Michigan could make six invasive plant species illegal, including a few popular flowering plants
According to MDARD, they are:
- Common buckthorn
- Glossy buckthorn
- Callery pear
- Japanese barberry
- Water hyacinth
- Water lettuce
https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-climate-change/2026-01-13/michigan-could-make-six-invasive-plant-species-illegal-including-a-few-popular-flowering-plantsOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
We've been at war with buckthorn in our yard on and off ever since we moved in. We have a decent amount of birds in the area and don't treat our yard with herbicide. Despite what you read, buckthorn will happily shrug off mowing in your lawn and will just become lawn height bushes looking to wreck unshod feet. There's also the boundary with our neighbor's yard that's basically a buckthorn hedge on their side. Keeping it from creeping into our yard takes a decent amount of work every few years.
To get rid of the stuff we really need a mandatory "get rid of it" policy. The stuff spr ads far too easily.
I hate invasive plants. Autumn Olive and Oriental Bittersweet being my most troublesome.
Those bittersweet vines are devastating to trees at my park.
They've choked out a few of my black cherries. I can see how they can collapse canopies if left unchecked.
They really do. I see 3 vines when working in the woods of SE Michigan.
The brown flakey one is native grape (not to eat) and they're chill. They climb trees but dont hurt the host much.
The one that clings to the side of the tree with furry centipede lookin legs is poison ivy... it's obviously an asshole, but it doesnt kill the tree.
And then theres bittersweet... grey in color and purely evil. Murder at all costs.