There’s a typo in my reply, I meant to say that ISN’T me. I don’t have a manicured lawn.
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Having just welcomed my first grandchild into the world, I have to say that despite being the one invasive species behind a lot of terrible, global ecological disasters and extinctions (alas megafauna), Homo sapiens still makes a great case for being likeable.
Sometimes, at least.
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This is a Japanese angelica plant. I recently discovered it in a local park here in Northeast Ohio. The naturalists told me that they are aware of it. It occurs in a few parks in the area. They have a lot of issues to deal with like the recent invasion of the spotted lantern flies. This plant didn’t seem like it was a big problem. But, I am not an expert on that.
What I like about it is that there were a lot of migrating warblers and other birds taking advantage of the berries on it. (See the last photo.)
I also saw a few other patches in the same area in the woods. As long as the birds are eating the berries, they will poop out the seeds and spread it more.
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dandelions. they can be introduced, but do they behave invasively? they are native in my country. but if we are talking invasive plants, i am thinking something that displaces other plants. solidago, for instance, grows in monocultures, nothing more than this. or robinia pseudoacacia, it creates thickets where nothing else grows. can dandelions grow in monoculture?
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Persian Silk Tree aka Mimosa Tree
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47443-Albizia-julibrissin
I also have a love-hate relationship with European Starlings. I love their murmurations and their mimicry abilities (really show them off when people have them as pets). Their coloration is beautiful. I wish they would stop out competing purple martins and bluebirds for nesting locations and sometimes outright killing them. I love those species too! And they do well around humans too so it’s not like starlings are taking over an unoccupied niche.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/14850-Sturnus-vulgaris
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Hi Lisa! 
Thanks 
for sharing this spectacular member of the Pea Family! 
(Fabaceae)
Earlier this year, I was in PH. I saw a lot of members of the Pea Family, and I wrote the following thing, where I compared botany to a food court:
- On 2024 May 16, I was iNatting around “Avant at The Fort” in Bonifacio Global City, Manila
- I encountered many beautiful flowering trees and shrubs. They were cultivated plants, so I used iNaturalist’s Seek app to identify them.
- Reading the Wikipedia articles about these species revealed that almost NONE of them were native to the Philippines!
- I had this thought: Let’s say that you were raised in some poor village, somewhere in the world. Due to your level of poverty, your local food was the only food that you knew. Then you visited a food court in any large city. You would be amazed by all the food! Chinese food, Italian food . . . so much diversity! And initially, because you were so naive, you would give the credit to that city. You would think that that city was the greatest place on Earth.
- Most people — including the past version of me — are living in that kind of poverty. But it’s an intellectual poverty . . . a poverty of botanical knowledge! They visit the tropics, they see beautiful flowering trees and shrubs, and they think, “This place is incredible!” . . . without realizing that most of those plants are NOT native to that place!
- In 50 metres, this is what I saw:
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We have invasive Mediterranean geckos in my area (Louisiana and east Texas). They are the only geckos living here, but where they are found there are no longer tree frogs on the windows. I much prefer looking are cute froggy bellies. The past week or so we have had a baby Green Treefrog living on the window of our back door. Doesn’t seem to mind us opening and closing the door while he sleeps during the day.
We also sometimes get Gray/Cope’s Treefrogs on the windows and windowsills. I’ve also had Squirrel Treefrogs on my back porch but don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those on a window.
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I agree 100%! Here in Maine we are blessed with non-manicured lawns, partly because the people want to help wildlife, and partly because they are lazy. I think clover, dandelion, hawkweed, and selfheal are signs of a good lawn.
P.S. Purple loosestrife is indeed beautiful!
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Himalayan balsam! It’s taking over here in the UK, but the bees love it and I think it looks so pretty.
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Faye,
I was looking up Himalayan Balsam, and I found this quote:
In the UK, the plant was introduced in 1839, at the same time as Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed. These plants were all promoted at the time as having the virtues of “herculean proportions” and “splendid invasiveness” . . .
You can hear it at 2 minutes 13 seconds of
this audio clip
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Thank you!
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Anything like a parrot that lives in a city. A few are established enough to be considered countable. But overall, they are usually contained within their city, so they don’t cause too much trouble compared to Starlings which are just everywhere. And they are often struggling in their home environment, so I am glad they are thriving elsewhere.
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When Owen said he loved pigeons, I validated him by saying that pigeon iridescence is beautiful:
The same is true for Starlings!
Photo credit: Sandy Hill on Flickr
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Beautiful! But still, I prefer coconuts.
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Honestly most of them, I’m far too soft. The ones that are more difficult to like are the ones we actively deal with for habitat restoration. And yet, those old, spacious, stretching Eucalypts are incredibly elegant.
It makes me want to take a trip to Australia to admire them in their place, without trying to hatch a plan at the same time…
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To me, it is quite the opposite. There are quite many likeable invasives (or in fact, just introduced plants) because of their usefulness, but most introduced species are like, they shouldn’t be there and nothing can save their reputation.
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My favorite invasive is in Hawaii (where introduced species are especially unwelcome), the White-rumped Shama, a particularly beautiful and melodious bird that thrilled me every time I saw one. My apologies!
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I had to really think because I’m generally intolerant of invasives when we have so many amazing natives, but I will say I like feverfew. It smells amazing, and is so pretty, and medicinal, and it’s not a horrible invasive.
Ooh also Grackles 
they’re so pretty and I like how they sound.
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Exactly!
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True, but I find it hard to ‘hate’ on any living thing, invasive or otherwise.
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