Rethink the invasive plants and trees in your landscape
Imagine being in a completely foreign land where you're unable to eat anything due to your diet. This is what some of our landscapes have become for many native insects including vital pollinators and endangered species.
Much of our city and home landscapes have the appearance of supporting a diverse population of pollinating insects, but once we peal back the layers and see the plants for what they are, mostly nonnative and sometimes invasive, our landscapes lack support and have the potential to jeopardize our native habitats as a result.
At this time of the season, many local city streets and residential landscapes are showcasing a white-flowered tree currently blooming. In addition to its colored bloom, you may catch a whiff of something fowl like fish or dirty pond water.
I know I've smelled this around Tuscora Park's pond. Contrary to what you may think, it's not the water or even anything to do with it; it's the trees. The blooming Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) has made a name for itself as a fowl-smelling blooming tree.
For too long this tree has been marketed as a great landscape tree, but it wasn't always that way. In fact in the late 1900s, fire blight threatened fruiting pear trees in the western region of the country. As a result a USDA office tasked David Fairchild with finding a potential match to breed a blight-resistant pear tree.
Fairchild found a worthy candidate in China and found it growing in dry soils, gravel, standing water, cliff side, you name it. A successful candidate indeed as it could withstand a variety of soil conditions and exhibited fast growth rates, high fruit production and rapid seed germination. It was brought back to the U.S. and work began on breeding a blight-resistant fruiting pear. They were successful.
Years later the Callery pear (the original tree brought over from China) was recognized as having potential as a landscape tree due to its flower, ability to thrive in a variety of soils and conditions, and fast growth rate and germination rate. Years of breeding has brought us several different pear trees, all genetically similar to its mother tree (the original callery pear) but slightly genetically different from each cultivated variety (Cleveland select vs Bradford).
Until recently this tree was suggested for every landscape imaginable. This tree was documented as showing up in corn fields, forest under stories, and many other unintended and undesirable places late in the 1900s, but nothing was ever done.
That is until several Ohio agencies worked together to get this tree listed as an invasive plant species along with 36 others. One organization spearheading this was the Ohio Invasive Plants Council, which successfully studied and assessed this tree and its invasive behavior. This tree was successfully listed as a recognized invasive tree in Ohio in 2018 but is still allowed to be sold at market for a few more years due in part to a phase-out period.
If you know how to identify this tree and saplings, you will see invasions all over our county. Otherwise, to try and differentiate your ornamental flowering pear varieties would literally require a DNA test. This is where the true issues lie when it comes to the invasive behavior of the callery clones.
While each variety of Cleveland select is genetically identical and therefore unable to cross pollinate, when another variety is introduced to the area, like say a Bradford, it's slightly genetically different and therefore able to cross pollinate with every single Cleveland select.
Because we do not coordinate which varieties we put where, it's highly likely for one neighborhood or one block of city streets to host two or more varieties of Callery pear. The issue doesn't show up until another flower pear that's slightly genetically different comes into (is planted in) the area.
It's not always human fault for the introduction of this plant or any invasive plant for that matter. Wind, water and bird transmittal causes a species to show up. These cultivated clones choke out native vegetation and further displace the already shrunken native habitats and wildlife that remain.
At the beginning of this, I asked you to imagine being dropped in a foreign land with nothing available to you to eat. This is exactly what we've unintentionally done to our native wildlife.
Hostas, Kousa dogwoods, Callery pear and more are sold to us with the idea they are either supportive or just aesthetically pleasing. We are introducing non-native ecosystems into our landscapes that cannot support our native pollinators.
You do not have to sacrifice aesthetics. Our native plants are truly beautiful, and to some, they may have that exotic factor purely because one doesn't recognize it or know much of our native plants. On top of the natural beauty of these plants, you then add the layer of seeing more hummingbirds, butterflies and other beautiful creatures. Trust me when I say it's worth it.
SWARM is a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to combat pollinator decline by re-establishing native habitats, raising awareness and providing pollinator conservation education. SWARM is actively installing native habitats in the Tuscarawas County area. For more information follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/SWARMtogether.