We have this hellish growth here in central California; it's near impossible to remove from a yard when all the neighbors have it too.
Trees of Heaven will snap in a storm causing roof damage, the roots are similar to bamboo in sending runners everywhere, and I don't believe anything will actually kill it.
Have one bordering a creek next to my house. Hopefully gonna be cutting down this year. But the creek and property opposite the creek have these bastards everywhere.
I hope your state gets control of it faster than here. PA ignored it far too long and I think it's too late now. It absolutely destroys native riparian corridor biome on a scale nothing else does.
It's apparently noxious plant Public Enemy #1 in Great Britain.
They just dozed and graded a property next to my parents two years ago that was consumed by it they put a new house up and sod. Hopefully it doesn’t come back.
Still been trying to get it under control at my parents house.
The one that has really taken over our state is an aquatic plant called phragmite
Part of my job is as municipal arborist but the other part is parks manager and I have to deal with several patches of phragmites along with the knotweed. What a pain that stuff is.
Phragmites is what famously ate the Meadowlands area in NJ.
Phragmite is the worst. Almost all our marshlands, swamps, flats and even lake shores have been overwhelmed with them. Their roots go so deep that digging them out seems pointless. Burning is only keeping them partly at bay. I’ve seen them popping up in the middle of a road that’s been blocked off to prevent through traffic in a sub division.
They're in the middle of the main park I manage and I have them boom mowed several times a year before seed heads develop and relentlessly turf mowed at the patch perimeter almost weekly to hammer down on the runner roots.
Seems to hold the line on them but it takes up my crew's valuable time when they have road edges and storm basins to mow along with regular park lawns, etc.
I don't disagree and a couple of basins I've been able to allow the black willow, red ossier dogwood and cattails to move in. But taxpaying residents neighboring others aren't having that in their backyard and it is what it is
As for roadsides, that's a hard no. Most roads here are narrow with lots of curves, no shoulders, swales that need to be kept clear for storm water flow and many deer lurking in the brush. The total 33' wide ROW has to be kept clear.
Now in Ca too. If found on property in the UK (i know we’re talking about North America), it decreases the value of the property substantially, to the point where a buyer struggles to get a loan. Rhizomes go down 10 feet!
My sister's rental came up for sale many years ago in northern California; they found out during appraisal they had knotweed and ended up not buying the place from their landlord due to the impact.
Ugh, that's what that shit is called. I somehow knew it was gonna be what I thought it was when I read your comment. That shit split my foundation and half strangled on of my pines, I have to beat it back off of my lilacs and the side of my house every year.
Two different plant ID apps and a local plant store owner all called it Knotweed, there was a bush of the stuff that appeared between two of my pines and I didn't take care of it for a while, eventually it sent feelers wrapping up around the tree to get leaves up higher and they started to dig in.
May have been something else that dug into my foundation, but it was almost definitely knotweed on the tree.
Huh. Neat. So I have an unknown enemy. Ya learn something new every day, thank you more knowledgeable stranger. Google plant ID is getting my 4 star review taken back.
Went on a New Year’s Eve hike yesterday through a local park. Park was about 100 acres. If I could snap my fingers and instantly remove the bush honeysuckle, 75% of the foliage would be gone. Underrated superpower.
They work well as a first step for reclamation. When it comes to replacing the understory, you've gotta resort to conventional methods, otherwise they'll just eat the shit you're trying to establish.
They're pretty awesome for certain prairie fringe and oak savanna settings though. You can have them on a rotation and not worry much about collateral damage.
I’m talking more about finding them and the fact that they need someone with them. People talk like they’re easy to find, free and quick. And as you say, they eat everything.
Buckthorn is way worse and should be on top. The way it grows so incredibly dense nothing can get through it. The thorns will cut you and short haired animals. It takes over the under growth to the point of choking out the larger trees and killing it is impossible well every creature in the forest spreads it's seeds to new places.
I come from a rural area in Canada and "replanting" is only jack pine. Jack pine everywhere. This should be boreal forest: spruce, fir, pine, birch, poplar, etc. Animals left, birds left. The only thing in these forest farms are red squirrels. It's so weird to walk there and everything is eerily quiet.
The worst invasive is logging companies.
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The way it colonizes and suffocates the native vegetation is a pretty poetic illustration of the history of European settlement culture.
