Invasive plants cause serious environmental harm
This page provides access to information on what invasive plants are, the harm that they cause, and how to identify and remove them from your yard.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) identifies invasive species as one of five drivers of biodiversity loss. The destruction wrought by invasives such as English ivy, bush honeysuckle, and lesser celandine in Sligo Creek Park is evident.
Replacing invasives with natives in your yard switches it from “part of the problem” to “part of the solution.” Congratulations!
Learn the definition of invasive plants and the harm that they cause: never again confuse invasives with “non-natives,” “weeds,” or “aggressive plants”
Look up common invasives in Takoma Park, and how to identify and remove them
Find here a list of landscapers who can be hired to tackle the tough work of eradicating invasive plants from your yard
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.