Garlic mustard battle continues annually Every year for the last several years, I’ve spent an afternoon during the last week of April doing the exact same thing: walking along the Wiouwash Trail searching for garlic mustard and tying fluorescent tape on a tree or shrub branch near each patch I’ve spotted. This is [Continue]
It seems that invasive plants have one of two strategies while they quietly try to take over the planet. Either they are so unobtrusive that you’d never notice them until they become a problem (like buckthorn or garlic mustard) or they are so in-your-face gorgeous that you are enthralled by their beauty for years before [Continue]
Badger sportsmen can be in a unique position on the front lines in the war against invasive species in Wisconsin. And you don’t have to expend any effort by pulling garlic mustard or cutting down a buckthorn tree or spraying pesticide to help. All you need are your eyes to observe an invader and your [Continue]
Some prescriptions come with a warning that you should stay out of the sun while taking the medication because the drug makes you more sensitive to sunburn. This is called photosensitivity or phototoxicity. There are plants in the wild and even in your own garden that you may inadvertently touch that do the same thing. [Continue]
June is invasive species awareness month. Why should you care? Because your ash trees are eventually going to be killed by emerald ash borer. Because your kids are going to cut their feet on zebra mussel shells on the beaches of Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago. Because when you bike the Wiouwash Trail, you’ll see [Continue]
Plantain is really ugly when it grows in the middle of a nice grassy lawn. Its wide oval-shaped, deeply veined leaves and that irritating greenish flower spike that pops up in the middle of the plant seemingly overnight can really ruin a good view. Plantain has been annoying people since the first Europeans landed on [Continue]
Fairy rings are dark green open circles, like hula hoops, that appear on your lawn. The dark ring itself may be a couple inches to two feet wide and the diameter of the ring can be from two feet to fifty feet across. Almost every culture has its own folklore relating to fairy rings. Stories [Continue]
Here’s what happened: Four years ago there were two teasel plants in a field next to a house about a mile from my home. Three years ago there were four plants. Two years ago there were seven. At that time, I became aware of the possibility of the plant becoming invasive, and I very tactfully [Continue]
Wisconsin woodlands are being taken over by alien invaders! Alien invasive plants, that is. Among the worst interlopers are garlic mustard, buckthorn, wild grape vine and honeysuckle. Garlic mustard spreads the fastest and many people fail to recognize it on their property until it’s way too late. Here’s one of the reasons: whoever came up [Continue]
You thought purple loosestrife was bad? There’s a new biological bully taking over the marshland: meet phragmites. This gargantuan grass is so invasive that it’s rolled over other marsh invaders such as loosestrife, reed canary grass and non-native cattails like a steamroller. You’ve seen phragmites. It’s a big sturdy grass, up to 20 feet tall, [Continue]