Invasive Species - Green Stratford

Alas, Poor Periwinkle . . .

by Ealdwen | Oct 14, 2017 | Business, Sustainability

Since I’ve made the decision to become a Greener and Completely Better Person I’ve had a lot of tough decisions to make. One of the hardest has been the problem of my old friend, the periwinkle. Now, I just love periwinkle. I love the cheerful blue flowers at the beginning of summer, I love the dark shiny leaves, and I love the fact that you just can’t kill it, no matter how neglectful you are. It just trudges along, rain or shine, spreading out gracefully and replacing that nasty grass. And the name—I mean, how cute is that?

But periwinkle, you may be surprised to learn, is an invasive species, and as I’ve made a vow never to buy invasive species, I could never get it for my garden. Unfortunately, my periwinkle is inherited. It was here when we moved, and the first spring in Stratford, it was about the only thing in the garden to greet me with a cheery smile. I didn’t have the heart to kill it. Besides, it has sneaked into my garden under the neighbour’s fence, so I know it’s up to no good over there as well. I think I will take the advice from this website, and just contain it as much as possible.

I feel guilty about this, but its not as if I had planted Japanese Barberry. Now THERE’S a plant that will keep you awake at night. Japanese Barberry is an extremely attractive plant, with bright red berries, easy to prune, and because it has spiny leaves, deer don’t eat it. This all sounds great, until you learn that because the deer eat other plants instead, Japanese Barberry is spreading rapidly, blanketing the forest floor. But even worse, the thick leaves of the barberry are an ideal home for ticks. I read an article a little while ago that said these plants can carry more than ten times as many Lyme-infected ticks! Just thinking about kids playing around those bushes makes me shudder.

If you, too, are trying to be a Greener and Completely Better Person, here’s a list of invasive species to keep out of your garden. And if you were surprised about any of this information, it’s probably because you have seen these plants at local nurseries—Klomp’s and Cozyn’s both carry them, and I’m sure they’re not the only ones. You wouldn’t think that a nursery would sell plants that were bad for public health and the environment. I guess there are no government regulations to guide them.