1 Invasive, 2 Invasives, 3 Invasives, More...All Eyes Needed to Report Invasives (England's Done It, so far so good)

After a talk at the Sharon Garden Club in CT by Christian Allyn on invasive plants, I was heartened to hear that England got everyone on the ball with reporting invasive plants on a website. Why not replicate That? Invade the secrets of the invasives from locations to varieties and miserable details such as  Japanese barberry can house 150 ticks in an area that native barberry will only have a couple of ticks.

How about learning the Lone Star tick from Texas, yes, That Texas, can inflict a powerful punch of an infection. If you get sudden onset symptoms within 15 minutes, that could mean serious and even deadly trouble from a tick bite. So in addtion to learning about Invasives, we all need to learn about the critters that abound in nature (whether linked to the invasives or just out thar in nature) that can lead to a "Game Over' for one or more of us just because we came in contact with something in the plant or creepy-crawly world.

Think spiders, biting insects, plants that sting, bugs that sing (okay the idea is to think like a Native with wisdom with all of one's senses, including common sense and intelligence (usually the same thing but not always.) Sometimes you need to go with your gut or be pro-active in getting help (as in calling 9-1-1 if alone and passing out with a fever or too tired to get out of the house when sick with strange symptoms.

Once you hear some of the weird ways brushing up against plants (or having an allergic reaction or worse if eating something poisonous whether a toxic mushroom or pod of a plant  that can have cyanide in its interesting looking pods) or bug bites and such can affect a person, then you realize 'it isn't you', its a natural reaction..and getting help is the cool, clever, sensible and possibly life-saving thing to do. Well, more to come on all of this but check out ideas from Doug Tellamy and others about planing user-friendly trees, bushes and  plants that can attract healthy bugs.

Those in turn can help the birds and the rest of nature keep a habitat a happenin' place. All the best for discovering more online, at your local nature center (such as Sharon Audubon in CT or another of the 50 or so Audubon nature centers or other cool venues that do some education and have resources for schools and the public.) Before you know it, you may be leading the way to greener, safer pastures for future generations to view and venture into with joy and invasives but a memory. Until then many more people are needed to do the physical battle of mowing and applying chemicals safely to the plants as proscribed.

Special permits and paperwork are required for the use of some chemicals, so do one's homework. Sometimes safe products are available but not labelled as effective, so do a little more research on that as well. Glycosphate in various percentages may be used for killing a plant but again, more information for how to use only what is needed on which part of the plant and at what time is important. Thanks for taking time to learn and all the best as you venture into this important part of keeping plan-it heart ticking happily away.