis)
Stringing Nettle (Urtica dioca)
Autumn Olive (Eleagnus umbellata)
Wineberry (*Rubus phoenicolasius)
Blackberries (Rubus spp.)
Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera)
White Mulberry (Morus alba)
Garlic Mustard (Allaria petiolata)
Black locust (Robinia spp.)
Chocolate Vine (Akebia spp.)
Gooseberry/Currant (Ribes spp.)
Kudzu (Pueraria montana)
Mile-A-Minute (Persicaria perfoliata)
Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraia)
Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya)
Crow Garlic (Allium vineale)
Shiso (Perillia frutecens)
Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa)
Kiwi Berry (Actinida arguta)
And these Plants make good Rootstocks for Grafts, such as
Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana)
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)
The Rest make Good Biofule and or Compost Material to help the plants I want to grow, GROW big and Strong! Imagine we could solve our Gasoline Crisis with Invasive species? They are both Dead forms of life so why not.
Some “Native” Plants are also just as Competitive as the Invasive and should be lumped into the same Category for Landrace Breeding. Like
I moved this discussion from another topic because it was so interesting that I thought it deserved its own thread, and deserved to be revived.
I have personally found that there are a lot of edible weeds in my area that taste good, and – being wild and vigorous with no help – need no inputs.
I think studying edible wild plants wherever you live is a fantastic way to develop creative ideas about what you can grow easily, without inputs.
Even studying the nonedible plants can also give you ideas about domesticated edible species that have similar needs.
For instance, when I noticed that star of Bethlehem is extremely invasive in my yard and needs no inputs at all, I looked over at garlic, which has almost the same exact growth habit and life cycle, and went . . . “Hmmm!” Now I have garlic growing all over the place, and it needs zero inputs from me.
The best way to solve your “weed” problem, is to eat the weeds. Then your weeds are no longer weeds . Eventually this relationship paves the way towards domestication, where a deep bond of symbiosis forms between you and the plant.
What’s very interesting, I’ve looked up Phylogenic Trees for it & there seems to be a different species that’s edible like an asparagus!? Ornithogalum umbellatum & closely related O. nutans are moderately toxic (Altho it’s been reported in some sources as edible after processing the bulbs to eliminate toxins, sam thayer hasn’t done this & doesn’t recommend it).
But…
Ornithogalum pyrenaicum (Spiked Star of Bethleham or Prussian Asparagus) has Young unexpanded flowering Shoots edible cooked. Excellent mild Asparagus flavor.
Here’s the Phylogenic Tree Study. What’s wild is Drooping Star of Bethleham Ornithogalum nutans is so close to the edible Ornithogalum pyrenaicum. Different Phylogenic Trees from the same study place them in different order. Will need to read it carefully.
Here’s the Phylogenic Tree (Version 1). It places the toxic O. nutans further away.
The term invasive describes a plant that is not from the ecosystem, that breeds prolifically, that outcompetes native plants to the point where they can no longer establish.
Many weeds are invasive crops that early settlers brought with them bc they wanted food no matter what growing conditions were present.
I personally eat many of my weeds and invasive weeds as part of my management strategy.
Often these crops fill in the gaps between harvests to allow me to eat from my space anytime I visit.
I try to leave the one that has the best traits to propagate. My thinking is that illl never 100% get rid of them bc animals and birds will eventually return anything that I remove. So it’s better to improve the harvest then to wage a war with no winner.
I’ve made peace with my weeds by changing the “w” to an “f”. Even if I could eat any of them I wouldn’t be able to put a noticeable dent in the population but my goats and rabbits have helped me bring several “invasives” on my property into a position where I’m now thinking that i may be over grazing them. This may be a bit of simplistic thinking but my attitude has become that invasives are an indication that we aren’t doing our job in environment. Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, my attitude has become, “I don’t care where it’s from; if it’ll grow well here, create tasty food, and won’t become a nuisance, it’s welcome.”
That last part is a very important consideration. I won’t plant anything with thorns, burrs, or other horrible traits that might escape my garden, for example.
It’s also worth being careful not to introduce species that can be hosts for a disease that might be dangerous to a keystone species in your climate. Situations like that aren’t especially common, but they can be devastating when they do happen, so it’s good to keep an eye out for any known issues like that, just in case.
Also, don’t ever introduce an ornamental-only plant that might easily escape and outcompete a tasty edible plant . . . More food in an ecosystem is great, and less food is probably not beneficial to any animal species!
. Eventually this relationship paves the way towards domestication, where a deep bond of symbiosis forms between you and the plant.
More food in an ecosystem is great, and less food is probably not beneficial to any animal species!