Lmst

I hike off-trail, and often come across invasive plant infestations. Sometimes the problem is small, and I can deal with it myself. But this? Yikes. An entire tree is covered in English Ivy, and I don't think there's much I can do about that.

#trees #hiking #InvasivePlants #EnglishIvy #BritishColumbia #forest

We are at the base of a large Douglas Fir tree, looking up. The entire tree is covered with English Ivy. We see the grey sky, and the trunks of several other trees, too. Those other tree trunks are not covered in ivy.

@Shanmonster

But garlic mustard is nice
Isn't it?

I like garlic mustard
Don't I?

Oh, I see. It's invasive for you
Native for me

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliaria_petiolata

#JackByTheHedge #garlicMustard #nativePlants #invasivePlants #USA

Thrilled to get to chat with New York Times garden columnist Margaret Roach on her podcast A Way to Garden, about the trials and tribulations of bringing back native meadows, struggles with invasive plants, and how to accept imperfection.

#ecologicalrestoration #ecology #books #badnaturalist #onthemountain #nativeplants #invasiveplants #nature

https://awaytogarden.com/adventures-of-a-bad-naturalist-with-paula-whyman/

Oriental Bittersweet vines were growing around our central air conditioning condenser, creating the possibility that they could choke off our AC in the Summer.

I let this get too far, so it was time to bushwhack through the mess.

To those in the southern USA, this vine is as invasive as Kudzu.

#airconditioned #vines #invasiveplants #bittersweet

Oriental Bittersweet bones grow around and into the vents of a central air conditioning condenser.

The Oriental Bittersweet vines have been cleared away from the central air conditioning condenser.

After a couple of years remission, the poison ivy has reerged in some of the wilder parts of our yard. How does it go away and come back? I guess that adaptation is why it is called invasive #gardening #invasiveplants #poisonivy

The Missouri legislature actually did do one very good thing this session.
#Missouri #InvasivePlants

https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2025-05-16/missouri-callery-pears-bradford-invasive-plants

The Surinam cherry (aka Brazilian cherry) is considered invasive to Florida and people generally consider that to be a bad thing, but we’ve been experiencing drought since 2023 and I think we should reevaluate our feelings towards plants that produce food without human intervention or even rain.

We should consider the Surinam cherry a miracle food. They are rich in Vitamin A & C, potassium and antioxidants. All this from sandy, nutrient-poor soil and little hydration. The ones in this photo are from the hedge between mine and my neighbor’s yard. You’ll see this plant randomly in neighborhoods, along the sidewalk.

Pigeon peas, mangos, chaya and papayas are other edible plants that require little to no care, are drought tolerant, and give us nutrient-rich food. We struggle to grow “conventional” foods in our gardens, yet nature provides with ease. Lean into it.

#Florida #InvasivePlants #Gardening #TropicalPlants #Nature #MotherNature #FreeFood #EdiblePlants #WildFood #foraging

Closeup of branches of a Surinam cherry bush with bright red fruit. The fruit are cherry-sized but shaped like tiny pumpkins. Blue sky can be seen in the background.

Surinam cherry bush closeup with my hand in the foreground holding two bright red fruit.

WeedCUT from U California
"METHODS FOR MANAGING WEEDS IN WILDLANDS"

(Me to brain, "no, you don't need goats".)
#weeds #invasiveplants

https://weedcut-new.ipm.ucanr.edu/management-practices/#non-chemical

I’m seriously bummed by the amount of invasive plants I see posted

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/invasive-plant-species/

https://www.ruralsprout.com/invasive-plants/

#NativePlants #InvasivePlants #pollinators #birds #biodiversity #environment #gardening

#NativePlants are the support base for a healthy ecosystem. They evolved with the insects, birds and other fauna that rely on them for food, shelter, and to reproduce. #InvasivePlants have been introduced, and can crowd out native plants, creating a food desert for #pollinators, #birds, etc. if you care about the loss of birds and pollinators, think about adding native plants to your garden and removing invasive species.
#biodiversity #environment #gardening

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https://www.nwf.org/Native-Plant-Habitats/Plant-Native/Why-Native

Ready for another beautiful, sweet-scented plant that’s actually bad news? Meet Five-leaf Akebia, Akebia quinata.

