Nonnative Invasive Plants 🌱 Snow Creek Landscaping

The definition of a nonnative invasive plant is one that has the ability to thrive and spread aggressively outside its natural range. Such a plant often colonizes the area where it has been introduced since the naturally occurring predators and diseases that keep it in check in its home range are nonexistent.

In the Southern Appalachians, we have many nonnative invasive plants that wreak havoc on local ecosystems. Most everyone is familiar with Kudzu (Pueraria montana) which was introduced in the late 1800s and spreads at the rate of 150,000 acres annually. Oriental Bittersweet (Celastris orbiculatus) is quickly becoming just as problematic with its habit of creating thickets and killing host trees with its circling, strangling vines.

If you’re familiar with these plants, then chances are you know how problematic they can be in the landscape. The next few posts will help you identify the invasive plants in your yard and we’ll provide some information about how to control them.

Pictured below are some of the most common invasive woody shrubs and vines you might come across in your own yard:

Oriental Bittersweet