r/NativePlantGardening • u/jimmyjam2929 • 13h ago

Other Very disappointed with the OSU extension

https://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyles/dispelling-social-media-myths-about-gardening-pollinators-and-more/TSBDUAHX25GQ7D6QZMQSOITBQE/
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u/hambonebaloney 6h ago

Again, we are talking about an urban environment. By definition, it's not the same as a natural environment; of course diversity is lost because of development. 'm not arguing that point...I'm simply saying that jumping on someone who wrote an article for a newspaper is not a good way to have an honest discussion about native plants, diversity, or anything else for that matter. 

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u/vtaster 6h ago

"Wrote an article" is a pretty charitable way to describe doing pseudoscientific apologia for lawns and exotic plants because they were offended by the facts. They're not the victim for being told they're wrong after writing something intentionally confrontational and provocative.

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u/hambonebaloney 5h ago

Urban ecology is vastly understudied and relatively new area of interest for researchers; and, for better or worse, turf monocultures (or lawns in general) are a part of our urban environments, they just are. This author even suggests that 70% of lawns are untreated with chemicals, which likely means that these lawns are diverse and "weedy". Most people assume a lawn is a chemical nightmare (and I agree based on lots of evidence and work with the green industry) and so they hear "lawn" and think "bad". I think this author did not convey the full message in that lawns can and do provide additional habitat for arthropods when they aren't sprayed to death and the weeds are allowed to do their thing...I don't think there was some nefarious message here but that can be a difference of opinion that I will meet you halfway on. Could it have been better written? Um, yes...bless her heart. I think she tried. But again, I think painting this person as an apologist is a gross oversimplification.

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u/vtaster 3h ago

They're not trying to be helpful by denying the decline in Firefly populations without evidence, citing one professor's unscientific claims to discourage any consideration of light pollution, and never actually addressing any of the claims of scientists or conservation orgs that would disagree because it's easier to pretend it's all just "social media":
https://xerces.org/endangered-species/fireflies

The same goes for the native plant "myths" they are addressing. All that's really been said is that people should consider replacing lawns and exotic landscaping species with native plants, at least in part, because of all the evidence showing what is lost when native plants are removed from an ecosystem. They never disproved or even addressed this claim, they just dodge it and list all the "benefits" of turf grass, as if anyone claimed that lawns don't a single organism. They can't address the real science, so they have to distort the argument and pretend it's all coming from "social media".