what are you planting or allowing to grow that future owners might consider invasives?

I think about this more as I get older although it doesn't prevent me from doing it

This almost an acre has gone from very compacted 'mowed within an inch of it's life' lawn to our version of  'landscaping'since we moved here almost ten years ago now.

The creek side, when we moved here, was already a tangle of vinca, ivy, bittersweet, honeysuckle, forsythia, privet and large trees, bodark, locust....we mow a corridor between that and our gardens but the bittersweet and vinca have learned to creep along grass height and invade any cultivated space.

What I allow to grow or plant deliberately is wild lettuce, teasel, lambs quarters, milkweeds, three different comfreys including the 'scary' one with viable seed, creeping charlie, passionflower vine, mimosas, redbuds, maple tree seedlings, bronze fennel (it's popping up different places) as is poke, very prolific spreading thornless blackberries.

I have allowed thistle and honey locust to grow long enough to regret as we are barefoot much of the time.

As far as permaculture goes I'm afraid some of these plants will win out over others and without us to maintain some bit of order I'm wondering what is our legacy in plants?

What are you planting that might bewilder or annoy future owners?
allowing to grow?
thoughts about the future?

I don't know how to think about the future in a world where the climate is changing so rapidly. Also, the DNR here in MN makes a big deal about invasives but they totally give a pass if it's a cash crop (for either ag or forestry), so they don't seem too awfully serious. I'm planting things like black locust and walnuts far north of their traditional range in preparation for changing times and I guess I don't care too much what the state naturalists think.

I also grow all three comfreys and let a lot of weeds (e.g. lambsquarters and mullein) just go crazy. Cilantro now grows as a weed and self-seeds if it's allowed to. I think it'll be easy to beat if some fool ever wants that, but I like having a no-work supply. I'd plant autumn olive if some seed fell into my lap, but I haven't yet sought it out.

Someone fifty years ago planted rhizomatic grass all over the place with no concern for how much it would be a pain for me, so I guess I'm just paying it forward.

I hope the next person who stewards my lands appreciate at least some of my contributions but who know?

Comfrey (two varieties)
Mullein
Black Eyed Susans
A long hedge of Forsynthia
Manitoba Maples
Wood Dock
Blackberry Bushes

I'm sure I'm missing some but I'm sure those might be eyed suspiciously.

I think my multi-species lawn might cause some feather ruffling if somebody is expecting pure grass. I love my clovers and mosses!

I grew some jerusalem artichokes last year on purpose... and some are growing this year again without any input from me :)

My new sea buckthorn (seaberry) trees are considered invasive...
It bothered me so much that I went to Spokane and bought four more!
The good health benefits outweigh the supposed bad.
We now have eight, six girls and two boys.
As Mr. Spock said, 'Live long and prosper.'

It's a bit of a tricky one isn't it? I tend to think that anything the sheep will eat won't spread very far here - and that is just about anything green and growing!
I have ground elder, although wish I hadn't, but don't do much about it. I planted woodland sunflower which does well, was happy to introduce siberian purslane, which seeds around happily in the damp shade.



I'm actively encouraging dandelions as I haven't enough of those in the tree field, and raspberries I don't think you can have too many of, but they're definitely going feral! I'd like to introduce wild garlic (the UK native) to the tree field for foraging in spring. I'm a bit regretting the blackthorn/sloe bushes as they are suckering all over and are yet to show much sign of bearing fruit.
I haven't introduced (but would quite like!) salal and gunnera both of which are notorious in North West Scotland for being too successful. Gautheria shallon (salal) I particularly think would be nice to have...

