I spoke to Karan Rawlins of the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (bugwood.org) at the SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference in Tattnall County 26 January 2013 (coming to Lowndes County next year).

At the mention of Chaste Tree, she picked up a copy of A Homeowner’s Guide to Preventing the Introduction and Spread of Invasive Plants in Georgia, and turned to page 6, which says:

These two plants are very similar and provide a good example of how well native plants can be used in place of non-natives in your landscape. Non-native Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus, on the left can escape and establish itself in natural areas. The native bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, can be grown as a spreading shrub or pruned to grow upright. It supports bumblebees, tiger swallowtail butterflies, Sphinx moths and ruby-throated hummingbirds.

If you like hummingbirds, choose bottlebrush buckeye.

Karan also mentioned to me that Chaste tree already has escaped in Texas and is invasive there, and that when that happens one place, it usually happens elsewhere sooner or later.

We already have plenty of invasive exotic plants here, ranging from Kudzu to Japanese climbing fern. Bugwood.org, which is located in Tifton, also has the extensive A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests.

If that doesn’t convince you, I could use a hand with privet fishing, which is what I call pulling up Chinese privet trees with a logging chain and tractor.

Dear Valdosta Tree Commission, I bet Karan Rawlins would be happy to talk to you about selecting native trees and plants. Here’s how to contact her.

-jsq

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