Have yourself an invasive little Christmas
Oh the magic of the holidays, baking cookies, listening to holiday music, visiting with close friends and family, decorating your home with invasive species… What? Yes Virginia, every holiday season people unwittingly help some very aggressive invasive plants gain access to new places and habitats.
Take a closer look at the brightly colored vine that looked ever so festive as a wreath in the Farmer’s Market, it might just be Oriental Bittersweet. What about those red buds on the plant that has wrapped itself around the Christmas tree that you cut down with your family this year? If you went to the same tree farm that I did, it very well could be Multiflora Rose. When we put a wreath on our front door or throw the Christmas tree outside the day after our holiday plant fragments and seeds of invasive plants that are part of the wreath or wrapped around the tree can drop off the decorations and onto our yard.
Of course we are not moving these hitchhikers on purpose, but the results of our uninformed decorating could be infestations of invasive plants in our own backyard, which could move to our neighbor’s backyard, and then their neighbor’s backyard… You get the picture.
So what can I do? Make sure that any holiday decorations that you make or purchase contain only native plant species and spread the word to be on the look out for invasive plants disguised as decorations.
Read more about invasive plants and holiday decorations in the Massachusetts Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Program’s Blog and the Boston Herald.
