(bright music) >>Most retailers and nurseries are still selling invasives.

If we can create more awareness about this problem, the ultimate goal is when the consumers stop buying these plants from retailers and nurseries, then they're gonna stop selling them.

>>We tend to do the Chinese privet in the winter because it's evergreen, and so it's very easy to spot.

Another species we have to deal with is English ivy and wintercreeper, both of which can be spread by birds, and so even if you think you have it under control, sort of new ones will pop up all the time.

(birds chirping) >>Production funding for "Virginia Home Grown" is made possible by the Mary Roper Davis and Robert Poore Roper Memorial Fund.

And by.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) >>Welcome to "Virginia Home Grown."

I embrace this time of year because fall is for planting.

Today we're taking a look at invasive plant species to learn more about the threats they pose to our communities and methods to control and remove them.

Before we get started, I want to remind you to send in your gardening questions on our website, vpm.org/vhg.

We will be answering those a little later.

In the second half of our show, we will explore the Lower Appomattox River Trail in Petersburg and learn about one group's efforts to restore the riparian buffer there by removing non-native plants.

But first, I visited Ashburn Village in Loudoun County, one of many HOA neighborhoods in that area that have joined together to form the Loudoun Invasives Removal Alliance and talked with Mike Littman about organizing a collaborative community action plan to raise awareness about invasive plant species.

Let's get going.

>>Most people don't realize that invasives don't just infect the environment, but they're bad for the economy.

We've actually had for the first time this year one of our wineries report that the spotted lanternfly was really, really damaging their crop.

So if you are Loudoun County, Virginia, or Charlottesville, Virginia, or anywhere that has a great rural economy with wineries or things like that, that's going to negatively impact your economy as well.

And so we started this effort here in Loudoun County, but we're certainly hoping that through all the environmental organizations, they kind of come in and help us, and other counties that have the same kind of economy come in and help us as well.

>>This is an HOA that has 5,000 homes and about 15,000 people.

Ashburn Village and a lot of the HOAs in Loudoun County were built up in the late '90s and 2000s.

And the developers innocently found plants that were cheap, pretty, and grew quickly.

And unfortunately, it turns out a lot of those became invasives.

>>You have been spearheading or involved with an organization that has done a tremendous amount of work up here.

So tell me about that.

>>So an alliance of HOAs throughout Loudoun County that represents now over half the population of the county.

And why do we even get into this stuff?

Well, it's really threefold.

A lot of folks, when they hear invasive plants, they think about the environment and the impact it has.

And that's a really big deal.

And we've got invasives around this lake behind us that will crowd out all the other plants and the native flora and fauna.

So Bradford pears, there's one right here, matter of fact, they tend to fall down in storms.

>>Yes, very weak-wooded, poor crotched plants.

>>Very weak-wooded.

Barberries, they tend to attract not just ticks but ones with Lyme disease.

And even the non-native grasslands, like the ones that set the fires in Hawaii, we have one called Japanese stiltgrass that has already started a fire here a couple years ago.

So invasives, health and safety, the economy, and of course the environment are the reason we all got into this thing called LIRA, Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance.

That's why we formed.

>>So what is the goal of LIRA?

>>Yeah, so the goal of LIRA.

So we have formed a partnership with the county.

So we're really excited that the Board of Supervisors for Loudoun County are now working with us.

They've actually funded a study throughout Loudoun County to see what is the problem, how do we address it, and so forth.

And they've even funded a grant program.

So HOAs would apply for a grant with the county.

And to do so, they'll go through the Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District.

They oversee the program from the county.

And part of the application process, one of the first things they'll do is work with an organization known as Blue Ridge PRISM.

And they'll come into the community and do an assessment of what the worst offenders are and where you should focus first.

So it may be that residents see Bradford pears, and say, "Oh, we gotta get rid of all our Bradford pears."

Well that's expensive, and it may not be the best invasive to go after.

Whereas there's others like a purple loosestrife or Japanese honeysuckle or others that might be a much bigger problem.

So they'll do that assessment.

That's included in part of the application along with a quote from a landscaper who's expert in invasive plant removal.

The HOAs will go off and do the work, assuming it's approved.

And when it's done, Soil and Water will come back and determine, "Did you do what you said you were gonna do?"

And that's when the reimbursement happens.

>>So it just sounds so amazing.

So how did you start LIRA?

>>It started with basically HOA board members and general managers speaking to one another and sharing.

It started here in Ashburn Village.

We were the first board to pass the motion.

And next thing you know, half of Loudoun County was on board.

So it really was word of mouth.

It's a true grassroots initiative, unlike one I think Loudoun's had in a long time.

>>Fantastic.

So one HOA at a time just all joining in.

>>One HOA at a time.

And then along came, you know, some partners like Blue Ridge PRISM and Loudoun Wildlife and others.

The wineries have joined in, Farm Bureau.

Everyone's coming together on this issue.

>>What about the surrounding counties?

Is anybody copying this?

>>Actually, funny you should ask.

(Peggy laughing) Fairfax is now doing a very similar.

FIRA, the Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance is now alive and well in Fairfax.

I've heard it's going on down in the south in Greene County and other counties.

So it's starting to catch on elsewhere.

>>I think it's a great way to directly impact our communities and to bring on board and also to educate people about, you know, the species of that wall of green, we'll call it, and what species are in there and how it matters, what plants are there.

>>You just nailed it.

To me, that's the key, awareness.