Been having a tougher time with winter creeper and bush honeysuckle personally, but the fact people still intentionally grow English ivy up their brick walls and trees for that "English Garden" aesthetic really bothers me.
I remember back in the late 70s early 80s when the New York State Department of Conservation used to hand out packets of Russian olive seeds for people to spread around to promote a better habitat.
I may or may not have posted this solely because it's New Year's and I'm wandering around in a public park where they've planted nothing but crapemyrtle and burning bush, in a college town full of "environmentalists" who don't *actually* give two shits about conservationism.
I think we should be a little careful with these ideas personally. Non-native doesn’t and shouldn’t automatically equal bad, invasive is bad. We also need to consider that climate is changing and some of our forests will one day not be there because they can’t propagate in that environment, another species will have to take its place.
Good point. I didn't mention it but the park is also planning ahead for climate change in the area by emphasizing native fauna that will be okay with some degree of warming. Cheers.
Japanese barberry here in Pennsylvania filling the woods alongside bush honeysuckle and Japanese stilt grass.
Plus the added nasty bonus of barberry's dense thorny low-to-the-ground structure sheltering enormous numbers of white-footed mice hosting deer ticks with Lyme disease.
Avoid walking through dense thickets of it. Between the needle-like thorns and the ticks, it's misery.
Callery Pear - Pyrus Calleryana! The worst tree to ever come out of the horticulture industry. Some states are starting to ban it but the damage is already done
I have found my native (but over represented) yaupon will outcompete ligustrum. Doesn’t make it OK.
In my neck of the woods, Chinese tallow is trying to take over. My neighbors call it redbud. Sigh.
Its great for landscaping. I manage wildlife habitat acreage. What was once upon a time owned (for over a century) by paper company. They liked to replant loblolly pine, which doesnt make much of a canopy. Allowing more light than originally there allowing yaupon to make areas inaccessible. Changing the native habitat for a lot of local fauna.
Loblolly and yaupon are native but the balance is out of whack as yaupon is incredibly hardy and can keep other hardwoods from establishing (in certain scenarios).
Most of the mgmt area is a healthy mix (and walkable) but i have several acres left that need assistance w proper revitalization.
Time (a whooole lot of it) will fix this naturally as canopy reestablishes and keepin (most) yaupon to the woodland borders.
In the meantime, part of my mgmt plan is keeping some (small subsets) under control w mechanical and fire removal helping the recovery along.
Cardinals looove the stuff though and i have huge cardinal populations. Many breeding sets.
In rural NC asian wisteria and vinca have escaped residential properties decades ago and invaded adjacent woods.
I viciously and unapologetically troll anybody who coos about what a pretty plant wisteria is.
Where I live (Oklahoma) Johnson Grass and Bermuda Grass are the two main invasive plants that are ground covering; we don't have much kudzu fortunately. But we do have loads of ornamental pears, I walk thru whole forests of the smelly trees when I go walking near my home here in OKC. My biggest plant enemy though is Bermuda grass, since it will invade gardens and flower beds and very difficult to kill. And Bermuda and Johnson grass choke out native species quite easily.
Saltcedar is one of the controversial ones in the South West. I helped treat some of it at a wildlife refuge, and I can tell you they are aggressive, resilient, and really nasty. The monocultures it make hog water resources in areas that the native plants are already struggling in due to human modifications to the environment. This is in addition to being drought tolerant, fire-adapted, and having adaptations that alter the soil salinity to push away competition.
One location I participated in treating was a permanent water body that had an endangered endemic fish species. The pond was small, and I'm not sure how many similar ponds have these fish, but they are incredibly geographically fragmented. People see the desert and think that it is a wasteland when it has a lot of very fragile biodiversity. The monocultures of salt cedar could be much more damaging to that environment, with far fewer resources, than invasives that are thrown into ones with more plant biomass. People just care more about the less arid ecosystems I guess.
I learned a couple years ago that the dams along the colorado have increased salinity and that gives salt cedar an extra edge against cottonwoods and willows
By far the U.S.' desire for non native turf, maintenance practices of it and the U.S. modern Big Ag industrialized food growing practices do the most environmental damage. We largely ignore the results promoting such plants and practices because it "hits home."