This is probably not where you were going but....
I rented a house where the elderly owners had died/gone away. The house and yard were abandoned for half a year. I did major work on the yard and cosmetic work on the house, for free. Got the old orange, fig and grape plants producing heavily again, made the yard gorgeous, put in two new veggie gardens.
The landlord proved to be a real jerk, vanishing when an outbuilding fell down and the city wanted to condemn the entire lot. At the end of 3 years he asked for the house back (his right by law) and tried to screw us on almost everything. He sang a sad song about having to live in the house because money was tight.
We had a real hard time finding another place to rent as the housing market was getting hot, and of all places ended up renting the house across the street, where we watched as he bulldozed the house and the trees I tended with so much love, then rebuilt the same ugly-ass house and filled the yard with gravel.
I wasn't too upset though. We had one year by law to find a new place and one of the first things I did when he gave notice was plant raspberries and blackberries in every corner and along every border. I collected and planted roots from mature canes and also little plants from seeds (we have a lot of native berries here that grow like mad but are crap to eat. The plants are EVERYWHERE, since birds like them). Fed them and made sure they were happy.
The following year, I got to watch this SOB lose his mind over the raspberries that just wouldn't give up. He of course weedwacked them, and then watched them come back stronger. They spread through the gravel and last I checked were basically the new owners.
Don't fool around with a girl from Jersey, is all I have to say.

It feels too difficult for me to do the research. Something like 900 species of wild and domesticated plants live within 10 miles of my farm. About 200 species of plants grow on my farm. How could I possibly even contemplate investigating their historical range? Or for that matter, how could I even identify them at the species level?

Therefore, I don't worry about it at all. My personal meme centers around the idea that more species leads to more resilience and more life. I judge life as good.

Tereza Okava wrote:
Don't fool around with a girl from Jersey, is all I have to say.

BAHAHAHA. That's awesome!! My raspberries keep coming up everywhere. But, I have tamed them in rows, but  allow others to come up for the birds. A little for us, and some for our feathered friends. We just need the right buyer who will appreciate the free food and herbs.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Therefore, I don't worry about it at all. My personal meme centers around the idea that more species leads to more resilience and more life. I judge life as good.

Love your outlook!! I honestly never thought our prolific plants would offend anyone, but there does seem to be plenty who get upset over having mint in their yards. We have it everywhere, and it is heavenly!!

The raspberries that grow everywhere, even when we try to keep things tame. I'm keeping the comfrey in pots, but it spills out. Wormwood might bother some, Valerian Root, and I'm sure many more.

The main two that we have that seem to intimidate people are 4 types of running bamboo and 2 types of comfrey, the scary kind and #14.

I just went and looked at only 1 scary comfrey stalk that is flowering. There are around 20 flowers per little arm and around 20 of those little arms on one stalk. It produces 4 seeds per flower so that one stalk makes 1600 seeds! The very small percentage that are able to sprout mostly get burned up in the full sun. The most interesting thing about the comfrey seeds is that I have sprouts come up in the longer established fire ant mounds that are near it. The ants must like them. It is not really an issue for us.

We could use more bamboo than we produce so once it gets to the size we want, it gets cut off and used for a lot of different things. It is not an issue for us.



The WORST thing here are all the latent crabgrass seeds. If you disturb the ground, at all, you get crabgrass coming to life. I think it is much worse than anything I can bring in.

Rhubarb and sweet potato. They have taken over and I love it. I never grew rhubarb before I never realized the size of them leaves. I plan eat sweet potatoes for leaves and harvest a bunch give them to folks.

I'm trying to be ok with creeping charlie, because I don't think I will ever be rid of it; but I wish it wasn't here already and would never introduce it.  I hate the way it will cover other plants and creep into everything.  I guess that's the opposite of what you're asking, but I saw someone else posted they were cool with it.  There is also mugwort here already, and if I start harvesting it for tea and incense I might be ok with it but I wouldn't have planted it.  
There is some sort of mint all through the lawn and surrounding properties that have fields that doesn't offend me.  I planted spearmint around the driveway where I don't think it will get into too much trouble.

I've planted one sort of comfrey someone gave me so I don't know what kind it is. I love having comfrey around even if I have to pull it up from places it shouldn't be as I did at my last property, it seems worth the effort to manage comfrey at many levels although this time I was more careful about where I on my property I introduced it- not beside the veggie garden!  

I wish there was autumn olive already, as I think this is a powerhouse of nutrition for me in the berries and the leaves will be good if I ever get goats; but I am reluctant to introduce it.  
I have a goji berry still in the pot, and am not sure if I should plant it or not.  I was going to put it in front of the house and keep it well pruned, but I guess the birds will eat the berries and spread it.  So, now I don't know about it.  It is growing so fast, I was excited to have it as an ornamental even if the berries don't prove to be super tasty, plus they make good chicken food and didn't research if it was invasive before buying it.  I don't know what variety it is, so I don't know how good the berries will be.  Since buying it, I've read that some varieties are much tastier than others and if you're going to introduce invasives, why not make it the tastier invasives?

