I can send you Areca, Alexanders, Pinangas...we have about 250 different species growing here... in the garden.
Invasives: The Hawai'i Hit List!
OMG 250? WOW hahaha shall i send you my address?
Great! Can you grow them in SC? Betel Nuts get kinda tall for garages in the winter....
yeah
This message was edited May 13, 2009 10:17 PM
This message was edited May 14, 2009 10:00 PM
Hi Carol! How was your trip? Any photos?
The trip to SF was terrific!!! ( I took hoyas/dischidia to the Calif. Acad. of Sciences for ther interior rainforest - 5 levels - for the Borneo area...). The CAS is incredible: The rainforest starts at the bottom with the Amazon, then a ramp walks you up thru Borneo, then Madagascar (?) and finally Costa Rica. The area is full of butterflies and birds and it is breathtaking to see the Blue Morphos flying around!!! The rest of the weekend I ate beautiful food, saw the most incredible fireworks in my life and walked and shopped til I dropped...all in the company of good friends. Now...what could be better? And to top it off...not a drop of rain...actually, not a cloud in the sky for 5 days!
Good to be back!
Carol
Did you miss the rain!?!
Not at ALL!!!! In fact...I prayed for it to fall here as it has been dry!!! Wierd weather: 4 months of rain followed by 3 weeks of no rain... lotsa confused plants around here!!!!
Wow! Very interesting thread! Isn't it amazing how many plants and critters have invaded different areas of this earth! We have Cuban Tree Frogs here in Fla that have somehow migrated north from the island of Cuba. These things are very invasive ... eating the little anole lizards as well as smaller native tree frogs. They keep migrating farther and farther north too. I heard one was found in southern Georgia a couple of years ago. Luckily we haven't been inundated with them to the point that there are hundreds around. I collect birdhouses and a few years ago I found one actually living in an old birdhouse in the screened pool enclosure! I found information at the University of Florida website telling how to humanely euthanize them by either freezing them first or using something like ora gel on their heads to put them in a tupor state and then do away with them! LOL ... I found the thing dead in the swimming pool one day so either it committed suicide or accidently fell in and drowned!
That Mimosa pudica is an invasive here too and we have a Southern Sword Fern that almost took over our entire backyard a few years ago. I literally worked for hours every day for three weeks trying to eradicate it by digging it up. It was down two sides of our backyard and out about 4' in one area and 10' in another! We gained a lot of property back by getting rid of that stuff. But, it's almost impossible to get it all and it's now growing again outside the fence! So, I need to get back to work again ... or as soon as our rainy season hits next month and through the summer, we will be invaded by ferns again. Another invasive we have here is Asparagus Sprengeri fern ... awful stuff! I have some huge ones in my yard that are impossible to dig out ... my neighbor keeps telling me to use chemicals to eradicate it but I'm so afraid of contaminating the well water! At least it's in an area where it can't escape ... surrounded by a cement driveway on one side and the house and sidewalk on other sides. We have some kind of Lantana here that is very, very invasive also. It too is growing all along outside our fence on city property ... but they don't mow often at all so we have to try to keep it from spreading into our yard. My next door neighbors love it and have it everywhere in their yard. I keep cutting it back as it comes through the fence!
Oh, we have a Palm that drives some folks crazy around here too. The Sabal Palmetto. It's not considered an invasive, they don't smother out other plants, but they sprout up all over the place! I'm always pulling them up in the flower beds.
So many pretty plants but they can sure do some damage by smothering out and displacing natives. I get sooo aggravated when I'm in a garden center and see these invasive plants for sale! A lot of people don't realize they are invasive and a lot of people just don't care!
Carol, I never heard of the Northern Cardinal being invasive, had no idea! But, yes ... I guess a lot of critter's can take over if given a chance, just like a lot of plants. We have lots of Cardinals that nest around our neighborhood, and they are bullied by the Blue Jays!
With all the invasive plants and critters showing up in areas they aren't supposed to be, it makes me wonder what the earth will be like 50 years from now! I won't be around to worry about it anymore, but hopefully for future generations, people will change and make it a better planet!
We need rain here too! We've been in a drought situation for quite awhile, yesterday the news said there are 105 fires burning in Florida! We finally got a much needed downpour yesterday, but thunderstorms are not welcome as the lightning starts more fires. Our tropical storm/hurricane season begins June 1 so in a few months we will probably be wishing the rain will go away!
