There was a time in the South when
planting kudzu was not viewed as botanical vandalism, but as a
community-spirited gesture. The vine, imported from Asia, was intended
to control erosion and provide forage for livestock.

Some things just don’t work out.

Today
kudzu is an invasive pest throughout the South, where it can grow up to
a foot a day. It smothers trees, houses and if you move too slowly it
might even smother you. Pretty much the only thing that will eat a
mature kudzu vine is goats. If you lack goats, eradicating it takes
years of herbicidal dousing.

Which
leads us to a muddle-headed idea from an S.C.-based company: to plant
330 acres of eucalyptus trees genetically modified to withstand cold
weather. The idea is that the tree, native to Australia, could be used
commercially to make paper and as fuel for power plants. The
Summerville, S.C.-based ArborGen, says the hybrid it would use can’t
easily reproduce.

People
thought kudzu was a good idea, too. The problem of invasive plants is
growing as fast as, well, you know. It’s not just kudzu. Have you ever
tried to get rid of wisteria gone wild? Japanese honeysuckle, English
ivy or privet?

The major
harm from invasive plants isn’t that they’re landscaping annoyances;
it’s that they crowd out and smother native species. That means birds
and other animals that rely on those native plants die out, too. A
whole ecosystem fails.