Just like that, Summer is here! Good-bye mild Spring, and hello 90 degrees. Things are about to get real - real sweaty, that is.
This month's weeds to watch out for are a pair of formidable foes!
First up is Mile-a-minute, also known as Tear Thumb. Even my doubled up, puncture proof gloves were no match for the recurved thorns (prickles for my botany friends) that well, tear your thumbs and any other exposed, or covered diligently, flesh. Read more about this pesky plant on our website.
Next up is Japanese Knotweed. The title of this long article says it all. "Oh, No, Not Knotweed!" I originally read this article on the way to our annual family vacation up in Maine several years ago and it stuck with me. I was shocked to see it planted as an ornamental in many of the houses’ landscapes. Each year I have visited since it has taken over more and more of the area. I have also seen it along our stream valleys in our area. For a less dramatic read, see the much shorter knotweed article on our website.
Thank you for helping us spread the word about invasive species and their management. Our wild areas are so incredibly special and you are playing an important role in protecting them. If we stop the spread of invasives in our neighborhoods, we can stall their advance into the wild areas. We appreciate YOU and your willingness to help educate your neighbors on how to identify and manage invasive species before they take over what is left of our wild spaces.
Many, Many thanks!
Here is a quick note to send onto your neighbors!
Hey Neighbor,
I want to ask you to be on the lookout for Mile-a-minute vine. Also known as Tear Thumb, Mile-a-minute is a particularly aggressive spreader that will completely carpet an area and climb the trees in a very short time. Luckily, it is fairly easy to identify and if you catch it early you can stop it in its tracks. It has unique triangular leaves that are all about equal in size and somewhat resemble an arrowhead shape. It also has curved thorns that will poke through even the thickest of gloves so be sure to layer up and be careful when removing it. It has not yet gone to seed so you can just pull it out of the ground and leave it to dry. Mid to late Summer it will bear seeds that will be eaten and spread by the birds so it is really important, and much easier to catch this one right now. Here is a photo of what to look out for.
Thanks for helping keep our neighborhood free of invasives and protecting our wild spaces!
Here is another example, contributed by a different volunteer:
Hi, Neighbors,
I took advantage of the moist soil to go on a rampage with the Oriental Bittersweet along one stretch of the road. Very gratifying! When you see terrible blankets of vines covering canopy trees in parks or along highways, this is one of the most common culprits. If we ignore it, our lovely woods will gradually succumb. But it's really easy to control if you get it when it is young.
I will leave the pile by the road next to our driveway for a couple days so you can see what it looks like in person, before adding it to our brush pile to dry out and die before we get someone to take it away. You’ll notice that the roots are orange. Once it gets up into trees, it flowers and produces berries that are spread by the birds.
I’d be happy to walk your properties to point it out to you. I can guarantee that you all have it in your woods. If we are going to save our trees, it will need to be a group effort. Invasive plants know no boundaries: if they are on one person’s property, they will end up on everyone’s.
For those of you who hire people to do your yard work, I would be very interested in meeting with your landscaping crew to show them what needs doing. In fact, we have a whole team of Fairfax Tree Rescuer PRISM volunteers who offer that service, since ultimately the success of the county-wide effort will need to include expertise on the part of the lawn-and-landscape industry. An alternative is to hire kids to do the weeding, putting a call out on one of the local Facebook groups. The key to attracting them, of course, is to offer them enough to make it worth their while.
Save the date(s): Our next “Extravaganza” is scheduled for the four weekends of October. This would be a great time to plan a publicity blitz or a tree rescue event in your neighborhood.
Mini-grants for communities - Applications are still open - please spread the word!! Find details and a recording of the Q&A Zoom on our Grants page.
Katy
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Information to send out to your community
Wintercreeper is yet another invasive plant originally brought into the U.S. by horticulturists. They deemed it as an excellent ground cover as it was hardy and fast-growing. Read more about Wintercreeper and how to remove it. wintercreeper
Tip for organizers:
Seed swaps and winter sowing is a cheap way to propagate plants to replace the invasives. Learn about winter sowing.
News:
Thanks to creative thinking and hard work on the part of volunteers Bruce and Kelly, experts in website development, we have switched to a more robust platform for our website. This will allow for all sorts of innovations such as a way to report tree rescues that immediately updates on the homepage and on a separate page for each town. Check it out!
Grant Possibility for those protecting our environment!