I drove 80 miles round-trip today with a friend to visit a plant nursery many people rave about.
I found only one native plant in the entire place (my friend said she also saw swamp milkweed), and I was horrified to find them selling Winter Creeper and Burning Bush, both of which are on the list of Top Invasive Plants in Missouri. Not to mention the fact that the Burning Bush look pretty pathetic for the price they are charging.
Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot more giant hogweed around Glasgow this summer, and growing in large numbers in places it hasn't been growing before?
If you don't know, giant hogweed is an invasive plant species which can grow up to five metres tall and has sap capable of severely burning uncovered skin. For that reason, they always make me think of science fiction's ultimate invasive plant species - the Triffid!
The Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is a butterfly magnet in spring. It was introduced from Asia to North America and used to prevent soil erosion but unfortunately turned into an invasive species. #InvasivePlants#GreatPlains
“Most of us love #nature and appreciate it for its beauty, but living in relation to land through ecosystem restoration, #stewardship or harvesting creates a different appreciation and perspective,” says Sarah Jim.
“Once I started seeing the land for who it was and who it was trying to be, that’s when I realized the ivy was not letting the land be who it was meant to be.”
(volunteers must rsvp / e-sign a waiver because parks dept bureaucracy? 😒 maybe e-mail the info@ addr and you can just sign on paper when you get there)
Back to "working" (volunteering) on prepping my March workshop on invasive plants of #NevadaCountyCA.
Rather than presenting this bc I'm an expert (I'm not), I'm doing it bc I wanted to know the topic and there wasn't already a hyperlocal reference source.
I am learning so much. Am on the section now on practical control strategies. Starting with the Brooms bc they're so prolific and difficult to remove. They make the others look easy.
Pic shows Scotch Broom lining a trail in a public park here in December. In summer, these will be loaded with yellow flowers.
Broom crowds out natives and is flammable, so a wildfire hazard.
I'm contacting #CRDParks & asking if there's volunteers work party efforts that me & interested friends can join to help them remove a lot of #InvasivePlants in #ColesBayPark - the 2 most prolific invasive species in this park are #EnglishIvy & #holly .
These photos may look pretty but these 2 species are choking out our native trees & plants. They should be removed.
Spending hours in the blistering, humid heat pulling invasive Japanese stilt grass is a miserable experience. So I’m posting a picture a native plant I recently found to help keep me motivated, the lovely jewelweed.
Today has been another invasive species clean up day! Thankfully, none of the buckthorn grew back that I struggled with last year, so that's a win.
-First we have common tansy. This one has been posted on signs at all the state parks I've been to here in Michigan this year as a new 'report-if-seen' invasive. Of course, I found a large patch near the house already. The culprit is seed mixes and seed bombs. For the love of all the gods, research your wildflower seed mixes!
-Autumn olive. This is my third year trying to get rid of these. I hate to, really, because I actually love the lunar feel of these beautiful silvery shrubs. They smell sweet and the birds love the berries, which is why they spread so fast. I have a duty to my land to control it, though.
-Spotted knapweed. This fucker. This plant is actually restricted in Michigan, making it illegal to possess or sell. How did it get all over the roadside? The county dug up some lines, and when they spread a grass seed mix to cover the damaged soil, they introduced it. Again, research your seed mixes and make sure they are made for your area!
Non-native grasses are not just a danger in Hawaii. Similar non-native grasses are also the main reason for the recent fires in the Mojave Desert of California and in other deserts of the US West.
I'm all for native plants and the reduction of invasives (ideally by them becoming food for something?), while also trying to operate from respect and understanding of non-native species. They didn't choose to be cultivated and domesticated in a foreign environment, or to end up as a seed on a truck or cargo ship traveling to a different climate/continent. This is a new frame for me, so I'm working on practicing it in reality — though there are cultures that have been integrating it, e.g. these perspectives and research from
Nicholas Reo and Laura Ogden.
Another familiar albeit unwelcome sight in North American woodlands: Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). This European native crowds out understory plants, and the phytochemicals released from its roots disrupt the associations plants form with mycorrhizal fungi. In many states it is therefore considered a noxious weed that needs to be eradicated.
Saturday July 8 - Somerville City Wide invasive plant remove-a-thon (www.greenopensomerville.org)
Pull out Black Swallow Wort, Japanese Knotweed, Garlic Mustard, and other aggressive plants that take over gardens