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Japanese Barberry

 
pollinator
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Japanese Barberry is an incredibly invasive species here in the Northeast so I was shocked to find it's seed for sale here!

It has many negative characteristics, spreading in multiple ways, thorny, crowding out the understory, perfect tick habitat, and so on. I finally found one redeeming feature, it's listed as a good bee forage!
 
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there are a number of plants that fit that bill. Japanese knotweed is a great nectar source, for example. Scotch broom is a decent source of nectar and pollen. English ivy is an important source late in the year. but most predominantly out here, Himalayan blackberry provides our largest nectar flow by a safe margin.

I don't go planting any of those things, but I'm also not quite so dead set against them as most folks seem to be.
 
Cj Sloane
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Maybe we should rename this thread "Plants we are not so dead set against."

Is honeysuckle invasive where you are? It's right up there with Japanese Barberry here. I guess the flowers are too deep for honey bees but I read that they can get nectar/pollen after bumble bees have visited the flower and my husband did spot a few honey bees on a big honeysuckle we were observing.
 
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