Dealing with invasive plants can be a nightmare for any gardener. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try, as a post from one gardener in the r/NativePlantGardening subreddit displayed.
"Clearing invasives works," the poster wrote. "Last 3 years have been clearing buckthorn and honeysuckle from this area. This year I only found a few. Golden rod and Joe Pye came back with no planting or seeding."
The other members of the subreddit applauded the poster's diligent efforts.
"I did this with a 30-year-old blackberry monoculture that had taken over a whole acre. It does work! Now I just pull the occasional straggler," one commenter confirmed.
Another wrote: "This is so awesome to see, thank you for sharing!! Makes me so happy to see big clumps of natives."
"This gives me so much hope! We are clearing buckthorn on our property. Where we cleared last year there was a bunch of aster and goldenrod that came up," a third chimed in.
It is important to note that the original poster did not reference using any toxic herbicides or chemicals in their efforts to clear the invasive plant species (though that does not necessarily mean they didn't use them).
Many gardeners swear by toxic chemicals as important tools for eradicating unwanted plants, but these products can have harmful side effects, killing wanted native species and crucial pollinators as well as the invasive species and also polluting the soil and nearby water sources.
It's a great idea to look for alternatives to these products — just because something is easy, that doesn't make it good.
If you are thinking about adding to your own garden, you should always make sure you do enough research to confirm that whatever you're planting is native to your area. Native plants are adapted to live in harmony with other species and support local pollinators that boost the entire ecosystem.
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