National Invasive Species Awareness Week is February 24-28!
Let’s round up our friends and neighbors to join in removing invasives like Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Like we said last month, winter is a good time to remove invasive plants. As the Blue Ridge PRISM explains:
“Winter is an ideal time to treat and/or remove many species of invasive plants in Virginia.
Woody species like trees, shrubs, and vines are often more easily accessible during the winter because the other vegetation has died back.
This is also a good time because there is less risk of damaging native plants that have gone dormant for the season.”
–Blue Ridge PRISM/Frequently Asked Questions/When is the right time to control invasive plants?
We referred to this section of the PRISM website last month, and if you want to review it and our discussion of winter removal methods for invasive shrubs and vines, particularly autumn olive and Asiatic bittersweet, you’ll find it here, in the January 2025 issue of The Garden Shed.
Featured Photo: Asiatic bittersweet climbing a tree. Photo: Cathy Caldwell