This is all about awareness.

If I stop 20 people in the street, my guess is one might know what an invasive plant is today.

It's just not something people know about.

I liken it to the Surgeon General stamp on the cigarette packs.

Once people knew it was bad for you, they're like, "Oh, I probably shouldn't smoke this stuff."

I mean, people need to learn that the invasive plants are not good for the environment, are not good for their safety and health, or the economy.

>>So awareness is really the first step.

How do you accomplish that?

>>Certainly through the HOAs and just getting the word out.

And we have that organizational structure.

But we also do some special events.

Like in April, we tend to do what's called the Scrape for the Grape campaign.

400 volunteers go to 14 locations to scrape spotted lanternfly eggs off of trees, the tree of heaven brings them in, and also to tag the tree of heaven.

It was a great awareness campaign.

And it gets the word out that tree of heaven is a problem.

>>Yes, and that spotted lanternfly is a problem too.

>>Spotted lanternfly is a bigger problem.

And we.

actually, in that campaign removed 2 million spotted lanternflies from the Loudoun environment in that one campaign.

>>That is awesome.

>>Unfortunately, there's many million more.

>>I know.

>>But it created the awareness.

>>And it started, yes.

>>It started.

>>And once you create awareness, people start looking to their own backyard.

>>I only learned two or three years ago, okay?

And now, I go into the woods in my backyard and I remove nandina.

I remove multiflora rose.

There's so many.

I mean, I think I took out 70.

Now that I'm armed and dangerous on what the bad guys are, I wanna do it myself.

And that's the hope is that when we create the awareness, individuals will wanna do it on their properties.

>>It's really exciting to hear about this momentum going in Loudoun County and how it's spilling over into the other communities.

But here at Ashburn Village, you've got some good news to share as well.

>>We have 500 acres of common ground in Ashburn Village.

And on that, we've now gone 100% native.

So when we plant on common ground, it's only gonna be natives going forward.

We stopped planting invasives.

And we've even gone back to some areas where we recently did a removal of invasives.

And now we've put in all kinds of natives.

And it looks beautiful.

We only do it on common grounds because we're not gonna go into people's backyards and tell them what they can plant and change it.

>>No, you can't do that.

>>But at least we can show them, hopefully by example, that this is what we're doing.

And it's making for a better environment, making your area safer, and it's actually good for the economy.

>>Such good, positive things to celebrate.

And raising awareness is, to me, one of the most primary goals that you have so that people can understand and start following suit in their backyard, wherever it is.

So thank you, Mike.

Thank you for sharing.

>>In the end, we wanna see two things happen.

One, we wanna make sure that the General Assembly is aware of this and that they take up an effort to discourage developers from planting invasive trees.

And we wanna make sure that some of our stores, especially our larger stores, stop selling the invasive trees and bushes.

Because in the end, they're really unknowingly hurting the community that they're selling to.

This is one of these moments that local elected officials learned so much from our constituents.

This was a grassroots-led effort from LIRA.

And we would not be this far along if it wasn't for them.

So lean into your constituents who know what they're talking about, and they can help you.

Because truthfully, they live there and they want to have a healthy ecosystem and a healthy economy.

>>We tend to think about the environmental impacts of invasive species, but to factor in the economic and safety aspects further heightens the effects they have on our communities.

In response, we are fortunate to have the programs of LIRA and Loudoun County as templates to follow on both the private and county level.

And now, I'm joined by Sean Proietti, senior manager of Horticulture and Grounds at Maymont, to talk more about invasive plants and which plants to replace them with that support biodiversity.

But before we get started, remember to send in your gardening questions on our website at vpm.org/vhg or through Facebook.

Well, Sean, it's exciting to have you here and to be able to just talk about what we can replace these invasive plants with that are either native or non-invasives.

>>Yeah, thanks for having me.

We have one of our main offenders up first that we wanted to talk about.

>>Yes.

>>This is Callery pear, and we still see this all over the place.

>>Yes.

>>You know, people have Bradford pears.

They might have moved into a house and didn't really think about how bad this tree was, but these are just awful because not only do they seed everywhere and clog up our highways and our natural areas and disturbed areas, but also they split and fall down and ruin your own home landscape.

So instead we brought some serviceberry, and this is a wonderful small tree or a large shrub that, you know, a homeowner could plant.

And this makes what's called juneberries.

>>Yes.

>>So they're actually edible.

Good for birds, good for people.

And you know, it's just a much better use because a lot of times the Bradford pears, they get so big and then they fall over and this stays a much nicer size.

>>It's also one of my favorite plants.

What else do we have though, because this is a wonderful way of saying, "Hey, let's take this tree down, but let's put this tree up instead."

>>Exactly.

>>Yes.

>>We really want, you know, people to be able to plant something good for the environment.

>>Exactly.

>>So, the bad and the next baddie that we have on the list, this is English ivy.

>>Yes.

>>We all know English ivy.

I'm just gonna put this over here.

>>Right.

(laughs) >>But instead we have crossvine.

This is Bignonia and it forms these, like, lovely kind of orangy brown flowers, which is not a color that you see very often.

So that's- >>But it's beautiful.

It's beautiful.

>>Yeah, exactly.

Just really voluminous bushy vine.

And you know what this, it makes a great replacement.

You can use it to climb on things just like you would English ivy.

>>It's also evergreen, like English ivy.

>>Exactly.

>>People need to understand that so it can run on the ground.

