In article , "Warren"
wrote:

John Thomas wrote:
I realize they're pretty plants and are a blast to have around if you like
watching insects, but given it's vigor, flowering rates, overall
hardiness and
other traits, why doesn't buddleia strike people as a potentially dangerous
plant?

Why in god's name would anyone dump something like this into the
environment?
(If this was GMO corn, people would be burning down fabric mills in
anger. :-)


http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/invasives.html


Butterfly bush is not invasive. As the first sentence in the link you
provided
states, "An invasive plant has the ability to thrive and spread aggressively
outside its natural range." That means you plant one or two, and
eventually you
get dozens spreading from the originally intended spot. Butterfly bushes
don't
do that.

Butterfly bush is a very aggressive grower. A single plant can go from
not much
more than a stick with a couple of leaves to a bush big enough to hide a
small
shack in just a few months. But you won't have a dozen new butterfly bushes.

It's a very aggressive grower, but it's not the least bit invasive.

Who told you dat?

As one of the top-twenty invasive pest-plants in England, its potential to
do harm should perhaps be taken more seriously in the USA too. The USDA's
Farm Service Agency's list of common invasive plants in the United States
includes B. davidii, & in my region, the Washington State Noxious Weed
Control Board reported of B. davidii:

"It has escaped cultivation, invading roadsides, riparian areas, pastures,
river gravel bars and other disturbed areas. It is noted to form dense
thickets and may exclude native vegetation.* Butterfly bush produces large
quantities of wind and water dispersed seeds (up to 3 million seeds per
plant), which can remain dormant in the soil for many years. When cut
down, it resprouts readily from the rootstock and can be propagated
through cuttings.* Butterfly bush has been noted to reach maturity in less
than one year, allowing it to spread quickly.* Although this plant is
touted as a beneficial plant for butterflies, it is not noted to be used
as a butterfly host plant and may displace the native plants needed by
butterflies for reproduction.* This plant has also become invasive in
Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand it is estimated that the
weed pest is displacing valued native species and is reported to be
costing the forestry industry $0.5 to 2.9 million annually in control and
lost production."

It is interesting to note that it has NOT been found to be a butterfly
host plant for northwest butterfly species, so one of its most touted
"values" is not true for all regions, if any.

It is presently at the worry-stage that what is already a major pest-plant
in England & New Zealand will eventually be the same in many regions of
the United States. Barring the development of sterile cultivars, I would
expect the butterfly bush to begin showing up regionally on US lists of
banned noxious pest plants within the decade, & possibly within two or
three years, as this year the
Washington State Nursery & Landscape Associations's Invasive Taskforce
began a study to further assess the Noxious Weed Control Board's
assessment, & if the reports continue to go as badly as they've gone so
far, Buddleia will be added to the growing list of illegal plants.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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