Invasive Species & the Danger of Importing Seeds
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:31 pm
I am reposting Mashiigwe's post in another thread about rowan trees, because I think it is really important advice for all our members who garden and care for the earth:
Seeds can be mailed. However, please reconsider receiving any plant life from another part of the World and trying to establish it here. For as long as Europeans arrived on this continent, foreign species and diseases have been ravaging our native ecosystems. Everyone that has thought it would be a good idea what they brought here, and didn't foresee any problems, have caused major damage: Gypsy Moths to make silk, Emerald Ash Borers found their way in shipping materials, wild garlic mustard, babies breath, purple loosetrife, spotted knapweed, eucalyptus trees... gee, this would be a huge list. Please, please consider helping native species that have received a beating over the years. It may seem like seeds for a tree are innocent, but it's possible that they carry a disease which doesn't affect rowan trees but could put the hurt on trees here. Think of the diseases that people of European heritage carried that wiped out native populations who had no natural immunity.