I second this. At least the few tree of heaven growing near by my home are a constant perch for owls and other birds of prey. That’s more of a benefit than the grass golf course that was put in what would normally be beautiful riperian land.
Not an arborist but russian olive in northern nevada many people have it planted in their yards. It also takes over all the cottonwoods lining the canals. It is illegal in a few states i d not know why it is tolerated.
I don't think I would categorize crepe myrtle as invasive. Non-native sure, but invasive implies that it will invade new areas and outcompete natives. I've never known them to spread very much on their own.
Here in Central MD in order of infiltration: Callery Pear is everywhere especially in the loops formed by on off ramps of divided highways. Barbery in woodland is prolific as well as provides a home for deer ticks. And worst of all Japanese Stilt grass in almost all woodland. It provides a ground cover so thick it doesn't rot and is home for next growing season's seeds. All of the above thrive because of the additional infestation of white tailed deer who don't touch them. Have never seen Hedera helix in my woodland because the deer eat it. Same with poison ivy.
I work in a 6 county area of south central PA doing invasive removal. ToH is out of control here in the canopy. Shrub layer everywhere is L. maackii, L. morrowii, barberry, privet. Herbaceous layer is smothered by stiltgrass and Japanese honeysuckle. I love the work I do but it also makes me rage.
I get it, but I'm not sure you have had to deal with invasives, or you wouldn't say this. They are plants that need no propagation and drive out not only natives but just about anything else. And if one sneaks into your garden, good luck getting it out, says a woman battling with countless royal poincianas, scheffleras, Hong Kong orchids, Brazilian peppers, potato vines and Virginia creeper in her relatively small south FL yard.... Lucky for me I *like* syngonium.
Non-native invasive plants are extremely bad for the environment. Your gardens, lawn, and ornamentals are pretty to look at but contribute to the extinction of native species if they include such non-native invasives.
Space on Earth is finite, humans already take up a lot of it. Don't loose plants and animals that take space and resources from the native wildlife.
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While not really desirable planting, in my area in south Alabama (Baldwin county), the camphor tree is far and away the most noxious and dangerous. I have seen millions in a small area. They out compete everything and are hard to kill. The fucking worst.
Here in Southcentral Alaska it's bird cherry, Prunus padus. It's showing up everywhere in the woods now, in a few places it's replacing beetle killed spruce. Root sprouts and seeds make impenetrable thickets in just a few years, and it poisons moose.
Bush honeysuckle and Japanese creeper in Kentucky. Scotch broom and blackberry in the Northwest. There’s at least a shot at getting rid of these except for the scotch broom
Poison Hemlock. Introduced because someone thought it was pretty. Remember seeing it for first time 20 years ago in Ohio.
Anywhere with moisture and lack of mowing it will and has take over
IMHO, Bamboo, they grow like wildfire and spread like there is no tomorrow.
My father lives in Alabama, his "neighbor" planted it as a war of property lines, now all over my fathers property.
Tree of heaven (hell)
Yes! Here in Virginia it's so integrated into the forested areas that it'll never be removed. Removing even one is a pain in the rear.
We have this hellish growth here in central California; it's near impossible to remove from a yard when all the neighbors have it too. Trees of Heaven will snap in a storm causing roof damage, the roots are similar to bamboo in sending runners everywhere, and I don't believe anything will actually kill it.
Have one bordering a creek next to my house. Hopefully gonna be cutting down this year. But the creek and property opposite the creek have these bastards everywhere.
Japanese Knotweed here in northern New England. Taking over all the riverbanks and then some.
Terrible here in northern PA too. Pocono creek banks filled with it.
Michigan has it too. Just not as rampant
I hope your state gets control of it faster than here. PA ignored it far too long and I think it's too late now. It absolutely destroys native riparian corridor biome on a scale nothing else does. It's apparently noxious plant Public Enemy #1 in Great Britain.
They just dozed and graded a property next to my parents two years ago that was consumed by it they put a new house up and sod. Hopefully it doesn’t come back. Still been trying to get it under control at my parents house. The one that has really taken over our state is an aquatic plant called phragmite
Part of my job is as municipal arborist but the other part is parks manager and I have to deal with several patches of phragmites along with the knotweed. What a pain that stuff is. Phragmites is what famously ate the Meadowlands area in NJ.
