A homeowner who wanted to do right by the local plants and animals in their area found themselves facing a dilemma.
"A couple of days ago, a really tall evergreen in my backyard had to come down, it was leaning and rotten," they explained in a Reddit post. "Wanted a smaller shade tree to replace it and was recommended by the local greenhouse to get an amur maple. … Now come to find out it's invasive and can kill the native plants in the surrounding area? I am now feeling super guilty and am second-guessing planting it. Any advice?"
Commenters quickly jumped in with a resounding call to return the Amur maple for a native tree. One person linked to a resource of native plants in the area.
"Just with the small bit of digging it seems like this species is considered invasive in every state East of the Mississippi and North of the Mason/Dixon," one person wrote. "So definitely good choice to return it."
The Amur maple is indeed considered invasive in Maryland, where the OP lives. After confirming this, they wrote an addendum to their original post, explaining that they did take the maple back to the nursery where they'd bought it.
However, the nursery's owner was reluctant to accept the return and didn't have much to offer in terms of a replacement. "Honestly I'm kind of surprised how complicated it is to find a safe replacement tree," OP wrote.
Another commenter agreed: "Selling these invasive species causes massive ecological damage and they continually sell them and push misinformation just to make some money. I think knowingly screwing over the environment until you are legally made to stop is sort of nasty."
Instead, homeowners looking to rewild their yard in order to create beneficial, biodiverse wildlife habitats are better off with resources such as the National Wildlife Federation's native plant finder.
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
