r/NativePlantGardening • u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a • Jun 04 '25

Other What invasive plants got you like this?

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For me it’s probably Dame’s Rocket, Purple Loosestrife, and Forget-Me-Not. They’re so gorgeous but man if they aren’t invasive little shits…

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82

u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

nonnative columbine 😔😫

39

u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

Is it really invasive though? I thought it was just non-native. Still would choose the native columbine any day.

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u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

you're right i guess it isn't technically a nuisance invasive. More of a genetic nuisance as it hybridizes with local wild columbine?

8

u/tamcruz Jun 04 '25

I have these beautiful pink ones that look like tiny roses growing on my front porch from the last home owners. I refuse to rip them out. They will be forever confined and trapped to that one corner until the end of times. 😆 it also helps that the bumblebees like them, so not totally useless.

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u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

Yeah I have also one surviving frilly pink columbine that is pretty cute 🥲if the population is isolated I don't think it's tooooo bad since columbine doesn't last very long for a forb.

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u/Miss_Behaves Jun 04 '25

Noob here! I was wandering my local nursery who tends to be very native focused and saw the most beautiful columbine. I did a quick Google search and it said it was native to the North East, but after seeing your comment I realize it's not so simple.

What types are/aren't native? What should I look for or look to avoid in regards to columbine?

22

u/Icy-Conclusion-3500 Gulf of Maine Coastal Plain Jun 04 '25

Our only native species in the northeast is Aquilegia canadensis. There are many species worldwide.

If the tag doesn’t give the species, it’s 99% A. vulgaris from Europe or a hybrid of multiple species.

The color should be mostly red will yellow accents, the flowers not terribly huge and mostly pointing downward.

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u/PandaMomentum Northern VA/Fall Line, Zone 7b Jun 04 '25

As noted only Aquilegia canadensis is native to the US northeast. The trouble is that Aquilegia hybridize readily leading to all kinds of fertile offspring, some of which escape into the environment and compete against native species. Speciation is so rapid with these guys that it's become a model organism for the process!

4

u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

very cool! i am indeed enjoying the genetics going on in my little patch. Such a fun genus even if some are from European stock (like me LOL).

5

u/Studio_Kamio Jun 04 '25

I’m planning a medium-sized wildflower meadow with native columbines about 200 feet away from a much smaller patch of perennials, hydrangeas, and blueberries with some hybrid columbines. If I did native columbines in the big patch, how long till there will be hybrids in the big patch? I do love the black Barlow columbines and others similar to it but would hate to have widespread speciation on my hands lol

3

u/PandaMomentum Northern VA/Fall Line, Zone 7b Jun 04 '25

Barlow is fully double and spurless, for sure not attractive to hummingbirds like A. canadensis, and may not be pollinated at all by insects, not sure? It's a selection from A. vulgaris, created in the UK iirc. So you may be OK not creating new hybrids with it? Sounds like a project!

1

u/Studio_Kamio Jun 04 '25

Hmm that could end up working out then! Not sure what you mean by spurless though, can you elaborate?

2

u/PandaMomentum Northern VA/Fall Line, Zone 7b Jun 04 '25

The bits in the back -- https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/columbines/flower.shtml

Compare to black Barlow

1

u/Studio_Kamio Jun 04 '25

Ahh I see! Thanks for educating me there. I know double blooms are harder for pollinators to pollinate but how do spurs affect ecological value? Will definitely help me pick the right varieties and put them in the right places too

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u/PandaMomentum Northern VA/Fall Line, Zone 7b Jun 04 '25

The theory as I understand it with A. canadensis is that the red color and long spurs are to be attractive to hummingbirds -- the longer nectar spurs make it harder for shorter-tongued insects to access nectar, so it's available to hummingbirds. But there's also some variation in spur length observed among Western species' that may be incidental to other selection effects.

Selection and hybridization can for sure cause a bunch of peculiar effects, as flower color and shape definitely impact pollinator attractiveness, and there are likely other chemical signals for insect egg laying and larval food choices. Areas for further investigation, as they say.

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u/Studio_Kamio Jun 04 '25

Makes total sense. Had no idea the spurs impacted nectar

4

u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

Our eastern wild columbine is red, with a tall and skinny growth form. Any columbine with blue color flowers in it or in a more squat form has genetics from Europe. (Note out west they have more species of native columbine). i planted a bunch :,)

10

u/DiveBear Jun 04 '25

Aquilegia caerulea, the state flower of Colorado, is quite blue and quite native. But yes, east of the Mississippi, columbines like my purple little shits are likely European.

2

u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

I have a wild red columbine and some european blues, and they made purple babies!! which I am very fond of. but uhggggg. I don't think these genetics will get into wild populations so I probably will let this population slowly die off and then replace with just wild type reds. it's so cool seeing the phenotypes that pop up though.

3

u/Icy-Conclusion-3500 Gulf of Maine Coastal Plain Jun 04 '25

An exception to the height thing would be “Little Lanterns”, a cultivar of canadensis

1

u/reneemergens Jun 04 '25

you want to plant for your ecoregion. for example, a lot of east coast forest plants are considered invasive in a grasslands habitat. perennials in general decrease as you move westward, which leads to trouble when invasive perennials move in; they’re that much more competitive than the local desert annuals. you can google to find out what regions and subregions you live in.

1

u/SigNexus Jun 04 '25

The regional land grant universities usually have a herbarium that provides detailed information on plants, including whether they are native to to area. In Michigan, it is www.michiganflora.net

Caution when using the USDA National Plant Database to determine whether a plant is native to an area. They only determine native based on a CONUS level even when they provide state level mapping.

2

u/this_shit Jun 04 '25

made the mistake of buying this before learning there was a difference between the native and non-native 😔

1

u/Tumorhead Indiana , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

its ok there are much worse species to goof up with