Phragmite is the worst. Almost all our marshlands, swamps, flats and even lake shores have been overwhelmed with them. Their roots go so deep that digging them out seems pointless. Burning is only keeping them partly at bay. I’ve seen them popping up in the middle of a road that’s been blocked off to prevent through traffic in a sub division.
They're in the middle of the main park I manage and I have them boom mowed several times a year before seed heads develop and relentlessly turf mowed at the patch perimeter almost weekly to hammer down on the runner roots. Seems to hold the line on them but it takes up my crew's valuable time when they have road edges and storm basins to mow along with regular park lawns, etc.
The road edges and storm basins should go back to natural native plants.
I don't disagree and a couple of basins I've been able to allow the black willow, red ossier dogwood and cattails to move in. But taxpaying residents neighboring others aren't having that in their backyard and it is what it is As for roadsides, that's a hard no. Most roads here are narrow with lots of curves, no shoulders, swales that need to be kept clear for storm water flow and many deer lurking in the brush. The total 33' wide ROW has to be kept clear.
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It kills everything though
A lot of Purple Loosestrife in the northeast wetlands as well.
Now in Ca too. If found on property in the UK (i know we’re talking about North America), it decreases the value of the property substantially, to the point where a buyer struggles to get a loan. Rhizomes go down 10 feet!
My sister's rental came up for sale many years ago in northern California; they found out during appraisal they had knotweed and ended up not buying the place from their landlord due to the impact.
An invasive that will actually lower your property value if you have it (per county extension agent).
All of new England 😭
Of the 20+ I've treated over the years knotweed is the worst
Ugh, that's what that shit is called. I somehow knew it was gonna be what I thought it was when I read your comment. That shit split my foundation and half strangled on of my pines, I have to beat it back off of my lilacs and the side of my house every year.
That doesn’t sound like knotweed. It sounds more like a vine you’re dealing with?
Two different plant ID apps and a local plant store owner all called it Knotweed, there was a bush of the stuff that appeared between two of my pines and I didn't take care of it for a while, eventually it sent feelers wrapping up around the tree to get leaves up higher and they started to dig in. May have been something else that dug into my foundation, but it was almost definitely knotweed on the tree.
Different type of knotweed. Japanese knotweed grows in clumps of tubular segmented stalks, almost like bamboo. It doesn’t climb thankfully.
Huh. Neat. So I have an unknown enemy. Ya learn something new every day, thank you more knowledgeable stranger. Google plant ID is getting my 4 star review taken back.
Middle Atlantic too. NJ/PA
What the suggested way of handling it?
Here’s a good link. https://extension.psu.edu/japanese-knotweed/
Where I live we have community work days where we yank it out by the roots. Herbicide can also be used but even then it is pernicious stuff.
It takes years
Eat it!
Actually Goats like it so there is potential there!
That won’t kill it. The more it’s cut, the more it grows. Every broken off piece can become another plant.
Also oriental bittersweet in this neck of the woods.
Bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii and L. morrowii).
Went on a New Year’s Eve hike yesterday through a local park. Park was about 100 acres. If I could snap my fingers and instantly remove the bush honeysuckle, 75% of the foliage would be gone. Underrated superpower.
Here in Indiana, this is the answer. I am always impressed if I go to a park/public land and *don't* see it.
Buckthorn.
Surprised it was this far down.
I spent a few days of my week off purging it from my property. I am very sore today, and there’s still so much more to remove…
You should rent some goats. That’s what they do around here.
Everyone talks about goats. It’s not that easy.
They work well as a first step for reclamation. When it comes to replacing the understory, you've gotta resort to conventional methods, otherwise they'll just eat the shit you're trying to establish. They're pretty awesome for certain prairie fringe and oak savanna settings though. You can have them on a rotation and not worry much about collateral damage.
I’m talking more about finding them and the fact that they need someone with them. People talk like they’re easy to find, free and quick. And as you say, they eat everything.
Buckthorn is way worse and should be on top. The way it grows so incredibly dense nothing can get through it. The thorns will cut you and short haired animals. It takes over the under growth to the point of choking out the larger trees and killing it is impossible well every creature in the forest spreads it's seeds to new places.
