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Globalized Gardening Reported As a World Trend

Monarch-Ma-so.cal
10 years ago

From the Huffington Post, (July, 2013)

This is a very interesting but alarming article re Globalized Gardening--the planting of non native plants as a world trend and that it's taking a severe toll on birds and pollinator species worldwide.

Some excerpts:

"During a recent stay in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, I was struck by the fact that many of the front and back yards looked the same as those in Southern California. I hadn't expected this. France is known for being a bastion of regional character, but globalization is happening to gardens even in France. And just like the United States, France is paying a huge price in loss of its own natural beauty, biodiversity and numbers of birds, butterflies and other pollinators.

What's so bad about this globalization? The plants are pretty and can grow in the regions where they're being sold, so what's the fuss?

The fuss is that bird and pollinator species are suffering drastic declines due to loss of native plant habitat. In Europe, the overall population of farmland bird species has fallen by more than 50 percent since 1980. In the United States, many bird populations have fallen between 60-90 percent since 1970. Native bee populations in England are suffering similar declines.

The fuss is that 96 percent of birds feed insects to their young and 90 percent of all insect species that eat leaves can eat ONLY native plants........."

I thought it would be of great interest to any gardener or anyone who loves nature's critters.. This is a much needed head's up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Just Because It'll Grow in Your Yard Doesn't Mean You Should Plant It

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