A relative newcomer to the invasives lists, Akebia is set to give Kudku a run for its money in terms of how fast it spreads. Keep an eye on this contender as it races across natural areas, smothering everything as it dominates the landscape.

It does smell nice, though.
#invasivePlants #NativePlants

Close view of the flowers of Akebia, which has three round petals in a sort of pastel maroon color? The unopened buds look like a little cluster of grapes.

An inflorescence in the middle of a sea of foliage that shows how the “five-leaf” name was chosen. Each leaf has five oval leaflets that spread around a central stem. Lush green and optimized to catch every ray of sunlight.

A wooded valley covered with Akebia. All this growth happened in the last two or three years. The vines climbing the trees are at least 20 to 30 feet up. We’ll soon be learning whether this vine takes down mature trees.

Would you believe me if I told you that this pretty, cheerful flower is bad news?

Lesser Celandine, which is blooming right now in the eastern US, spreads rampantly in damp areas, like these woods. Unfortunately these are the same areas where native spring ephemerals like Bluebell, Spring Beauty, and Trout Lilly should be speed-running their short above-ground lives before the trees start casting shade.

Guess what aggressive plant is choking them out?
#NativePlants #invasivePlants

Yellow flowers at the edge of a trail and a utility easement, stretching off to infinity

Close view of the Lesser Celandine, a pretty bright-yellow flower with glossy dark green leaves that look a little bit like giant versions of violet leaves

A wet woods where the ground is covered with Lesser Celandine

A small seasonal stream running under some power lines, showing how flowing water is spreading the Lesser Celandine

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8jJ2Dwq/

I am fun, and it’s been scientifically proven. #invasivePlants #NativePlants

Screenshot of a TikTok caption, “Your friend who has to point out the invasive species on every walk.”

Yesterday I got a text with a new neighbor requesting me to remove ivy. Normally they'd end up on a wait list since I have a lot of orange lit properties in progress and my big project is still ongoing, but the photo they sent showed it was a quick job and I figured I'd tackle it for a day. 4.5 hours later it was all finished and a new green zone got added to my progress map! It feels good to treat the cancer before it spread too far in this nice patch of woods. Two more neighbors completed their ivy removal and got lit in blue on the map, so we're getting some nice coverage of the neighborhood at this point.

#invasiveplants #plants #forest #carync #northcarolina #habitat #habitatrestoration #environment #englishivy #nature

This scene from a few years ago has a Dr. Suess like quality, but except for the trees, everything else is an invasive species. Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), Porcelainberry (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata) and Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora).

"Invasive species have contributed to approximately 60% of recorded global extinctions."

IPBES (2023). Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Roy, H. E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P., Renard Truong, T., Bacher, S., Galil, B. S., Hulme, P. E., Ikeda, T., Sankaran, K. V., McGeoch, M. A., Meyerson, L. A., Nuñez, M. A., Ordonez, A., Rahlao, S. J., Schwindt, E., Seebens, H., Sheppard, A. W., and Vandvik, V. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430692

#invadedlandscapes #invasivespecies #invasiveplants #invasiveplantspecies #biodiversityloss #extinction

A landscape covered in invasive vines that looks almost cartoonish.

#FungalCommunities related to invasive plants may change with an #ElevationalGradient, which may affect the performance and invasiveness of #InvasivePlants. Rui-Ling Liu et al. found that #Rhizosphere and #Root fungal community of the invasive plant #GalinsogaQuadriradiata changes along its elevational expansion route.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtac055

The linear correlations of fungal community diversity [(a) number of OTUs, (b) Simpson diversity, (c) Shannon-Wiener diversity] between rhizosphere and root of Galinsoga quadriradiata.