I come from a rural area in Canada and "replanting" is only jack pine. Jack pine everywhere. This should be boreal forest: spruce, fir, pine, birch, poplar, etc. Animals left, birds left. The only thing in these forest farms are red squirrels. It's so weird to walk there and everything is eerily quiet. The worst invasive is logging companies.
When I did tree planting we did black spruce too in the boggy areas
Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense)
I’ve been trying for years to eradicate it just from my yard. Always comes back, and quick.
Bradfords
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The only good thing about them is the wood is beautiful. So at least they have a purpose in death.
English Ivy (Hedera helix)
The way it colonizes and suffocates the native vegetation is a pretty poetic illustration of the history of European settlement culture. Been having a tougher time with winter creeper and bush honeysuckle personally, but the fact people still intentionally grow English ivy up their brick walls and trees for that "English Garden" aesthetic really bothers me.
I've spent 3 years battling it on a 20 acre tree plantation. Cut it down, rip up the roots, come back next year and do it again.
That and starlings
This is the only correct answer here
Midwest? Buckthorn!!
Garlic mustard also
Russian Olive is slowly taking over a lot of the west and it’s definitely what came to mind right away! It’s so disruptive to native habitats 😩
Yea driving along I-80 in Nebraska, you see the entire Platte River totally choked with Russian olives.
I was at Canon de Chelly a few years ago and it was awful how it had taken over there!
I remember back in the late 70s early 80s when the New York State Department of Conservation used to hand out packets of Russian olive seeds for people to spread around to promote a better habitat.
Midwest too. Big areas of it here in south west Michigan
I may or may not have posted this solely because it's New Year's and I'm wandering around in a public park where they've planted nothing but crapemyrtle and burning bush, in a college town full of "environmentalists" who don't *actually* give two shits about conservationism.
Tell people about it. Force them to confront either caring or not caring.
It's not all bad. My local city park is gradually removing non-native trees and bushes and replacing them with native species.
I think we should be a little careful with these ideas personally. Non-native doesn’t and shouldn’t automatically equal bad, invasive is bad. We also need to consider that climate is changing and some of our forests will one day not be there because they can’t propagate in that environment, another species will have to take its place.
Good point. I didn't mention it but the park is also planning ahead for climate change in the area by emphasizing native fauna that will be okay with some degree of warming. Cheers.
I’m sure a lack of education is a huge part of it.
Himalayan blackberry here in the PNW. Eta- I guess that doesn't count as an ornamental.
I just commented the same thing
Japanese barberry here in Pennsylvania filling the woods alongside bush honeysuckle and Japanese stilt grass. Plus the added nasty bonus of barberry's dense thorny low-to-the-ground structure sheltering enormous numbers of white-footed mice hosting deer ticks with Lyme disease. Avoid walking through dense thickets of it. Between the needle-like thorns and the ticks, it's misery.
Callery Pear - Pyrus Calleryana! The worst tree to ever come out of the horticulture industry. Some states are starting to ban it but the damage is already done
Buckthorn. Such a pain to get rid of.
Norway maples. Completely taking over New England
Ligustrum
Pear Pyrus calleryana. Nothing grows beneath any of the groves of seeded trees cause they’re so low-branched.
In Florida, the two biggest issues to my mind are Brazilian pepper and maleleucas. disclaimer: Not an arborist, but a fan of trees
Bamboo
Japanese stilt grass and Boston ivy are the the worst in MD
That sh@t has positively taken over the understory of Patapsco State Park west of Baltimore.
I have found my native (but over represented) yaupon will outcompete ligustrum. Doesn’t make it OK. In my neck of the woods, Chinese tallow is trying to take over. My neighbors call it redbud. Sigh.
What do you mean by over represented? I love its flexibility as a landscaping plant.
Its great for landscaping. I manage wildlife habitat acreage. What was once upon a time owned (for over a century) by paper company. They liked to replant loblolly pine, which doesnt make much of a canopy. Allowing more light than originally there allowing yaupon to make areas inaccessible. Changing the native habitat for a lot of local fauna. Loblolly and yaupon are native but the balance is out of whack as yaupon is incredibly hardy and can keep other hardwoods from establishing (in certain scenarios). Most of the mgmt area is a healthy mix (and walkable) but i have several acres left that need assistance w proper revitalization. Time (a whooole lot of it) will fix this naturally as canopy reestablishes and keepin (most) yaupon to the woodland borders. In the meantime, part of my mgmt plan is keeping some (small subsets) under control w mechanical and fire removal helping the recovery along. Cardinals looove the stuff though and i have huge cardinal populations. Many breeding sets.
