David Epstein: Welcome to Growing Wisdom and I am here at Garden In The Woods with our Senior Horticulturist, Scott La Fleur. And Scott today, is going to help us talk about invasive plants. You pick where you want to start.
Scott La Fleur: The first one I want to start is the Bittersweet, it is probably one of the better known ones and especially the holidays is coming up. It is the ones that people tend to like decorate their doors wood. And Bittersweet is a vine, has a oranges berry where the capsule pops opens and there is a red berry inside. And the problem with this vine is it can grow to such heights and grow so intensely. They can literally topple tree.
David Epstein: I cut it. Is that okay to cut it right at the base?
Scott La Fleur: Absolutely, cutting it is the best way.
David Epstein: Burning bush, you and I have talked about this.
Scott La Fleur: Burning bush is probably one of the classic landscape plants. Everyone loves this thing because you can kill it and that was the problem. It produces copious amount of seed. It has intense red fall color that everyone loves. This bush is one of the ones that is starting to get into wildwood areas and again it is the thing that it produces so much seed, for so much shade. It has such a fibrous root system it would not let anything else grow.
David Epstein: Can you recommend one or two plants real quick that I would put in place to that?
Scott La Fleur: Yes, I would recommend the Aronia, which is a Chokecherry or fothergilla.
David Epstein: Okay, what is the next one?
Scott La Fleur: The next one will be a Norway maple. This is a tree that was planted extensively because it is very tough. The problem is, it is so tough, it actually keeps other plants from growing underneath it.
David Epstein: And how would I identify this particular maple as opposed to another maple?
Scott La Fleur: Well, being autumn right now, this is the best time to identify it because it keeps its green leaves really for a long time and it does not change any really particular nice color.
David Epstein: And the fourth invasive plant we want to talk about today Scoot is -
Scott La Fleur: Is Buckthorn, Glossy Buckthorn, and this is a plant that is not really use in the landscape. You will definitely find this if you have any little piece of wooded property next to your house. And it has a very glossy green leave, hold this glossy green leaves late into the fall, kind of a light gray bark, a little white dot on it.
David Epstein: And finally, let us talked about the regulation that is going to affect the Massachusetts and how that is going to work?
Scott La Fleur: Yes, this is a regulation that of doing Wildflower Society helped to get in place. And this is going to prevent the distribution, propagation or sale of any invasive plant or plant part. Meaning you cannot buy the berries from bittersweet to decorate your door with a Christmas.
David Epstein: And when will that take effect?
Scott La Fleur: That takes effect next year. This is the last year where it is going to be happening.
David Epstein: All right, thank you very much.
Scott La Fleur: You are welcome.
David Epstein: All right, so we have learned about invasive plants here. What you can do around your own yard to be responsible? And we look forward to seeing you back here each week for all of our videos at www.GrowingWisdom.com.
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