If you think about it, can a plant actually invade? Isn’t that anthropomorphism, which science cautions against adopting and supposedly rejects? And yet, ecology now classifies certain plants- including even some considered native- as “invasive.” I feel this notion is misguided. It perpetuates the “man vs nature” mythos and drives habitat destruction, the poisoning of the earth (supposedly for the sake of the environment) and separates us even farther from nature. It also positions humans as experts when we’ve been around a mere 300,000 years at most, which is a blink of an eye compared to plants.

This spring I was interviewed on my thoughts on plants labelled “invasive” for the Healing of Power of Plants Summit and below is a recording of the interview.

And if you’d rather listen to the interview you can do so here

Where does Star Magnolia belong? And for that matter, how do we decide where a plant "should” and “shouldn't” be?
My hot take? We don't.