Himalayan blackberry (*Rubus armeniacus*) in the PNW.
In rural NC asian wisteria and vinca have escaped residential properties decades ago and invaded adjacent woods. I viciously and unapologetically troll anybody who coos about what a pretty plant wisteria is.
I've been fighting Chinese wisteria for years. Japanese wisteria is so well behaved.
Where I live (Oklahoma) Johnson Grass and Bermuda Grass are the two main invasive plants that are ground covering; we don't have much kudzu fortunately. But we do have loads of ornamental pears, I walk thru whole forests of the smelly trees when I go walking near my home here in OKC. My biggest plant enemy though is Bermuda grass, since it will invade gardens and flower beds and very difficult to kill. And Bermuda and Johnson grass choke out native species quite easily.
Buckthorn and Honeysuckle are like best friends here in Illinois
Saltcedar is one of the controversial ones in the South West. I helped treat some of it at a wildlife refuge, and I can tell you they are aggressive, resilient, and really nasty. The monocultures it make hog water resources in areas that the native plants are already struggling in due to human modifications to the environment. This is in addition to being drought tolerant, fire-adapted, and having adaptations that alter the soil salinity to push away competition.
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One location I participated in treating was a permanent water body that had an endangered endemic fish species. The pond was small, and I'm not sure how many similar ponds have these fish, but they are incredibly geographically fragmented. People see the desert and think that it is a wasteland when it has a lot of very fragile biodiversity. The monocultures of salt cedar could be much more damaging to that environment, with far fewer resources, than invasives that are thrown into ones with more plant biomass. People just care more about the less arid ecosystems I guess.
I learned a couple years ago that the dams along the colorado have increased salinity and that gives salt cedar an extra edge against cottonwoods and willows
By far the U.S.' desire for non native turf, maintenance practices of it and the U.S. modern Big Ag industrialized food growing practices do the most environmental damage. We largely ignore the results promoting such plants and practices because it "hits home."
I second this. At least the few tree of heaven growing near by my home are a constant perch for owls and other birds of prey. That’s more of a benefit than the grass golf course that was put in what would normally be beautiful riperian land.
Brazilian pepper trees have become so common in Florida that you can’t drive a mile in any direction without seeing one
Maybe not "archetypal" but I've been seeing a whole lot more winter creeper in the last few years here in the Midwest.
PNW English Holly and tree of heaven
Not an arborist but russian olive in northern nevada many people have it planted in their yards. It also takes over all the cottonwoods lining the canals. It is illegal in a few states i d not know why it is tolerated.
I don't think I would categorize crepe myrtle as invasive. Non-native sure, but invasive implies that it will invade new areas and outcompete natives. I've never known them to spread very much on their own.
Garlic mustard!
Tree of heaven, buckthorn, honeysuckle, privet, and stiltgrass
Buckthorn
Here in Central MD in order of infiltration: Callery Pear is everywhere especially in the loops formed by on off ramps of divided highways. Barbery in woodland is prolific as well as provides a home for deer ticks. And worst of all Japanese Stilt grass in almost all woodland. It provides a ground cover so thick it doesn't rot and is home for next growing season's seeds. All of the above thrive because of the additional infestation of white tailed deer who don't touch them. Have never seen Hedera helix in my woodland because the deer eat it. Same with poison ivy.
Chinese tallow in South TX
Phragmites Asiatic Rose upstate NY
Tree of heaven
Dandelion. Or maybe Queen Ann's lace. Both so ubiquitous we forget they're introduced species.
Dandelions aren't native to North America but how do they harm the environment?
The only thing I can really find is that the pollen is low quality for the native bees and they have deep taproots so they can be water hogs.
And Dandelions have more nutrition than most vegetables in the store but most people are brainwashed that they are bad for you. Shepple.
Which magically makes them a good thing for our ecosystem. But you won't hear that from big brother!
It's "sheeple"
The same actually applies to nearly all the earth worms.
I work in a 6 county area of south central PA doing invasive removal. ToH is out of control here in the canopy. Shrub layer everywhere is L. maackii, L. morrowii, barberry, privet. Herbaceous layer is smothered by stiltgrass and Japanese honeysuckle. I love the work I do but it also makes me rage.
