The Native Plant Deniers and Setting the Record Straight.

Butterfly Bush (Buddleia spp, probably Davidii)
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia spp, probably Davidii) provides nectar but that's all.

On the blog Ecosystem Gardening, blogger Carole Brown interviews Dr. Doug Tallamy, the author of Bringing Nature Home.

They talk about a Penn State study that was released which claimed that invasive species were actually good for the environment.

Dr. Tallamy exposes the inaccuracy of the study and corrects erroneous information.

Many non-native plants are like the infamous Butterfly Bush (Buddleia spp.) in the photo above, they are not fully functioning members of an ecosystem. Butterfly Bush is planted because butterflies and bees swarm to the plant to eat its nectar. And apparently, it produces a lot of nectar. But, it doesn’t feed any insects. The native Butterfly Weed does.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), close up
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), close up

Butterfly weed grows throughout the mid-Atlantic area, including Philadelphia. I is a milkweed plant. And what famous family of butterfly larvae eat milkweeds, Monarchs.

If you have Butterfly Bush in your garden and want to replace it with a similar native species try these east coast natives:

  • Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
  • Summersweet, Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)

They are shrubs and attract swarms of butterflies and other pollinators.

Back to the misleading research article.  In my day job as a librarian, I teach people how to research and how to question. The main question I am asking, is why would a study be done to deliberately mislead people? Who initiated the study and for what gain?

I see this same denial of facts with the mountains of research about climate change. From exposés and books written, we know who is behind the climate change denying, it is big oil companies and people who see scientific facts as challenging their religious or political views.

So, who is behind this study? Is it because of money or ideology?

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