>>Yeah, and we don't have a lot of evergreen vines really in, you know, our native fauna.

>>Right.

>>Another thing that I know a lot of people still have, this is Chinese privet over here.

>>Yes.

>>This is an old timey garden plant.

A lot of people have these really tight privet hedges and it's, you know, a really distinct kind of look.

But it's needs to be left in the past where it belongs.

>>Yes.

Yes.

>>If you see this fruit right here, this is really, really appetizing to birds because it resembles holly fruit.

So they eat it.

They go.

They give it to your neighbors.

They give it to the people down the street.

And then this stuff just gets everywhere and crowds everything out.

>>Yes.

So what can we replace it with?

>>Well, first, I- >>Oh.

(laughs) Yes.

>>I wanna bring out this other privet.

>>Yes.

(laughing) >>That really is much more common in our landscapes today and is really just as bad.

I pulled this off of a roadside this afternoon where it just covered the whole edge of the woods.

And you can see this fruit is very much similar to that.

You know, it forms the same appetizing fruit, but this is another kind of Ligustrum that's very closely related to the Chinese privet.

>>Yes.

Equally as destructive.

>>Instead, what can go in our home landscapes, this is yaupon holly.

>>Ah, yes.

>>Ilex vomitoria, so named because when, you know, the settlers witnessed the natives, they were drinking the stuff and puking.

And so I think that's a cool story.

>>Yes.

It is.

>>But this- >>Excellent name.

>>Yeah, it's also the only caffeinated plant in North America.

>>Yes.

>>Interestingly.

>>Interesting.

And deer do not touch it.

>>Deer don't touch it.

It can either be a large shrub or a very small dwarf shrub.

And people really want their little green balls.

And this is a great plant where you can still have that and you're planting a native too.

>>Agreed, agreed.

Moving right along.

We've got one that people really love for the fragrance and then they use the berries for jams and such.

So, what do we say about this one?

>>This is autumn olive.

And you can see these really pretty undersides of the leaves.

And then just look at 'em and then don't plant it in your yard.

Because this stuff forms impenetrable thickets.

This branch was growing kind of upside down when I cut it also off the roadside this afternoon.

>>So aggressive, so invasive.

>>It's awful.

>>But we have this wonderful substitute.

>>Bayberry.

This is Bayberry.

>>Yeah.

>>If you crush it, it smells great.

I like to put the leaves in my work boots to be honest with you.

(both laughing) But, you know, this is another plant that, like, forms little berries that birds can eat and it's good for the food web and good for all kinds of our native critters.

This one also has nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the roots, which is really great to support all kinds of native wildlife.

And they can get kind of large or you can keep 'em kind of small.

>>Yes.

>>You know.

As long as you're taking care of it, it will take care of you.

>>Exactly.

Takes a lot of abuse.

This is one of my least favorites.

>>I see you handling it very gingerly.

>>Yes.

Very gingerly.

>>Peggy did pull a barberry thorn out of her- >>Finger earlier.

(laughs) >>of her hand (laughs) just a second ago.

This is Japanese barberry, still a really common garden plant.

And, you know, it spreads to disturbed areas fairly easily.

And so we're just gonna forget about this and put this back in the past where it belongs.

>>Correct.

>>And instead we're gonna plant loropetalum.

And you know what, we don't have necessarily a nice tidy, perfect native plant, but loropetalum, non-invasive.

>>Non-invasive.

>>You know, it doesn't- >>Not aggressive.

>>Not aggressive.

Doesn't spread.

Deer don't eat it.

If you want a couple of these in your yard to keep a nice formal look, that's okay.

>>Yes.

>>And then you put your crazy native plants where they belong.

>>And this is purple daydream.

>>This is purple.

>>Now, we have seconds, Sean.

So let's talk about... >>Okay.

This is miscanthus.

>>Seconds.

>>It is no good anymore.

>>Instead- >>Yes, it's a grass that's just too much.

>>Too much.

>>And it's actually invading the woodlands, so.

>>Yes.

So instead we're gonna plant Panicum.

>>Yeah.

>>This one is Cloud Nine, and it is just so pretty.

That's always- >>Such a pretty switchgrass.

>>Yeah.

>>So pretty.

Now, I know we have more to talk about, but unfortunately we're out of time, so.

>>C'est la vie.

>>C'est la vie.

>>Well, thank you.

>>Thank you.

And now we're going to head over to answer your questions.

But first, Amyrose Foll has tips to share for dealing with a common invasive problem when English ivy climbs and strangles a tree.

(bright music) >>The next time you're at your local hardware store and you're shopping for plants, don't be tempted by this.

This is just English ivy.

It used to be very in fashion, but now that we know better, we can do better.

It's very invasive, and it can do things like strangle and kill your trees.

This property sat vacant for quite a while before we acquired it, and this grand old maple tree has, unfortunately, suffered from the English ivy that is growing here.

The problem with English ivy is twofold.

Not only will it kill your tree, but it's also incredibly hard to eradicate, and it can take many years to do fully.

It's both parasitizing this tree and sapping nutrients from it, but it also grows out into the yard, and to fully eradicate all of these roots here that we have is incredibly time-consuming.

It can take many days the first go round, and you really need to be vigilant year after year to look for regrowth.

This is where you would start.

Try to get down to the base in an area where you're not going to have too much trouble working, and you're going to really try to make sure that you are cutting off all of the aerial roots that have grown up around this tree from the roots at the bottom at the base, and as you're cutting, you don't want to girdle the tree.

