false hopes

i was so excited when i found these irises among our cattails this week. i just assumed they were wild and native because of their similarity to the native blue-flag irises we have been so devotedly cultivating along our boardwalk. but alas, they are not native to minnesota. they are indeed invasives from europe. this whole thing with native versus invasive plants has my head spinning. there are non-natives that become so naturalized these seem like natives–lilacs and dandelions, for example. and non-natives that we are all suppose to eradicate at all costs, like buckthorn and garlic mustard. these yellow irises seem to fall in the middle of those two extremes.  i am not going to eradicate these yellow irises. they feel more like a lovely gift from someone who just came back from a trip to france, than an unwanted visitor.  tell me where you fall on the native/non-native plant spectrum?

wild yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus)