Indiana Invasive Species Week, April 19-25, 2020
Wednesday: Happy Earth Day Everyone!
What an amazing planet! We have seahorses that resemble pieces
of kelp and astounding coral reefs that are considered the most productive and
diverse ecosystems on our planet. We have thousands of species of birds that
delight us with song and color, we have 300,000 plus plants that bring health
and joy to us, and so much more. The biodiversity
of the planet is immense and it’s what keeps life going. I hope each of you get
to take time to enjoy nature near you this week.
I hope that each of you will find time to enhance your and
our landscapes by perhaps managing a pesky invasive species that has been nagging
you and / or plant a few native to Indiana plants that will bring you joy and help
our insects, pollinators, birds, etc. Have a Weed Wrangle® at
home! And if you do please share your success with us on FB at https://www.facebook.com/sicim35/.
We would absolutely love to hear from you.
We are thrilled to watch Carolina chickadees, Eastern phoebes,
tufted titmice, and other bird species shred old flower stems for nest material
this Spring at our house. Each year I struggle to leave old stems and yet each
year I do, I am thrilled that I did. They are mother nature’s architecture and
they provide perching locations, nesting material and places for snow or rain
drops to land. I find myself photographing those old stems and the organisms
that use them more than any other part of my landscape.
I want to remind us to work with our local nurseries and
landscape architects, build a rapport with them and ask them to help us enhance
our landscapes with native plants. Each of us makes an impact on the health of
our planet. Our landscapes are either part of the solution and are living
landscapes or quite simply they are part of the problem. And now is a great
time to work on our home gardens since we are working to prevent the spread
COVID -19. If you find plants being sold that are on the Terrestrial Plant Rule,
please contact your state nursery inspector so they can work with those nurseries
and businesses. Our nursery inspectors will work with our state growers and
retailers and this will allow us time to manage our landscapes.
Here is the link to our state nursery inspectors: Indiana
State Nursery Inspectors
Today’s plants:
Regulated terrestrial invasive plant: Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera
japonica)
Non-regulated terrestrial invasive plant: sweet autumn virginsbower
(Clematis terniflora)
Native alternatives for your landscape in Indiana:
Vines:
Old man's beard or devil’s darning
needles (Clematis virginiana) – pollinator connection: hummingbirds,
butterflies and bees – note this plant is poisonous.
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus
quinquefolia) – pollinator connection: plant is used by 15 moth species and
30 species of birds. This plant is poisonous and should not be grown on your
home. Give it a space in the back of your landscape on a sturdy structure or
let it grow at the edge of woodland up a tree or post.
Additional
resources:
Southern Indiana
Cooperative Invasives Management (SICIM): http://www.SICIM.info
Indiana Wildlife
Federation: https://www.indianawildlife.org/wildlife/native-plants/
Indiana
Department of Natural Resources: https://www.in.gov/dnr/
Indiana
Invasive Species Council: indianainvasivespecies.org
The Nature Conservancy in Indiana:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/indiana/
The Indiana Invasive Species Council
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