So we don't want to just haphazardly cut all the way around.

That can kill the tree in and of itself when you cut the bark all the way around.

An example of that would be when you are weed eating all the way around very young saplings that are only a couple years old.

That's something that is actually quite common for groundskeepers to accidentally do and inadvertently hurt the trees.

It'll cause those trees to suffer and die.

If you can see here, there is a really, really big cluster of vines from this English ivy.

(ax thunks) That is almost a job for a sawzall, (ax thunks) but you want to be careful not to damage the bark of the tree underneath here.

(ax thunking) Making sure that you have really good quality sharp tools is very important.

Statistically, you're more likely to be injured using a dull knife or a dull tool, so we make sure that we've got really nice sharp hori horis, pinking shears, and this will make your job easy in the long run compared to struggling with dull tools, so don't be tempted by English ivy.

If you do need to buy some English ivy, bring it home and pot it and use it as a house plant, but never plant it around the base of trees as ground cover because inevitably, no matter how hard you try to control it, something like this will happen, and it will just be completely out of control.

That being said, you can go to a local nursery and pick up things like wild blue phlox, green and gold, or running cedar, which will be great ground cover, and they won't destroy the trees in your yard or crowd out other plants.

I hope this helps and happy gardening.

>>Members of our team are on Facebook now to answer your questions.

You can send them in there or on our website, vpm.org/vhg.

And today we have Jen Naylor with us in the studio to help answer questions as well.

So, welcome, Jen.

>>Well, thank you for having me.

>>Yes, and well, where do we start?

>>Well, the question that I had is, what is the hardest invasive plant that we can say goodbye to?

>>The hardest to say goodbye to or- >>Yeah, so get rid of.

(Jen laughs) >>The hardest to get rid of, for me, is Japanese knotweed.

>>Wow.

>>Because it grows in these kind of marshy areas, so it has a lot of support for its root system.

It has kinda all the resources that it needs.

You know, I've tried cutting it down, I've tried using chemicals, and the most I can do is not to get it to spread, which is really sad because now every time I see it on the roadside, I just know how bad it is and how hard other people must be dealing with it.

>>Wow.

Okay.

>>Yeah.

>>Okay.

So we have to go ahead and watch out for those Japanese ones.

>>Yeah.

(Jen laughs) >>There's a question from Bladen from Henrico, asked that what is the best native year round ground cover?

Preferably drought and poor, resistant soil for a steep slope that gets full sun all morning long?

>>Hypericum calycinum all day.

>>Nice.

>>Yeah.

>>Okay.

>>And yeah, I almost brought that one and we just kinda ran outta time.

>>Oh, did you?

>>But it's really tough.

Spreads via rhizomes.

Yeah, it's great.

>>Wow.

Okay.

>>Pollinator friendly too.

>>Yeah.

Yeah.

That's right, that's- >>St John's-wort That's what that is.

>>Yeah.

>>That's fantastic.

>>St John's-wort.

>>Okay.

Let's see.

David from Varina asked, "what resources are available to homeowners to help identify invasive plants in their landscape?"

Are there grants available to help with the removal?

>>Well, we've got apps on our phones that we can use and I personally like PlantNet.

It's free and it works very well.

>>Yeah.

>>As for grants for invasive removals, yes, you need to contact your local soil and water conservation district representative for your county, and to see what's available to help with removals.

There is some funding out there.

It's limited.

Some of it might have been already spent already, I don't know, but that's who you, and if you can't remember to do that, contact your local cooperative extension agent to see what's available.

>>Okay.

>>Depends on the situation and depends on the location.

>>Right.

Right.

>>So... >>Let's see.

John and Steph from Middlesex asked, "We have a bumper crop of Japanese knotweed", oh-oh, "and others we have been trying to eradicate for several years.

How should we dispose of, get rid of invasive plants after ripping them off?

Ripping them out?"

>>For the most part, you can just kinda compost them, as long as they don't have developed seeds.

>>Okay.

>>You know, if the seeds are ripe, then you should really think about just putting them in the dumpster.

>>Okay.

Can you burn them?

>>I don't recommend starting fires.

>>Okay (laughs).

(Peggy laughs) >>In people's backyards, you know?

If it's something that spreads via rhizomes or vegetatively, yeah, the safest place is probably the dumpster and landfill.

>>Okay.

>>Yeah.

>>Okay.

I mean, sometimes I just (laughs) can grab some and just put 'em right in the- >>Just start burning it.

>>Just burn it.

>>Yeah, I know.

(all laugh) >>Or if I call my husband, it's like, "John, come and burn this stuff (laughs)" (Peggy laughs) "It's invading my garden."

(Peggy's laughing continues) >>Oh my goodness.

Okay.

Let's go.

One more question.

Pruning.

Pat asked, "When and how should I prune my hydrangeas?"

>>Early spring, late winter.

>>Okay.

>>There's several different kinds, so it's impossible to just make a blanket statement.

A lot of the old blue hydrangeas, you can't really cut 'em off because they bloom 'em on old wood.

Newer of the macrophyllas do bloom on new wood, so you do cut those down.

Paniculatas, you just take about nine to 12 inches off.

It's really, it's depends on the species and- >>Wow, I'm learning new things.

>>(laughs) Yeah.

>>I just chop 'em all off at the end of the season- >>Yeah, sure.

Why not?

>>And then it just all comes back next year.