Here's a picture of the Cuban Tree Frog that was in residence a couple of years ago ... cute face but not so much that I want them around! ^_^
When I first moved here I had my beloved Mourning Doves. Well, that did not last long. Now I have Ring-necked doves....only. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME TO ME! I know, picky, picky. Also the iguanas could find a new home and I would not be upset. And where did that oppossum come from last week. (I don't live near woods.)
BTW, Good Morning to all.
Hap
Cuban Tree Frogs, BLEAH! Hate 'em. A good hard whack with the flat side of a machette does them in. After one has jumped on you, you feel where they've been for a couple of hours. Poisonous.
St. Croix is now blessed with growing populations of English Sparrows, and city Pigeons. Hate em. Must have blown in on a hurricane. Surely no one would import them!
But worst of all are the Lionfish. Originally in SE Asia, they escaped from aquariums, or were intentionally put in the ocean, and started breeding off Miami in 1992, and have spread all up the East Coast, Bermuda, Cuba to here, Belize and Columbia. Laying as many as 30,000 eggs every six weeks, year round. Live from shallow to deeper than 350 feet. Zero predators in the Atlantic/Caribbean. If it moves, Lionfish will eat it. They're cleaning out some areas of Grouper, Snapper, Parrotfish, Shrimp, baby Lobsters. Waaaaaaaaaaaa! Oh, and their spines are frightfully poisonous. BUT there is a glimmer, they're quite tasty!
What else in Hawaii? That's where this thread started. I'll take all those orchids you can send me!
Hap: I can't imagine gardening and seeing one of those huge Iguanas that you all have down that way! I saw a story and photo's in the paper this past winter where they were falling out of the trees because of the cold weather! Orlando has had a problem with the large monitor lizards in a neighborhood there. Pretty scary nowadays for people who have small pets ... gators get them, now they have to worry about the big monitor lizards too! As for possums ... there could be a wooded lot somewhere nearby where they live, or if there have been any construction in the area with land clearing, it could be displacing the wildlife and they are trying to find new places to live. Or, if there are any of the brush fires around, it could be forcing them into neighborhoods! We have possums here, as well as raccoons. I feed the birds and this time of year with all the babies I always cut up berries and nuts to add to the seed. I have a large terra cotta plant tray that I sit on the half brick wall out front that I just put the fruit pieces, nuts and berries in. The birds have been going crazy ... it's fun to watch the babies sit and the mama's feeding them! Anyway, a couple of nights I've forgotten to make sure the tray is empty and by morning it is thoroughly cleaned. I figured it was opossums or raccoons. A few nights ago I was up around 1:00 a.m. and looked out the window ... a large raccoon was sitting on the wall having him/herself a feast! I spend a fortune on birdseed, dried fruit, berries and nuts!
Molamola: Oh, Lionfish are bad! Recently they've found a few in the waters of the Florida Keys, a huge concern for the reefs, as they do prey on so many others! I'm pretty sure someone had it as an aquarium fish and let it go in the waters down there! Arrrgh! That makes me so mad! My husband has a 150 gal marine (salt water) aquarium and we would never consider releasing anything to the wild like that. There's a very big problem with huge, really HUGE pythons in the southern part of our state too. People get them as small pets and end up releasing them to the neighborhood. Shame on them! I'm afraid I'd have a heart attack if I came across some of these critters.
I love those Bamboo Orchids too, they are beautiful!
There are a lot of opossums here in the center of Mérida, a city of over a million people so they seem to do just fine in urban areas. My dogs spend their evenings watching the wall in our yard in case one of the possums or a cat should walk across it. They are fine with our cat and our friend's cats but they bark like crazy if they see one on our wall. I stop them from barking at the cats but I'm kind of glad they keep the possums out. I have a fish pond and they would decimate it.
Of course, we have raccoons and coatamundi's also. They have all adapted to city living. I used to see huge packs of raccoons running down the street in San Francisco on my way home after a night shift. They are vicious and aggressive and have attacked my cats and a neighbor's dog.
the dux and fish and turtles are stuck in the drain pipe at the community lake :( how can i save them? it's deep in their X_X
Wow ArchAngel, I never heard of a drainpipe for a lake! Why is it there, and how did some critters get stuck in it?