I planted a thornless blackberry last fall, and have several different varieties of raspberries and blackberries still in pots that I got as bare roots.  I know I will eat those, and there are already wild ones popping up all over the place here, so I don't feel like I'm introducing any new baddies with those.  Berries are one of my favorite foods and so I planned on planting as many different kinds as possible.      

edit- I just spent some time reading about goji berry trees and how aggressive their root systems can be.  I will keep this as a potted tree for now, maybe put it on a platform in the chicken run.  I am bummed as the goji has pretty flowers and this tree is thriving, but it seems like I can avoid later hassle by not putting it in the ground.  

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:It feels too difficult for me to do the research. Something like 900 species of wild and domesticated plants live within 10 miles of my farm. About 200 species of plants grow on my farm. How could I possibly even contemplate investigating their historical range? Or for that matter, how could I even identify them at the species level?

Therefore, I don't worry about it at all. My personal meme centers around the idea that more species leads to more resilience and more life. I judge life as good.

similar here...we're on the edge of an interesting ecosystem and a 10 mile radius would include quite diverse species....forests and mountains and rivers, etc.

My thinking for this thread though had more to do with the future of my small space...not the extended surrounding diversity.  
I suppose it will all be one in time.

believing the more species the better is why I keep planting these things...just interested (not really worried) as a more forward thinking exercise.

I've started a flower garden in front of a small length of stone wall that borders the road.  My sister was surprised I didn't weed out the dandelions, purple clover, wild asters or broadleaf plantains but I don't see them as weeds.  She disagreed, and I could tell is not super impressed with my flower garden but those plants feed the bees, feed the soil and could feed me if I were more motivated to harvest and prepare them.  I know some people think it's terrible that they are 'stealing' nutrients from the things purposely planted, but I make weed teas, chop and drop, or compost so everything gets put back in the system-  so we permie people don't suffer from that feeling of nutrient scarcity that afflicts other gardeners not striving for closed loop systems.

While I hope to eventually fill this space with more exciting flowers, I see those as beneficial plants that hold the space from getting occupied by the "real weeds" like grass, goldenrod and mugwort that want to invade and will smother potential flowers.  As I'm sure many here know, things with a long taproot like dandelion bring up nutrients and I've heard that they will naturally decline once they have shifted the nutrient balance in the soil. I'm curious to see if this is true.  Since I'm gardening on a budget, I can't just go out and buy big plants to fill the space and am waiting for bare roots and bulbs to come up and than spread and multiply and eventually come into balance with each other.  I haven't had the best of luck with things I've seeded in this space despite soil staying moist with all the rain.  Maybe birds and chipmunks are eating the seeds.

I think it's one thing to bring in invasives that have food or medicinal value, and to make the best of invasives that are beyond control at this point; but I research every flower I plant to be sure it isn't invasive and have said no to some old favorites because they are such.  I even tore out some free plants given to me after research revealed they were invasive, and it was hard because they were looking good.  I know we can't save the whole world, and invasives aren't going to be eliminated, but I want to manage my little space in a way that benefits local wildlife, as well as feeds me and feels right to me so not every potential plant is welcome.    I do worry a little or choose to have some control rather than welcoming any bit of life and leaving it all to chance.  I guess I have a spiritual belief that humans were meant to be stewards of the earth and part of that is taking time to learn and exerting a little control over how things unfold and doing our best to help local species of plants and animals get a chance to keep existing.  
I worked as a biologist on the Brown Tree Snake project on Guam, where these snakes had eaten every last native bird on the island by the 1980s after being brought over accidentally during WWII.  It was heartbreaking to kill those poor snakes, they didn't ask to come to another island and can't understand the situation, but it would be awful to see them conquer another island where native fauna is naive to snake predators and with military people coming and going... their numbers needed to be put in check.  I used to joke that Guam should just be turned into a giant animal park since most of it's native animals were extinct, and they should just bring even more cool exotic animals over and turn it into a live in zoo experience.  but I was joking, and I think we know deep down that nurturing the natural ecosystems that evolved to be in a balance over millennia is what creates the greatest diversity on our planet and so the greatest resilience for us and all beings that are tied together in a web of life and doing so nurtures our souls.
I guess it feels like western culture is homogenizing everything so only the most aggressive, dominant species will eventually be left- and maybe that's ok, change is inevitable; but to me it feels like diversity is more beautiful and resilient, and so fostering diversity by trying to keep invasives from eliminating the native plants seems worth the effort.