>>Yeah.

Yeah.

There you go.

As long as you're having fun, that's what important.

(Peggy laughs) >>I don't know, but I'm just learning new things.

This is fantastic.

>>But your blue macrophyllas, if you do that, you've cut off all the flower buds.

>>Oh no (laughs).

>>Of the old macrophyllas.

(Peggy and Jen laugh) If it's a new one (laughs).

>>Yeah (laughs).

>>Yeah.

>>Well, it's been coming back up, so I guess I'm doing okay.

>>Yeah, just check their IDs to see how old they are.

>>(laughs) Yes.

>>You know?

>>I just plant them 'cause they're just beautiful, and then I just like to look at it and, you know, if it doesn't come up, I'll plant the new one.

(laughs) >>That's a great philosophy.

I love that.

(Jen and Peggy laugh) >>Okay, do we have a question for a couple more questions?

>>Yes, we do.

Uh-huh.

>>Okay.

Okay.

"My property had Japanese honeysuckle when I bought it, but last year it started just exploding everywhere.

How do I get rid of it?"

>>Depends on if you're kind of on a slope.

You know, most of the time I would probably just first find a way to mow it down.

>>Okay.

>>And then, you know, if you are trained in the use of pesticides or have somebody else who's trained in the use of pesticides, you wanna get it when it's at a susceptible life cycle and putting a lot of its resources into new growth, and then you treat that growth when it's this big, and then you're only using this much pesticide.

>>Oh.

>>As opposed to treating it when it's huge.

>>Yeah.

>>Or you just keep mowing it forever.

If you don't wanna use pesticides, just keep mowing it until it stops coming back.

>>Right.

>>Or, you know, rip it out, grub it out.

Just, it takes elbow grease.

>>Yeah.

>>That's for sure.

>>I mean, it seems like it just keeps coming back.

I tried that.

>>Yes.

>>I've tried to do that, and it just keeps coming back, so I figured I'll just enjoy the flowers and smells beautiful.

>>Yes.

>>I mean, it smells wonderful.

>>Yes.

That's why we call- >>That's one of the reasons it was introduced.

>>Them invasive.

>>Yeah.

(Peggy laughs) So now it's like, why fight it?

Just enjoy (laughs) it.

>>No, no, no, no, no (laughs).

>>Yeah, that's why we're here is because we have to keep up the good fight, you know?

>>Yeah, that's true.

That is true.

>>It's a very shallow-rooted plant.

I have a lot of experience with this plant- >>So you can just- >>So it's not as deeply rooted, so it's easier to dig out than you realize, so... >>Yeah.

>>Yeah, you could grub it out with like a machine.

>>Oh really?

>>You could rent a machine for a day that would- >>Yeah.

>>Be up to the task.

>>Yeah.

>>Wow.

Okay.

>>And you could just take a piece at a time.

>>Yeah.

>>I mean, you don't have to do the whole yard at once.

>>Well, it seems like it really loves like next to the garage or next to barn or something like that, and it just loves this cover.

>>Yeah.

>>And so- >>Those are disturbed spaces, right?

>>Yeah.

>>And so that's what makes the plant invasive is because it is evolved to capitalize on that disturbance.

>>Uh-huh.

>>And it gets in there first before these other species have a chance to do that.

>>Yeah.

>>Okay.

>>Yeah.

>>So I just need to go and pluck it out.

>>Just merciless.

Yeah.

>>Merciless (laughs).

(Peggy laughs) >>No mercy.

>>Okay.

>>Show no mercy.

>>It wouldn't show you the same courtesy.

>>Yeah, okay (laughs).

>>It would just mow right over you too.

>>Yeah, I know.

I know.

Okay.

All right.

Let's go one more question.

>>One more.

>>Yeah?

Okay?

All right.

Mike from Ashland asked, "What is a good native to add interest to yard or landscape during winter?"

>>Winterberry we have, we have possumhaw, our hollies, our deciduous hollies.

>>Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

>>And they just had such beauty in the winter time, or you can put in a witch-hazel, our native witch-hazel, our virginiana, which blooms in the fall, so I mean, it depends on whether you want berries, whether you'd like a really late fall bloom, but yes, I'm an advocate of going with our deciduous hollies.

You just have to remember, we have the female plants, which have the berries, so we need to buy a male plant to pollinate- >>Okay.

>>The flowers on the female plant.

>>Okay.

I'm gonna put some of that in my garden.

>>You should, 'cause it's great.

>>Yes.

>>Comes in different sizes too.

>>(laughs) Wonderful.

>>Yes.

Well, that's all the time we have for now, but we look forward to answering more questions later in the show, so keep them coming, and Sean, thanks for joining us.

>>Absolutely.

>>Really enjoyed having you, and we appreciate you sharing alternatives to those invasive plans (giggles).

That's very helpful.

>>Yeah.

>>Thanks for having me.

>>Certainly.

And next, Serome Hamlin went to Petersburg to learn about the work of the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River and see how they're stewarding the riverfront by removing invasive plants and restoring wildlife habitat.

>>The most challenging invasive we have here is probably the wisteria.

It's almost like following a spaghetti noodle all the way down to the ground.

It's very hard to actually find the bottom of the vine to cut.

>>The friends of the Lower Appomattox River is a community organization.

We started 20 years ago to work on the conservation and protection of the river, to really reclaim that land for people, for wildlife, for native plants (laughing).

