The BIG deal about INVASIVES!

Most of us reading this blog are pretty aware of invasive species. We can agree that they are bad and we need to pay extra close attention to what we are putting into the ground. They choke out the native plants and tend to spread like wildfire and eventually we have a yard full of a plants that we thought looked cool or was pretty.

Take a drive outside of the city and look at the majority of the plants in our forests. You may see huge NATIVE Douglas fir trees. These trees are a huge part of our economy! Don't we want to protect them? What else might you see? How about that INVASIVE ivy climbing up that Douglas Fir tree? Or those green bushes with the pretty yellow flowers blooming on them right now, also known as Scotch Broom, which is INVASIVE.

The Nature Conservancy has some alarming facts on how much damage these invasive plants can do. Not only to our land, but also to our economy. For a little tease to get you to click on the link, it costs the United States economy about 120 BILLION a year! This website also shows some ways that you can help with getting rid of these invasive plants.

Here is also a LINK with a list of all of the known invasive plants in Oregon by the USDA.