Scroll to and click green bars to access:
- Introduction to Invasives: Appreciate the harm that invasives do
- Common invasives: How to identify and remove invasive plants in Takoma Park
- Fight the Good Fight: Takoma Parkers reclaim their yards from invasives
Learn the definition of invasive plants and the harm that they cause: never again confuse invasives with “non-natives,” “weeds,” or “aggressive plants”
Common invasives in Takoma Park, and how to identify and remove them
Find inspiration in the efforts of Takoma Parkers to clear their yards of invasives
Haven’t clicked on anything? At least take away this message about invasives:
Invasive plants are non-native plants that actively harm the natural environment or humans. These invasives are not simply weeds, like say, dandelions. You may or may not want dandelions in your yard but they are not doing any actual environmental damage.
Not so invasives.
Take, for example, lesser celandine: cute buttercup-like flowers on a dense mat of luscious green foliage that emerge in early spring to herald the end of winter.
Lovely — except for the fact that lesser celandine is actively destroying natural areas such as Sligo Creek Park by choking out native spring flowers and by extension the native insects and other animals that reply on specific native spring plants for food.
Eliminating lesser celandine and other invasives from your yard is a civic responsibility, and part of the contribution that you can make to fighting the global crisis of biodiversity loss.