>>We have been facilitating the creation of a 25-mile long trail, called the Appomattox River Trail.

It will meet up with the Capital Trail, and with the Fall Line Trail.

So here we are in Petersburg, in the very middle.

>>So you still got some connecting to do?

>>Yes, we do, we've got pieces to put together.

>>Can you please tell us what we have going on here at the entrance of this trail?

>>We have a native plant garden here.

They're bustling with our native pollinators, like bumblebees.

We have monarda, goldenrod.

We leave the seed heads so that they can feed the birds with the seeds in the winter.

>>Yes, the pollinators are very happy.

They're very, very busy in this garden today.

>>Yes, I love to see it.

>>And about the trail itself, can you tell me what people expect to see here when they come?

>>On this section of the trail, you'll see beautiful views of the river.

You'll see lots of birds, wildlife.

We have some historic areas.

We're standing on the foundation of buildings that are no longer around, but you'll see stone walls that used to hold up those foundations.

>>Yeah, I understand that it's been a lot of work to be able to uncover everything that we now and can enjoy.

So can you tell us a little bit about the bad, as opposed to just the good?

>>Yes, yes, we do invasive plant removal.

Invasive plants have an advantage over our native plants due to their aggressive growth, and not having any predators.

Where a native species have lots of predators that like to chew on them, the invasive plants go by scot-free, without any predators at all.

So they can take over these natural spaces- >>Quickly.

>>And part of what we do with volunteers is we remove invasive species, so that we have higher survival rates of our natives, and help the population of the native species going all the way up the food chain.

>>Now can you show me the trail?

>>Yes, let's take a look at the invasives that we're dealing with.

>>(laughing) Yes.

I see that you have clipped something, can you explain what you have in your hand?

>>Yes, this is tree of heaven.

The scientific name is Ailanthus altissima.

It is an invasive tree that is very, very common in this area, and you can identify it from its lookalikes, by a sort of a mitten thumb on the base of the leaf.

And also by its smell.

If you crush the leaf and smell it, it has a very distinctive- >>Distinct smell.

>>Sort of like unappealing food smell, something you don't wanna eat, but kind of smells like food.

>>So it is definitely a nuisance.

And I actually see along the trail too, we've got another one, wisteria.

>>There's quite a bit of wisteria along here, and that's sort of the main plant that we've been addressing with our volunteers.

It has a habit of climbing trees, and mounding over them, and completely blocking the sunlight from getting to the tree canopy.

We cut it back so that also it doesn't wrap around the trees tightly and girdle them, cutting off that tree's circulation.

We call it freeing the tree.

>>So this is your common method of how you take care of the wisteria?

>>Yes, we would cut within six inches of the ground, and we would apply herbicide to that cut at the root, so that it would kill just the root of that plant.

We'll leave it on the tree, so that we don't pull down those branches with volunteer effort.

The volunteer effort is already good once the vine is cut and the root is dead.

We just wanna see that plant gone, but it can stay in the tree- >>Yeah, you don't want it- You don't wanna damage the tree, so it would just die off naturally and eventually fall off.

>>Yes, yes, exactly right.

>>And I'm noticing another invasive?

>>Yes, we have another invasive here, privet.

It is an evergreen plant, very common in gardening.

People love to use it as a hedge plant in gardens.

However, it is an invasive species.

It invades woodlands like this, taking up space, which would otherwise be used by a native plant to grow in that area.

They can become as big as trees as well, so they really take up a lot of room sometimes.

>>Nice, let's go see what else the trail has to offer.

>>Oh, here, look at this.

>>Oh wow, look at these sunflowers.

>>We have an opportunity for natives like this to come back into this space because of our invasive plant removal.

You see these perennials that would've been here naturally, that haven't shown up here in a long time, but they still had their seeds in the seed bank here.

And once that sunlight came back and hit them, they were ready to go, and we love to see it.

>>So it's like a new lease on life?

>>Yes.

>>That they finally got the space to breathe and rise again.

>>Yes, and it's covered in pollinators, I love to see that too.

>>Awesome.

I'm actually starting to see another thing of beauty.

You can start to see the river here.

>>Yes, a lot of the work that we do has that extra benefit of opening up the spaces for people to enjoy it more.

When the invasives encroach, they can shroud the area, block out the sunlight.

But here we have these beautiful views of the river where you can see river otters, you can see blue herons, green herons.

You can see eagles, beautiful wildlife, and beautiful water to sit by and relax.

>>Yes, it's definitely more inviting instead of having a wall that's blocking everything, and just making a dark canopy.

But this is incredible, so I do appreciate the work that you guys are putting into clearing, not only the views, but for what you're doing for the natural ecosystem here.

>>Yes, it is a labor of love.

It's an ongoing maintenance task to clear invasive species, because they love it here just as much as the natives do.

But we, by removing them, we are continually providing for the ecosystem, for the bugs, and then the birds that eat the bugs, and all the way up the food chain.

Those plants are providing for the wildlife that would be here.

>>Thank you for the tour, and I think I'm gonna spend some time and explore this trail a little more.

>>I love that, yes, please, it's a beautiful day.

>>One thing I would ask people is to not plant new invasive plants.

And if they do have invasive plants on their property, to remove them because all of these plants are prolific re-seeders.

And so if we reduce the amount of invasive species in Petersburg, or in any urban area, we can reduce the invasive species pressure in natural areas like this.

>>We've seen so much growth and interest and understanding of the importance of conserving our river, and the natural surroundings to it.

