Invasive Plants – Page 3 – Backyard Forest Restoration

Himalayan Blackberry – Pry and Pop, Wiggle and Pull

If you haven’t tried it before, removing Himalayan Blackberry is not as difficult as you might think.

12/07/2020

Himalayan Blackberry and Its Native Look-Alikes

Himalayan Blackberry, when small, is easily confused with the native Trailing Blackberry. To tell them apart, I focus on the leaves.

12/03/2020

Norway Maples – Now is the Time

Now is a good time to spot and remove small Norway Maples — their leaves have turned a bright yellow and the ground is soft from rain.

11/18/2020

Brief Reviews of Three Books

I’ve been looking for books related to backyard forest restoration in Puget Sound forests and only came up with three . . .

11/18/2020

The Future of Plant Identification

If artificial intelligence can master the game of Go, I guess it can learn to identify plants.

11/08/2020

Drawing the Line on Vinca and Hedge Bindweed

A weed break is a narrow line of cleared ground separating the forest from invasives that spread by rhizomes — like Vinca and Hedge Bindweed.

10/22/2020

Garlic Mustard or Money Plant? And Does it Matter?

I almost panicked the other day when I found the fall rosette of a plant that I thought might be Garlic Mustard, a Class A noxious weed in the State of Washington and “one of the most serious invaders in forested areas of the northeastern and midwestern United States.” This particular invasive plant might have…

10/16/2020

How Old is Old-Growth Ivy?

While sawing through a 3 ½ inch diameter Ivy stem yesterday, I wondered how long it had taken to get so big. It was the largest of several large woody vine stems going up an approximately 60-year-old Douglas Fir, branching into dozens of gradually smaller stems, wrapping and crisscrossing as they climbed into the upper…

10/02/2020