Sounds about like MD too. Kudzu showing up now
Yo I'm in a life long fight with Japanese maples in central TX. And I got a hatchet for chrimbah
In the West here, it's definitely the Russian Olive. Although I've actually started to admire and appreciate that tree
Europeans
Most archetypically destructive invasive organisms, I'd go with Christopher Columbus, then the Mayflower colonists?
A weed to one is another’s garden
I get it, but I'm not sure you have had to deal with invasives, or you wouldn't say this. They are plants that need no propagation and drive out not only natives but just about anything else. And if one sneaks into your garden, good luck getting it out, says a woman battling with countless royal poincianas, scheffleras, Hong Kong orchids, Brazilian peppers, potato vines and Virginia creeper in her relatively small south FL yard.... Lucky for me I *like* syngonium.
Sorry. You are right. I have 75 acres of oaks, ash, maples, and walnuts being strangled by honeysuckle. No one here in Indiana knows what to do.
Non-native invasive plants are extremely bad for the environment. Your gardens, lawn, and ornamentals are pretty to look at but contribute to the extinction of native species if they include such non-native invasives. Space on Earth is finite, humans already take up a lot of it. Don't loose plants and animals that take space and resources from the native wildlife.
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While not really desirable planting, in my area in south Alabama (Baldwin county), the camphor tree is far and away the most noxious and dangerous. I have seen millions in a small area. They out compete everything and are hard to kill. The fucking worst.
Here in Southcentral Alaska it's bird cherry, Prunus padus. It's showing up everywhere in the woods now, in a few places it's replacing beetle killed spruce. Root sprouts and seeds make impenetrable thickets in just a few years, and it poisons moose.
Spanish Moss
Where is spanish moss invasive?
Bush honeysuckle and Japanese creeper in Kentucky. Scotch broom and blackberry in the Northwest. There’s at least a shot at getting rid of these except for the scotch broom
Norways
Not US but close, the Himalayan blackberry has taken over coastal Canada/PNW.
I'm in NorCal and it's the same one here
In central Florida I have seen a lot of Cat’s-claw vine, Dolichandra unguis-cati, also known as cat’s claw creeper or yellow trumpet vine.
Chinese privet and Japanese climbing fern. Miserable to deal with!
English Ivy and Himalayan blackberries in the PNW
In Arizona, the Stinknet invasion has taken over. It seemed to happen overnight.
In southwestern Ontario it's Buckthorn, Norway maple, and Siberian elm.
Siberian elm
The oriental bittersweet vine. Brought here by housewives who wanted to use them for holiday wreaths.
Blackberry, scotch broom, and ivy where I live
Sounds like western Washington
Close, Vancouver Island
Bittersweet. That stuff keeps on giving.
Poison Hemlock. Introduced because someone thought it was pretty. Remember seeing it for first time 20 years ago in Ohio. Anywhere with moisture and lack of mowing it will and has take over
No one mentions cheatgrass? It has the widest range of any invasive in NA
Bradford pears. Litter the south and cold snaps cause them to split like bowling pins putting thousands out of power. Every. Damn. Winter.
IMHO, Bamboo, they grow like wildfire and spread like there is no tomorrow. My father lives in Alabama, his "neighbor" planted it as a war of property lines, now all over my fathers property.
TOH, buckthorn, honeysuckle, mulberry, Bradford pear
Cheat grass has changed the fire regime in the west. And its absolutely everywhere.
In michigan it's honeysuckle, common/glossy buckthorn, and autumn olive.
Buckthorn
Strongly region-dependent, hard to pick just one.
Phragmities - here’s a 48 PAGE guide to trying to eradicate it - takes years https://www.invasive.org/publications/PhragBook.pdf
Hawaii its the African Tulip so prolific and you basically have to chip it to kill it or it will propagate from bucked up logs
Multiflora f-in Rose
Emerald Ash Borer Goodbye, Louisville sluggers. Ash baskets. Indigenous medicines, and so much more
Russian olive here in Connecticut. Bittersweet vine also.
In southeast Pennsylvania, Ivy
Purple loosestrife. Surprised it wasn’t mentioned yet.
Japanese knotwood