It is a big job, but the community is behind it.

And we know actually from experience that when you have access to the river, you learn it, you love it, and you wanna protect it.

>>While the work they do is challenging, the benefits are so rewarding as that green curtain of invasive plants is brought down.

And now Elise is here to share techniques used by FOLAR as they reclaim the river's riparian buffer.

But before we begin, remember to send in your questions through our website at vpm.org/vhg or through Facebook.

Well, Elise, I wanna applaud the work that you're doing.

You're really making a difference along the Appomattox >>Thank you so much.

>>Yes, and I also know this is a volunteer-based organization, so your workforce are volunteers.

>>Yes, yes.

I am out there with volunteers.

Every month we have a stewardship Saturday, and we go out and we do invasives removal events along the river, and trash pickup too.

>>Interesting.

So, this container here is related to that, so it intrigues me, what's going on?

>>Yes, here I have our pesticide application kit, and that pesticide is called glyphosate.

It's an herbicide, which is a chemical that kills plants, which some of your viewers might on principle not like.

And they're not wrong, it's not something that we take lightly in application.

Here's our PPE.

I'm wearing long sleeves, I'm wearing gloves.

And if I were be dealing with open containers, I would put on eye protection as well.

>>Never know when it's gonna splash on us.

>>Exactly.

We wanna make sure we're not splashing around with this stuff.

>>Right.

>>Here I have work gloves.

We would put on work gloves as well on top of these.

It gets a little sweaty, but it's, you know, part of the job.

And inside of the container I have absorbent material.

I've seen larger containers being carried with kitty litter on the bottom to absorb any splashes.

>>In case any spills.

>>Yes, yes, yes.

And here inside we have, actually, this is just water and the blue dye that we use to indicate that a pesticide has been used so people stay away from it.

If they see blue, they don't go near that plant, right?

>>Right.

So what exactly are you doing?

I'm a volunteer, I've come to help.

I've showed up on a Saturday.

So tell me what I would, not the too nitty gritties, but I'm out there along the river.

>>Yes.

>>What's the steps?

>>Well, I would tell you what we're doing, I'd tell you about invasive plants, I would tell you a target plant of the day.

And then I would hand you a pair of loppers, and we would go after that target plant of the day.

And I would follow along the volunteers, I'm a certified pesticide applicator, and I would apply the pesticide to that individual plant.

It's a very targeted approach.

We aren't putting pesticide all over the place.

We're just using this dauber, which has the tiniest little spot to go ahead and daub onto that individual plant.

>>A little dab will do ya.

>>Exactly.

So I can give you an example of that.

>>That'd be great, let's move this to the side.

>>Yes.

Here is my plant.

This is paper mulberry.

>>Yes.

>>It's easy to tell apart from our native mulberry trees.

It is fuzzy leaved.

>>Yeah, it's very soft, fuzzy-leaved, it's an easy one.

>>Yes.

>>Plus it has indented leaves, and it's kinda fun.

>>These lobes that you see on top, and some of them have lobes, some of them don't, just like our native, but that fuzzy leaf is a sure tell.

>>Exactly.

>>You can see on this plant, someone actually has tried to cut it in the past and that it really didn't damage the plant itself to just be cut, which is why we're using the chemicals in the first place, so that we are maximizing the effect that we're having on these native, places that we wanna have native plants.

And our volunteer hours are very precious, and we wanna make the most of those hours.

>>Yes.

Plus they wanna leave feeling a sense of accomplishment and that they've made a difference.

>>Absolutely, >>Yes.

>>So, as you can see, we need to sometimes use the pesticide to remove the plants permanently, otherwise they just pop right back up.

>>So, what's our next step then?

>>All right, I've got my loppers.

I will go ahead and cut within six inches of the ground.

>>Right, I'm just gonna grab it when you cut it.

>>Okay, thanks.

So, we wanna have a nice flat cut.

We want the top of the plant to be flat so that the pesticide doesn't run right off of it.

If we were to cut it at an angle, it would potentially just fall right off.

>>Right.

>>So we want it nice and flat.

And then we apply.

As you can see, it's brightly colored, and we have a done deal.

>>You've done deal, and what happens is this product is actually systemic, so it gets sucked down through the cambium and through the systems of plant into the roots, and it kills it, it's very effective.

>>Yes.

And what size do you typically are able to kill What size stump, you know, when you cut the vine or you cut the tree?

>>Yes, we can go pretty big.

However, there are certain trees, like Ailanthus trees, that you don't want to use a full cut stump method.

There are certain plants, once they get to a certain size, if you cut them down, they immediately send out those hormones that say, re-root, re-root, and they send up all these little babies called suckers along the ground.

So you wanna avoid this method for certain usages, but in many cases it's a great targeted way to approach.

>>What method do you use for the Ailanthus, or tree of heaven?

>>Yes, for larger tree of heaven, I've seen cutting a dotted line with a hatchet around the side.

And so it's not fully killing the tree right away.

It's sort of a slow process where the tree sort of, you know, instead of sending those emergency hormones out to the root system, it kind of slowly goes down.

>>I use that same method, but I do apply the glyphosate into those cuts.

>>Yes, exactly.

>>To make sure it's sucked down into those roots and kills 'em.

>>That's right.

>>Well, Elise, this has been wonderful.

Very informative, showing people that a little dab will do you and to wear the proper equipment, which you will find on the label, which we all know- >>Yes.

