Gladiolus tristis
Kathleen Sayce (Sun, 17 May 2009 13:05:29 PDT)
On May 17, 2009, at 10:21 AM, pbs-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
A word of caution on Gladiolus tristus. We have lots of experience
with
it at the Garden. It is a great flower and one I am very fond of,
but it
has to be watched carefully because it does too well. There are
areas in
the Bay Area region where it has a tendency to be invasive; it has
certainly moved around in our collection.
I'm curious to know what you call invasive. Typically in ecology, an
invasive plant dominates its growing area and crowds out most/all
other species. If left alone, it will successfully replace the
original plant community with itself; examples in my neighborhood:
gorse, scots broom, ivy, and a couple of beach grasses (Ammophila
species), and quack grass.
I see many people use the word invasive to mean a plant that
successfully sets seed and spreads around when in fact this is an
example of naturalization, one step beyond establishment (thriving in
the original spot of introduction).
So in the Garden, Paul, is Gladiolus tristis a determined and
dominant thug of the invasive variety, or a very successful naturalizer?
Kathleen
In the coastal Pacific NW, where residents have been stunned to
experience two days in a row with temperatures above 70F.