Understanding the environmental impact of lavender and other non-native plants

• Since 2020, Ocimeae Lavender Farm has cultivated lavender and welcomes the public to its U-Pick Festival.
• Lavender, a non-native plant, acts as a natural pollinator.
• Carolyn Miller, an expert, highlights the detrimental effects of non-native and invasive plants on our ecosystems.

The Ocimeae Lavender Farm is alive with lavender enthusiasts and buzzing bees. I'm Ava Zanglin, your neighborhood reporter, uncovering the environmental impact of lavender fields like this one.
The Ocimeae Farm, a lavender farm that began its growth in 2020, serves as a sanctuary where both people and wildlife can enjoy the benefits of this non-native plant.

“It’s just, it’s healing. I think it’s very important that people come out here and kinda just take a break from all their stresses and their worries,” Gavan Swann said.

Gavan Swann, a Utah native, is spending his summer working at the farms.

“We spend a lot of time making this place look the way it is,” Swann said.

And finds comfort in the fields.

“To me, like this is a very special place. Whenever I come here I just feel at peace and at home,” Swann said.

Gavan feels at home, and so do the bees.

According to botanical technologist Carolyn Miller, lavender, despite being non-native, is neither aggressive nor invasive. It serves as a natural pollinator for bees.

“The bumblebees are always all over it, and it smells great and makes you relaxed,” Miller said.

Unlike lavender, there are many invasive species in Michigan that pose a threat to our ecosystems, and cannot provide for our wildlife

“And that’s really all they know, we can keep bringing in all these non native plants but it takes millennia for them to evolve to use that plant,” Miller said.

Miller explained that bees and other wildlife have evolved with the plants native to our state, and will not recognize foreign flora.

“I would like for us to be more conscientious of what we put in our yards,” Miller said.

And that doing some research before planting can greatly benefit our ecosystems and habitats, allowing them to flourish.

“There’s so many other non-native plants that are absolutely fine in a landscape,” Miller said.

Miller says adding native plants to your landscape would mean the world to our pollinators.