My whole property is what most ranchers feel are invasives:

Salt Cedar drinks too much water

Junipers also know as cedar trees also drinks too much water.

Prickly pear cactus

Rocks

Tereza Okava wrote: .
I wasn't too upset though. We had one year by law to find a new place and one of the first things I did when he gave notice was plant raspberries and blackberries in every corner and along every border. I collected and planted roots from mature canes and also little plants from seeds (we have a lot of native berries here that grow like mad but are crap to eat. The pla
The following year, I got to watch this SOB lose his mind over the raspberries that just wouldn't give up. He of course weedwacked them, and then watched them come back stronger. They spread through the gravel and last I checked were basically the new owners.
Don't fool around with a girl from Jersey, is all I have to say.

Thank you for this.
I have a hateful neighbor (he sprayed my trees with pesticide)and dozens of black raspberry plants to dispose of...


On the topic at hand:
Comfrey is along the edge of most of my raised beds.
Sunchoke is all over the place.
I took in some black locust yard waste years ago, and they still come up everywhere.
I try to weed them out and then pot them up , currently I have dozens being nursed along.
Soon they will become part of my forest of spite!
I have two box elders that I pollard over and over again.
I have 6 or more mulberries, treated the same way.
Oh, tomatoes pop up wherever I've used compost, I love it, but they will overwhelm.your planted crops, so definitely a "weed".

What I was thinking when I began this thread was about a one foot cutting of wisteria that Steve brought home to our past cabin on five acres where we planted it, watered and pruned it looking forward to blooms...it was fine until we moved.
https://permies.com/t/39732/permaculture/Reviving-homestead-wisteria

With little to no maintenance for years, decades now, it has swallowed a lot of land.
Someday, someone might get it back under control with goats.

We've given the land to our oldest son so it's still a family problem.

I think goats, or as Nancy mentioned possibly sheep, are the answer to many out of control plants.

I found some sprouting wisteria seeds today that I had forgotten about. They are American wisteria so hopefully perhaps not the most invasive kind. Where I gathered them they were looking well behaved, and I think they are pruned every year.

Another is yam, Dioscorea polystachios. Or, as I will see this year, finally, cinnamon vine! (The flower buds are forming for the first time.) I think that the plant is four years old now, and capable of reproducing through aerial potatoes (as of last). I planted six aerial tubers originally, and one survived—this one. They seem to grow an inch or a few every day.

Comfrey, certainly invasive. But the pollinators love them, they are good medicine, they decompact and enrich the soils, and they are very pretty.

Here's just one of my weed tree nurseries.
The individual tres were pulled and replanted a couple of times , so not all of them are doing well.
I'm hoping to get them big before I plant them out, and besides,I need a way to prevent my neighborhood from spraying them before then.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I'm planting things like black locust and walnuts far north of their traditional range in preparation for changing times and I guess I don't care too much what the state naturalists think.

I've heard the idea more than once that, here on the east coast, planting native trees from a few states south of you is becoming an important thing to do.
As someone with a vested interest in tree diversity I've been walking around a local university that has really excellent landscaping-- it's essentially an arboretum. I'm impressed with the diversity of native species that were planted in the last 50 years. I also can't help but notice the preponderance of 20-ish year old native southeast trees whose native range doesn't quite reach here.

I planted a small clump of chocolate mint and its starting to multiply, allbeit slower than I'd like.  But I'd love it if that took over the lawn.  I can't plant a yard mix throughout because the landlord insists on the lawn person coming each week and getting rid of the "weeds".  But he's willing to leave my tiny mint patch alone, and I'm finding ways to sort of make certain sections of the lawn unreachable to the lawnmower by spacing my pots and boxes in certain ways  I have 2 baby blackberry plants growing in one of my boxes, the non-native type that can be a problem, but that can also make tasty berries for me someday.  My plan is once they get bigger to put them in pots away from other things so they don't spread.