Some of my favorite invasive plants are:
Queen Anne's Lace (Not really Queen Anne's lace, just looks like it.)
Yarrow ( I rub it between my fingers, reminds me of my childhood.)
Hibiscus (Beautiful, extravagant, makes great tea.)
Bittersweet (A friend of mine went for a walk, came back with a basket he made from Bittersweet tendrils.)
Honeysuckle (Bees love honeysuckle, lullingly sweet surrounding fragrance.)
Touch-me-not (My mother introduced us. Touch the seed pod and it goes bonkers, makes children laugh.)
Watercress (Grows in the water, good in salads.)
Yellow dock (The Dakota, Blackfoot and Cheyenne tribes used the bruised fresh leaves as a poultice for wounds and rheumatic pains. You can too.)
Mullein (Fuzzy leaves like a deer's ear, but be gentle, rips easily.)
Nightshade (This is a poison plant straight from a fairy tale.)
Knotweed (Hollow stems snap with a boink, used to treat Lyme.)
Lemon balm (Calming. A favorite of the faerie folk, you know, the little people.)
Garlic mustard (One of my favorites. I eat the leaves right off the plant, always expressing gratitude. Teaches solidarity. All Mustards flower at the same time, whether mature or two inches tall.)
I just learned that African women
Came to North America on slave ships
With hibiscus and ochre woven into their hair.
How invasive is that?
......
This is something I have been wanting to write about for a long time. I feel that the new vogue offensive against invasive plants is the plant version of going after undocumented immigrants. It's just a different form of xenophobia, disguised as environmental concern, but it's a very low-grade, superficial concern. People who work with plants medicinally and energetically teach that the best path for benefiting from nature is to build a relationship with it. Get to know a tree, talk to a flower. Talk to an "invasive"! 10 years ago that would have sounded far-fetched and I might not have even bothered saying it, but I don't think such advice is so easy to dismiss any more. If you have it in you to introduce yourself to a special plant, I would say, don't wait. This is the time to take that step.
Xenophobia: an extreme, intense fear and dislike of customs, cultures, people (and plants) considered strange, unusual, or unknown. The term itself comes from Greek, where "phobos" means fear and "xenos" can mean stranger, foreigner, or outsider.
(Article changed on May 27, 2022 at 11:38 AM EDT)
(Article changed on May 27, 2022 at 4:58 PM EDT)
