Writing FB posts, so will share more here too.

Today’s thought for California Invasive Species Action Week -

Do No Harm. Individual choice can have disastrous affects on wild lands and the ecology. Did you know that Citrus Greening - the disease that has almost wiped out Florida citrus crops and is now in California was most likely brought into CA illegally by a backyard gardener? http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74155.html And, to Florida through illegally imported plant material? https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/microbes/citrusgreen.shtml Other states have Japanese beetles that feed on about 300 species of plants, flowers, and fruit; squash vine borers that attack vine crops of summer squash, winter squash, and pumpkins (I know gardeners that can’t get any summer squash at all anymore without a great deal of extra work, most just give up) and Tomato yellow leaf curl where it is not uncommon for losses of 100% to be experienced in fields with heavily infected plants. The host plant can be very different than the ones we see infected.

There is solid reasoning behind our laws and quarantines that no plant material (living, dried, bulb, tuber, rooted cuttings, cuttings) may be shipped in to California unless it is from a company with phytosanitary certificates. https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/PE/transport_animals_plants.html

We are free from many invasive insect, weed and disease species that wreck havoc on agriculture and environments in other states and countries. Our State is surrounded by natural barriers — towering mountains to the north and east, scorching desert to the south, and vast ocean to the west. Most plant pests cannot cross these barriers on their own; however, the State is under constant threat of pest introductions by man. Do No Harm. Please continue to spread the word that trading out of state plants into CA is illegal and a really really bad idea. (last bit from https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/pe/ExteriorExclusion/borders.html ). Thanks!

Here's another good resource; Keeping invasive species out

Well, in honor of that I went and pulled some Ricinus communis sprouting along the road nearby.