Invasive Plant versus Pretty Landscaping

[Streetcar]

West coast has a different blackberry.
Most ornamental plants are from another region.

 

[plowhog]

We also have invasive blackberry on our CA property. Along with Scotch broom. A herbicide called Crossbow is effective on it without killing nearby vegetation. I need to reapply it this year as the blackberries have taken over lots of areas I previously had cleared.

We do leave one area of blackberries untouched-- for us to eat them, and also the bears.

 

[Oldoak]

Funny how blackberries are considered weeds/invasive plants in some parts of the country. They seem pretty well behaved here, we even welcome them on our property.

The same around my area.

I always look forward to home made blackberry pie from wild blackberry every summer. Those wild blackberry plants provide food for us as well as all sorts of wildlife from birds to black bears which we have an abundance of and don't argue with when they come for their share.

When I was growing up, we never heard of cultivated blackberries. Or purchasing them in grocery stores as done today. But those in the grocery stores just don't have the same good flavor.

 

[bunyip]

There is a thornless blackberry that is grown commercially, it doesn't spread, will have to try and find the name.
A rust was developed to combat blackberries but it destroyed other fruit such as raspberry.

 

[fried1765]

I wish ALL non native plants were illegal. E.g., wisteria. Mess is as bad as English ivy and kudzu.

Please add Bittersweet to that list!

 

[Molalla1]

There is a thornless blackberry that is grown commercially, it doesn't spread, will have to try and find the name.
A rust was developed to combat blackberries but it destroyed other fruit such as raspberry.

Marionberry . . .

 

[PILOON]

The farce is crossing the Can USA border they forbid fruit your RV but let everything else enter.
Ships sail the seaway and bring all sorts of undesirables like pilot fish and what ever and pollute the great lakes forever but the W/E canoeist must wash his canoe.

Same goes for plastic pollution, LOL, ban straws but allow water bottles and non re recyclable plastic fast food trays.
Now the current trend is to ban plastic bags, (not water bottles) as if my food bag that serves me well for all sorts of wet trash etc is the real problem.
OK, the defense is that they have to start somewhere but why with the small guy?

Always the same, go after the small guy as he can't fight back but leave alone the major polluter (water bottles) as they have a hoard of lawyers ready to prove all the economic downfalls.
Hey, most water you pay $1.00 for is actually tap water, bottled for convenience!

LOL, years ago at a bachelor's party we joked about upcoming trends and I suggested 'instant water'. Man I missed out on the trend of the century.

 

[Jstpssng]

The farce is crossing the Can USA border they forbid fruit your RV but let everything else enter.
Ships sail the seaway and bring all sorts of undesirables like pilot fish and what ever and pollute the great lakes forever but the W/E canoeist must wash his canoe.

Same goes for plastic pollution, LOL, ban straws but allow water bottles and non re recyclable plastic fast food trays.
Now the current trend is to ban plastic bags, (not water bottles) as if my food bag that serves me well for all sorts of wet trash etc is the real problem.
OK, the defense is that they have to start somewhere but why with the small guy?

Always the same, go after the small guy as he can't fight back but leave alone the major polluter (water bottles) as they have a hoard of lawyers ready to prove all the economic downfalls.
Hey, most water you pay $1.00 for is actually tap water, bottled for convenience!

LOL, years ago at a bachelor's party we joked about upcoming trends and I suggested 'instant water'. Man I missed out on the trend of the century.

I buy water by the gallon to carry in the truck. (My home water is terrible.)Oftentimes it comes out of the same cooler as the personal size, but costs less money; usually around $1.25 per gallon.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Marionberry . . .

I'm old enough to remember when he was mayor of DC.

 

[goeduck]

West coast has a different blackberry.
Most ornamental plants are from another region.

Right. A Himalayan Blackberry infestation is a real pain. They can grow nearly 2 stories high and the canes can spread 30 feet in a year. They spread by seed, by tip root and (I think) by fragments. Nearly impossible to get rid of unless treated annually. One guy I knew used his dozer to remove a foot of topsoil and crown root and push it into a swale, then only had one small area to treat.

I cleared about 5 acres of it one year, treated with crossbow for 3 or 4 years and still have canes sprouting up.