Anonymous wrote:1. Most people couldn’t name most of the plants in their yard, let alone know if they’re invasive or not.
2. Most people buy or rent homes that already have plants growing there— they didn’t plant them.
3. Many invasives grow & spread without anyone intentionally planting them.
So fining people for having them is a really dumb idea. But educating people & encouraging them to plant native plants is helpful.

+1. I don’t know anyone who has intentionally planted bamboo- but I know of several who have it in their yard anyway and try to keep it at bay. It’s not easy.

Nobody cares about invasive species in the context of a home

1. Most people couldn’t name most of the plants in their yard, let alone know if they’re invasive or not.
2. Most people buy or rent homes that already have plants growing there— they didn’t plant them.
3. Many invasives grow & spread without anyone intentionally planting them.
So fining people for having them is a really dumb idea. But educating people & encouraging them to plant native plants is helpful.

In MoCo at least, it is illegal to plant bamboo. In MD, if bamboo spreads into your neighbor's yard(s), which it inevitably will, you can be liable for removal. And it costs thousands of dollars because it is a nightmare to control. Once it gets established, removing bamboo is like trying to pull up a plant with a root system with 30 feet of criss-crossing and zig zagging cable wires, because that's how thick and how much the rhizomes can grow. It is a monster to remove. It can even grow through asphalt and concrete to ruin structures. No one sane plants bamboo.

Anonymous wrote:So bye bye to the cherry blossom trees? Weren't they a gift from Japan?

Well, since they're not invasive. . .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t we have have bigger problems than invasive garden plants?

Isn't global warming a big issue?

Invasive plants like bamboo and ivy kill many trees that combat global warming.

Bamboo doesn't kill trees. Kudzu does, and is far worse of a problem than English Ivy.

False. If bamboo gets out of control and spreads like wildfire (which it often does) it can invade native plants' root systems, eventually choking off trees from water and nutrients they need to live. Bamboo can make it very difficult to propagate more trees as well, because not only will bamboo crowd out native plants like trees, the rhizomes of a single bamboo plant can spread as far as 30 feet in diameter, which which takeaway valuable water and nutrients from new trees that make it difficult for them to grow.

Anonymous wrote:So how does this work if you don't know about plants and you buy a house with an invasive? Or your neighbor's invasive sneaks into your yard? Or seeds are carried by birds into your yard?

I agree with education and not allowing nurseries to sell certain plants but no, not fining homeowners.

We'd be better off focusing on overuse of herbicides, insecticides and fertilizer. See recent songbird deaths during the cicadas.

Strangely enough, I have killed off English Ivy and Bamboo with herbicides. Maybe the wrong thread for this idea?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t we have have bigger problems than invasive garden plants?

Isn't global warming a big issue?

Invasive plants like bamboo and ivy kill many trees that combat global warming.

Bamboo doesn't kill trees. Kudzu does, and is far worse of a problem than English Ivy.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t care at all about English Ivy. And I think it’s really strange that anyone is worked up about it.

Yup, nothing to get worked up about......just 5,000 trees currently in death spirals in Takoma Park alone because of ivy and other invasive vine plants choking them out of existence:

https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/07/09/1014566230/this-man-documented-5-000-trees-being-killed-by-vines-in-takoma-park


That's just TP alone. Now imagine how magnified the problem is across the entire country. Thousands and thousands of trees across the country slowly being killed, which will deplete the country of trees that take in thousands of tons of carbon and reduce energy consumption. Not to mention, all of those dead trees will end up presenting big falling hazards that can injure people and destroy property.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t we have have bigger problems than invasive garden plants?

Isn't global warming a big issue?

Invasive plants like bamboo and ivy kill many trees that combat global warming.

Don’t we have have bigger problems than invasive garden plants?

Apples are non native invasives too

I don’t care at all about English Ivy. And I think it’s really strange that anyone is worked up about it.

Anonymous wrote:So bye bye to the cherry blossom trees? Weren't they a gift from Japan?

Cherry trees from Japan don't kill native plants and trees. They do not spread like ivy and bamboo. They have completely different root systems. Nice attempt, but reductio ad absurdum.

Isn’t that why we had a revolution 240 years ago - to get rid of English Ivy?