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Got banned from a gardening forum for saying native plants aren't always better
Last month I posted in a big gardening Facebook group about how my neighbor's non-native lavender patch thrives while our native wildflowers struggle in this clay soil. I said people push natives too hard without considering local conditions like drainage or shade. The mods deleted my comment and banned me for 30 days for 'promoting invasive species.' I get wanting to support local ecosystems, but some exotics can actually help pollinators too. Has anyone else run into this blind loyalty to natives?
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dixon.james1mo ago
Wait, they banned you for thirty days just for saying some non-natives work better in heavy clay? That seems extreme for a gardening forum where people are supposed to share practical experience. I've seen black-eyed Susans fail in wet soil while a neighbor's daylilies bloom like crazy, and nobody should get silenced for pointing that out.
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wade2501mo ago
Thirty days does feel like overkill for that. Mods on those niche forums can get real weird about gatekeeping native plant purism. I'm all for supporting local ecology but calling it a "hate crime against nature" or whatever they said is a bit much over clay soil preferences. The whole thing sounds more like a power trip than enforcing any real rule.
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taraross1mo ago
Oh man, reminds me of the time I got yelled at in a beekeeping group for admitting I let my chickens near the hives. Someone said I was "disrupting the sacred apiary space." Lady, it's a muddy backyard in Ohio, not a temple.
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