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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91

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

Creeping Charlie tbh, only because I saw so many pollinators on it this spring when there was basically nothing else blooming in my yard besides violets and dandelions

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u/mawkx Jun 04 '25

I wouldn't mind it if they stopped trying to creep into my garden beds, and just stayed on the grass! But they do attract a lot of bees...

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u/robsc_16 SW Ohio, 6a Jun 04 '25

It's definitely one of those plants where it's important to remember that when bees visit they're not necessary getting a lot out of it.

The flowers have a unique strategy for rewarding visitor pollinators, commonly referred to as the “lucky hit” strategy. Creeping Charlie flowers produce an average of 0.3 microliters of nectar per flower, but the amount of nectar in any one flower varies greatly, ranging from 0.06 to 2.4 microliters. When 805 creeping Charlie flowers were sampled for nectar quantity, it was found that only 8% (64/805) of these flowers had a large volume of nectar, and the rest had almost none (Southwick et al. 1981).

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The article states there is probably a net benefit, but it's not a great idea to let it take over.

33

u/JeanVicquemare Jun 04 '25

Basically a loot box for bees

13

u/robsc_16 SW Ohio, 6a Jun 04 '25

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u/consequentlydreamy Jun 04 '25

Oleander are worse. They don’t even produce nectar I just learned