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Nature Worth Preserving

Guide to Invasives - Downloadable PDFs

Bittersweet

Deep rooted vine that strangles trees and bushes. Often confused with native bittersweet.

Autumn Olive

Shrub can grow up to 20 feet high. Backside of leaves is silver color. Berries in fall.

Garlic Mustard

Thrives in forest understory displacing native flowers. Seeds can live for 5 years.

Common Buck Thorn

Two species of shrubs: common and glossy. Both are considered noxious.

Flowering Rush

Aquatic plant grows densely and spreads quickly. Found in shallow or deep water.
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Japanese Knotweed in Flower

Two species of shrubs grow up to 10 feet tall. Hollow stems resemble bamboo.

Phragmites

Grows in dense groups up to 15 feet high. Takes over wetlands and shorelines.

Purple Loosestrife

Often found by roadsides in disturbed habitat and taking over wetlands.

Black Swallow Wort

The plants and roots of these species are toxic to mammals and insect larvae.

Invasive Multiflora Rose

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Join us in our efforts of controlling, reducing and removing invasive plants - starting in your own backyard.

Invasive species are non-native and can be harmful to the environment or people. Invasives include plants, insects, animals, fungi, viruses, etc. As people travel and trade around the world, foreign organisms hitch a ride. When an organism enters a new environment without any natural predators, its population can grow rapidly and eventually overtake native organisms.

Seventy percent of invasive plants were brought here intentionally by the horticultural industry for ornamental purposes or for food. Burning bush, Asian bittersweet vines, and Japanese barberry are a few of the invasive plants that are still sold in local nurseries.

At the time BHHC started, in 1972, we thought that preserving land simply required protecting it from development. We now understand that nature preserves require stewardship, including management of invasive plants. Just as our yards would turn into a weed patch

Sashabaw creek

Sashabaw creek

Volunteers at Kimball

Volunteers at Kimball

Community Impact Weekend _ Kimball

Community Impact Weekend _ Kimball

Sashabaw creek

Sashabaw creek

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without our care, our natural areas are vulnerable to degradation by invasive plants that displace native species and alter ecosystems. A large part of our stewardship work is removing invasive plants.

Interested in helping BHHC in invasive removal? Volunteer!

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