Watching the ivy roll back to reveal the forest behind is so rewarding. Removed around 68 trash cans full of ivy from this property. Pics are from yesterday (1), December (2), October (3), late September (4), and early September at the start of the project (5). Last two pics are of the people that have helped me remove 10 trash cans, and I have removed the other 58 myself.

#invasiveplants #nativeplants #plants #nature #forest #englishivy #habitat #habitatrestoration #ecosystem #ecology #environment #environmentalism #northcarolina

Mayapple is an ephemeral wildflower species in the Southeastern United States that makes either one or two big umbrella leaves, and literally look like a folded umbrella as they emerge from the ground in early spring. They make a single white flower hanging under their leaf that develops into a small apple-like fruit in May. This population occurs in the backyard of a neighbor, emerging from a thick groundcover of English ivy. I managed to convince the landowners, who are removing the ivy themselves, to let me clear the mayapple patch carefully this winter so as not to harm the mayapple roots. The cleared patch is now marked with white flags in picture 3.

#nativeplants #invasiveplants #invasivespecies #native #plants #forest #nature #northcarolina #habitat #habitatrestoration #ecosystems #environment #environmental

This is a before and after example of one of the properties I've done invasive plant removal for, along with a picture of a friend who helped me one day. This property had at least 24 trashcans full of English ivy that needed to get taken away. While clearing it, found some sapling Carolina cherry laurel, around a dozen maple-leaf viburnum saplings, at least 20 cranefly orchid plants, and even some beautiful ghost pipes (a parasitic native plant that makes white waxy flowers). It's nice to help my neighbors out, and this project is part of 7 connected properties that asked for my service. An enormous project, but a project with huge rewards for our native plants and animals to have a large invasive-plant free refuge.

#nativeplants #invasiveplants #invasivespecies #native #plants #forest #nature #northcarolina #habitat #habitatrestoration #ecosystems #environment #environmental

Excerpt from "How to make your yard a friendlier place for #pollinators"

#Pollination doesn't only produce more plants – it also helps make fruits and vegetables larger, more abundant, and even more flavorful.

by Abby Jackson, January 22, 2024
The Cool Down [#US-based publication]

How to Support Pollinators in Your Yard

"Plants are the foundation for every living thing on our planet, and without pollination, plants would be unable to reproduce and our food supply would be at risk.

"Here are a few things you can do to support their safety and protect our food resources for years to come:

- Avoid #pesticides, #herbicides, and synthetic #fertilizers as much as possible.

- Choose flowering plants that produce pollen and nectar, that are native to your area, and that support a variety of pollinators. Avoid hybrid plant varieties, as they've been bred specifically for aesthetics and may have unattractive nectar.

- You can use the #NationalWildlifeFederation's #NativePlant finder to discover plants in your area that attract pollinators. The #AudubonSociety has a similar search that identifies native plants in your area that attract birds.

- Follow seasonal changes and diversify your yard with plants that bloom at different times of the year for year-round blooms.

- Remove #InvasivePlants and weeds when possible.

- Provide a hydration station. Birdbaths are hazards for many pollinators because they can easily drown in them and because they are preyed on by other animals. Filling a shallow bowl with pebbles or marbles to a low water level will allow pollinators to drink while sitting on a perch. [I do create "bee baths" with marbles and rocks. I will be very cautious if I decide to provide "bird baths" this summer]

- Provide nesting sides, like a #BeeHouse. [Old logs can be good for some bees]

- Use certain plants strictly as food for the larvae of pollinators to ensure they will have enough energy to grow and frequent your yard. For example, #MonarchCaterpillars [and #TussockMothLarvae] love to eat #milkweed, and #BlackSwallowtailCaterpillars feed on #parsley [I did not know this! I will provide some parsley for their consumption this year!]

"#Rewilding your yard with native plants and #clovers, designating a garden bed to attract pollinators, or even having a pollinator-friendly plant in a pot on your #balcony are other ways you can make your area a friendlier space for pollinators.

"Any action that helps pollinators is a positive action that benefits you and the animals and nature around you."

#invasivePlants

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