Invasives Watch
Callery or Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’) Callery pears are in bloom as I write this. According to the very helpful Blue Ridge PRISM Fact Sheet, the only other trees in bloom now are our native plums. “Both American plum (Prunus americana) and Chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia) are thorny, like pears, but are shrubby and twiggy, unlike single-trunked pears.”
All of the usual methods for eradicating invasive trees are effective with Callery pears: hand pull small saplings; if too big to pull, use the cut stump method with herbicide applied immediately to the cut; the basal bark treatment; or hack and squirt. You can hand pull any time and use the other approaches any time except at leaf out. At this time of year — as leaves are emerging — you can control trees less than 6’ tall with a higher-than-usual (3-4%) concentration of foliar spray. Foliar sprays are effective from when leaves emerge in spring until just before they begin to develop fall color.
Wavyleaf grass. Photo: Kerrie L. Kyde, Md. Dept. of Natural Resources, budwood.org
Keep an eye out for wavyleaf grass!!! Sadly, this invader is spreading, much like stiltgrass, and the public is asked to report sitings in our area. The PRISM Fact Sheet on this plant is well worth reading. As it explains,
“This perennial grass thickly blankets the ground and forms continuous carpets in short order. Wildlife scientists are concerned that wavyleaf’s rapid growth and dense roots and foliage have the potential to smother wildflowers, ferns, and other ground-layer plants, and to prevent forest regeneration in intact forests like what is happening with Japanese stiltgrass.”
— Wavyleaf Grass Fact Sheet, Blue Ridge PRISM
If — like me — you’re not confident you can identify wavyleaf grass, check out these videos: Virginia’s Least Wanted: Wavyleaf Grass/Forestry TV/youtube.com and Blue Ridge PRISM Brown Bag Webinar: “The Problem with Wavyleaf Grass”
I’ve decided to give a closer look to any swaths of ground cover that appear to be stiltgrass. For more information on where it’s been seen in Virginia and on how to report sitings, see dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage.
The Blue Ridge PRISM is hosting a number of educational events this month, so check them all out at https://blueridgeprism.org/events. One of the events is the PRISM’s Spring Meeting, which includes a talk on how to restore an area after removal of invasive plants. Explore questions such as, “Should I plant now, or wait and see what comes up,” “What kind of native plants should I choose,” and “How do I start the process?” This is a FREE webinar and will be recorded. ⇒ Find out more and Register HERE.
If you like the idea of working with a group to eliminate invasive plants at the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont, you’ll want to check out the details on the Invasive Plant Removal Workday at Botanical Garden of the Piedmont, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 from 9:00 am – 11:00 am. ⇒Find out more and RSVP Here