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Comment by bencollier49 | Hacker News Reader

Is it worth pointing out that Himalayan Balsam is a major invasive species? Characterised as a 'nuisance plant'.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=480

I was going to say, this list would be better if the non-native species were labelled with a * or something.

Even in Minnesota, there's a push to restore native prairie grasses, which also benefits bees: https://www.beeculture.com/prairie-restoration/

> restore native prairie grasses

And what would be "native" to Minnesota given that (at least) 2C temperature raise is pretty much in the books?

Native plants are plants that occur... natively. If a plant was brought in from elsewhere it is invasive. It has nothing to do with temperature.

Plant seeds tend to travel far and wide with birds and animal migratory patterns. What takes root is dependent on soil, climate, etc. Meaning, what’s native is less dependent on location and more on conditions.

As climate changes, conditions change, and so the set of plants best suited to any particular location changes as well.

Plant ranges are migrating due to climate change. For species that are native to areas close enough to be introduced naturally invasive is not a useful definition.

Exactly. Those plants are not invasive.

Some native plants can handle that kind of temperature change better than others. I wish there were a database of plants that are both native and climate resilient for different areas.

As is the Himalayan Blackberry - https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/himalayan-blackberry

The himalayan environment spawned some very pernicious and hardy species!

Plenty of these around me. Grow super fast, push out everything else, and are very hard to get rid of.

Are the berries edible?

Very, they're quite delicious!

However, the vines themselves are a thorny menace, with a coating of sharp, strong spines that hook backwards towards the root. Catch one of these sometimes slender tendrils around an ankle while walking, and you might think you can just pull through it... and rapidly learn that you shouldn't.

If you can't convince someone to pick them for you, go armoured. I have some old fire turn-out pants that help quite a bit.

Yellow Water Iris is also invasive. Once you have them, they are very difficult to get rid of.

I believe they're native to the UK, but not the US. The plant was also rated in second place for per day nectar production per flower in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative.

They also look wonderful, so they're very much here to stay.

One or two on the list are non-native, simply because their nectar production was so good. Admittedly I've been relatively blasé when it comes to native vs non-native. My only requirements were that bees like it and it can grow in the hard, clay-like soil in my garden. I've had no issues with the native plants getting blocked out by the non-native, but I will keep an eye on it and remove any foreign guests that seem to be taking my hospitality too generously.

Honeysuckle too.

I've planted the Lonicera periclymenum species, which is very much native to the UK. I'm also looking to plant the other type, Lonicera xylosteum, in the coming months. If you're in the US though I believe it could well be an invasive species from Europe.

Yes, I'm in the US - Minnesota in fact. Our worst bush/tree invader is Buckthorn, but Honeysuckle is right behind it. I believe both were introduced as garden plants.

Rhododendron is pretty bad as well.

There are native varieties as well as the ones from asia.

Having just now read about Rhododendron destroying habitats all around the UK, I'm inclined to tear it out. I'll play it by ear and just keep an eye on it for the moment. If it starts growing unruly I'll be sure to take my shears to it. If only it wasn't so pretty, and so bee-friendly!

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