Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants: Brooklyn Botanical Garden All-Region Guide
by C. Colston Burrell
Janet Marinelli and Bonnie Harper-Lore, eds.
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, 2006.

Ever wish you were someone else? A rock star, an astronaut, a novelist? Ever read a book and wish you could have written it?

I wish I had written this book!
Heck, I wish I had found it a year ago when it first came out! (actually it was published 9-28-06, so I’ve only missed out on it for 355 days, but who’s counting?)
I have been working on a pitiful, hodge-podge LIST for years that barely scratches the surface of this book.

This book is an easy-to-read reference. It’s seperated into plant groups by type (tree, shrub, etc.) then by invasive plant (ex: Tree of Heaven) and then native substitutes are listed (ex: Pecan, Yellowwood.)
The Invasive plant is listed by latin and common name, there is a small picture of it, and then a list of it’s “current invaded range.”
The Native substitutions have large (almost full-page) entries below, with pictures, plant details, native ranges and growing tips.

The guide is aimed at roadside managers and landscapers, but is beautiful and easy to use.
Gardeners need to pay special attention to “invaded ranges” in order to determine how bad an invasive is and what the appropriated substitute is. For instance, pink and yellow bush lantana is invasive in Florida, but I live in Texas, and it’s actually a native in Mexico and is treated as a ‘native’ here. (Texas has a related native bush lantana, but it’s red and orange.)
“Native ranges” are important, too: if I wanted a substitute for an ornamental pear, an allegheny seviceberry wouldn’t work in my zone, but the other recommendation, fringe tree, would. (Actually, in Texas I would plant a Mexican plum, but outside of Texas that wouldn’t be appropriate, and this guide is for the whole U.S.)
Also keep in mind that professional landscapers may have a different objective with certain plants: the suggestion to substitute Western sweetshrub for an edible fig would give the right “look”, but if a gardener wants edible fruit, then a red mulberry (suggested elsewhere) would be a better substitution.

All in all, buy this book for yourself.
And for every gardener you know.
And the guy who cuts your lawn.
And the owner of your favorite nursery.
And the head of your HOA.
And your mother’s landscaper.
And your next door neighbor.
And all your co-workers.

Heck, I recommend you buy a bunch and just give them away at every oppurtunity.

This book is worth giving away, but you’ll want a copy for yourself, too!

Living in the burbs of Houston, I was surprised to see a Houston toad this morning. I’m almost positive it was one, and not a cricket toad, because it had a stripe down the center of it’s back.

The Houston toad is endangered. But I remember when it was more common.

When I was a child, one of my favorite critters was this tiny little toad. We’d see what seemed like millions of them near the church grounds and in our favorite park. “Please, please, mom, can we take a couple home? We’ll set them loose in the backyard!” “No,” my mother would say. “But everyone else’s mom let’s them!” we would proclaim. “No they don’t,” she would answer.

Well, maybe they did.
I still look for them in the places I used to go as a child. At my old church I see the children and wonder why none of them are crouched around puddles at the trees’ edge, muddying their Sunday best like I used to do. I catch myself seeking out puddles in the park, puddles that are empty.

Until today, I hadn’t seen the little toads in any of these places in a long time, because the Houston Toad is now endangered. I just looked in a puddle in the park near the elementary school out of habit, and there it was at the puddle’s edge!

Perhaps pesticides and other causes made them endangered? Surely this is true. I can attest that it is also true that none of these little toads survived to this day in my friends’ parents backyards. Even the ones who lived in the country and didn’t have lawns to spray. Even the ones who lived just a few streets over from the park. The separating of different toad colonies by roads is now listed as one of the causes for it’s endangerment. Separating individuals from the rest in order to keep them in one’s own backyard could not have helped.

Please, PLEASE leave wildlife where they are. Even if it seems like there are a million of them. Even if they’re only a toad.

The Houston Zoo is now breeding the Houston Toad in a effort to repopulate them, and surprisingly, Bastop’s State Park is said to have a population of them. (Surprising to me, ’cause I always thought that they weren’t found much outside the middle of town!)

Kids love them because of their small size. (Only 1/2 inch long!) This morning I pointed the one I saw out to a child and her mother, telling them what I thought it was. The mother was interested in the fact that it might be an endangered animal.
The little girl wasn’t listening; she was utterly fascinated by the tiny little toad.
Some things never change…

Here is a link that might be useful: Houston Toad