Garden stores sell loads of different plants. But there's one in particular you should probably avoid buying if you're smart. A popular gardening expert is advising homeowners against using an invasive species of bamboo in their yards. The plant is sold at major garden stores and can have an effect on the natural vegetation in your yard.
TikToker Joey (@joeyplantstrees) raised the issue. Joey shared a video of a woman planting the invasive bamboo on the sides of her property. Joey advises against using the plant.
"Don't. Don't do that," Joey says in response to the clip. "We have native species of bamboo. ... Use those instead. They're just as useful."
"... I get the appeal. They grow fast, they sequester a lot of carbon, and they provide great habitat," Joey also continues. "I get it. But we don't need to be planting invasive species when we have native species that do the same thing."
Invasive Plant
However, there are several native species of bamboo to the U.S. So you don't have to use invasive species to get the same desired effect. Your yard will thank you later. These native species are Arundinaria appalachiana, Arundinaria gigantea, and Arundinaria tecta. So keep that in mind when you're doing yard work.
Invasive species harm the ecosystem.
"You can get them at nurseries and use them for anything you would use a nonnative bamboo for," Joey says. "With the added benefit of not being a menace to your neighbors."
It's something that some of his followers had to figure out the hard way. One person said it took them years to remove the plant.
"It took five years to remove the invasive bamboo from my backyard," one commenter wrote on Joey's video. "I am often pouring boiling water in places it's coming up outside the fence line."
"This video stopped me from buying non-native bamboo," another commenter wrote.