Aloha, Dave
we have these lakes here that are used to prevent flooding during heavy storms and they attach to other lakes down under in a drain pipe ,the drain pipe under neith is exsposed and anything in it's path can get sucked in by the current :( i counted 3 big turtles 6 big fish and a baby duck inside ,last week their was 5 baby duxx but i geuss they died :(
Call your local officials!
Call the newspaper!
I'm serious!
Call the radio station!
Call the local TV channel!
We cannot help, we're as much as thousands of miles away.
Call your garden centers, dive shops, pet shops. Please, make some noise in behalf of these helpless creatures.
You won't regret doing something. Don't be passive and just sit there boohooing. Please, get up and go!
Those drain pipes ought to have little rooms built around them, with heavily screened ports.
Call the police and tell them a two year old human is stuck in there. But that might get you in trouble. Call the police anyway, but say a child could get caught in the suction.
Please, do something locally. Get off the computer, and go! Poor duckkies, poor turtles!
You also might try the Dept of Wildlife. But really think the TV is the best.
Good luck
Hap
Certainly a simple screen over the drain would fix the problem.
It is very irresponsible of the local officials to allow such a recurring problem to happen!
Tell the local news and media stations that the mayor isn't doing his job and caring for the area's wildlife, and something will get done quickly!
I agree with informing the media ... city officials will jump to get the problem fixed once it becomes known and folks begin hearing about it through the media outlets! I hear of this happening to small animals sometimes. I wonder why all municipalities don't have laws requiring some sort of mesh covers over the storm drains to keep little animals from being washed away? Back in 1998, some not so small animals got stuck in a storm drain here in Fla. It was two very large Manatees! I commend the children who took action to help these beautiful gentle giants get rescued! http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring1998/critters/manatee/Spellman031898.html
Shame and guilt are bad. They are also very effective with 'officialdom', politicians and......
Call the media...and please let us know what happens....
Wildlife Down the Drain! Could be headlines in Myrtle Beach!
Well...it is even a bigger story if no one pays attention. I would start with the Human Society...then get out the big guns!
So what kind of outside influence is needed to convince the town that a simple exclusionary device is needed to protect wildlife.
Hey ArchAngel, How do we contact your City Hall / Local Officials to express our displeasement with critters getting sucked into a storm drain.
Can you get photos of this problem? If you bring visual evidence to your local media, they will have a story.
Hello? The paper will inform the officials and the official will be worried the 'tourists' get upset and speak badly of them and....VOILA...the issue will be addressed!!! and solved!!! I would bet....
Good Morning All.
Yes, go ring some bells. Go ring some necks!!
Hap
sorry for thr late reply .....i will try to go get some pictures of the critters in there .i will find a website you can go too ......you can tell them to go to garden creek community lake and check the drain .......the more people we have to call the better chance to save the critters.........
here is my local news email.....email them about the garden creek condominium lake drain in azalea lakes located on butkus dr .................................i hope we save them!! news@scnow.com
ok i tried to get pixx but since all the rain we have had the lake is up and the drain is sucking extra fast:( all the critters got washed down into the suage :( i emailed the news
AA
Are you saying that all are gone?
Hap
Edit: The link would not work for me.
This message was edited May 19, 2009 7:12 PM
its an email to email my news station ........i looked inside their all gone now down in the suage :(
So sad if they were all lost in the sewer, it's a real shame someone couldn't have rescued them. If the city doesn't put some kind of screening on those pipes I'm afraid those little duckies and turtles aren't the last to wash away. :(
yeah i wanted to save them but its too deep all alone :"( i hope they fixx it
Even with screening, when the ditches are running high, anything would be killed by the pressure of the water and drown. However...someone might be able to save a person or a dog...my sister saved her dog from one with a pole...she pushed it to the other side....
let us know what they do, oK?
Carol
ArchAngel01, You will have to be the "first" one to step up to the plate and help this problem! You have been given some good advise from quite a few caring people concerning the issue that you posted. If I were you, I would slowly re-read all the comment's/suggestion's that people have posted here concerning this;-)
I will add: Does your local newspaper have a website? If so, you may be able to add your own story/picture's/video of the happening's that you write of for other's to view. Anything to get other's attention in your local area of what is taking place at "Azalea Lake".
Rachel