>>Is the law.

>>Label is the law.

>>Yes, so thank you.

>>Thank you.

>>Next, we're going to answer more of your questions, but first, Shana Williams has tips to share for growing mint in your garden.

It is an aggressive plant which spreads quickly, but with some work, you can enjoy growing it.

(bright music) >>I love growing mint, from inviting pollinators to my garden, to allowing me to have some of the best fresh tea and adding some different spices and minty flavors to some of the dishes that I cook.

But the key thing that I also have to remember is that can't just put it anywhere in your garden, because it can take over, and it'll grow faster than some of your other plants, and it'll start to smother 'em out.

Here's mountain mint, and it's tons, meaning hundreds of seed pods on top.

I have lemon balm over here, and there's so many seeds in there.

If I don't want the seeds to blow all over the garden and re-root themselves, or re-seed themselves in other locations, I need to make sure that I snip off this whole head.

I'm just going for now snip off just this one, and I need to make sure that I drop it down into the soil.

As I drop it into the soil.

I can possibly ensure that it's not being carried by the wind or taken in other places and throughout the garden.

But also my peppermint, the root systems are so resilient that they just travel throughout the soil, and I have to dig them up in order to control their growth.

So when you wanna grow some mint, consider a potted plant that allows the water to leach out of the bottom of it.

Another key thing is I like to harvest my mint.

And as I harvest my mint, I'll put it in a container, keep it fresh, and I'll strip off all of these leaves.

And as I'm stripping off these leaves to use in whatever my dish is, I can't just throw these vines anywhere in the garden because when they touch soil and they're still moist, they'll start growing again, and they'll grow that nice deep root system.

And unfortunately, I'll end up having some of these peppermint plants growing all over the garden.

Often in late winter and fall, you'll find that your mint starts to die back, and it'll look like the vines are completely dried out, and you'll be tempted to throw your plants away.

Don't do that because you'll throw it somewhere in your yard or maybe in the compost bin, but what you'll find is early spring, it'll start to grow back, and it'll grow in some places where you didn't intend for it to grow.

So always be vigilant, snip off your seed heads, harvest your mint continuously.

If you find it growing somewhere, dig it up, repot it in raised beds, and you'll find that you'll be enjoying mint for a long time and it doesn't take over your garden.

Happy gardening.

>>I love the fragrance that mint adds to the garden and the flavor it adds to tea too.

We just need to be responsible for controlling it when we grow non-native plants that are aggressive spreaders, like blue leadwort, and Chinese lantern and lambs ear.

And now, Heather from FOLAR has joined Jen and I for another round of your questions.

So I welcome you Heather, it's been a long time.

We worked together at Maymont.

>>We did.

>>Good to see you.

>>Yes, good to see you too.

So, I wanted to first see what we had here, but you know, Jen had a question for you.

>>Yeah, would you like to add anything to what Elise has given us information wise?

>>Yeah, sure.

So we really are so excited to be doing this invasive removal program on the Appomattox River.

And really, you know, we are doing it to improve the forest health.

Absolutely, we wanna make sure that habitat along the river is healthy and ready for climate resilience.

But you know, we're also helping people have a better experience along the river.

So, I just really love that removing invasive species is good for the environment, but it also gives you just a much better peaceful experience when you're out in nature.

So, it's a really great program that accomplishes many benefits.

>>I think it's wonderful.

Just absolutely wonderful.

>>I do too.

And I really don't think people realize that when invasive species carpet and area, 'cause they do, that they're actually choking out the native plants.

>>Right.

>>And those native species, even if they're little ground covers, are actually supporting, you know, our wildlife from insects, to birds to you know, even the grubs in the ground and such.

So people you know will, why am I gonna do this?

It's 'cause we need to pull it on back and where we can.

>>That's right.

>>I'm excited about that.

>>I love that people are taking it back home with them.

You know, one of our first volunteers said, "I went home and saw that species in my yard and now I know I can take care of it at home too."

So that's really important to us.

>>Very gratifying.

>>Yes, yes.

I've got some questions here and we've got one that's... On tonight's show, two guests have talked about applying pesticide rather than herbicides.

Are there any difference in that?

And the answer is no, there isn't.

Pesticides is the big term and under pesticides you have fungicides and insecticides and herbicides.

And so, we tend to use the terms in the industry interchangeably.

But a pesticide is sort of like an umbrella, a huge umbrella term.

And then underneath it you've got, you know, specifics.

Does it kill insects, does it manage diseases or does it kill plants?

>>That's right.

>>So herbicide, fungicide and insecticide.

>>Yeah.

I had a question, now glyphosate, if you're to go ahead and put that on the invasive species and it's gonna go down to the roots to kill the plant.

Now, is the chemical gonna be bleaching into the soil?

>>No, it stays in the plant.

>>Perfect.

>>That's the glory of it all.

>>Okay, that's great.

Wonderful.

Good answer.

>>And again, we're using such a small amount too.

>>Yeah.

>>We're not putting it on very strong.

So it's a minimal amount by the time it all works and gets done.

>>Perfect.

>>Yes.

>>Okay, I'm happy.

>>Yes.

(Jen laughs) Well Elizabeth from Charlottesville has asked, any advice on how to control chameleon plant, that Houttuynia or Akebia, which is a chocolate vine.

And we were gonna show Akebia early, but we ran outta time.

But these are two plants that are evergreen.

They're very, very hard to control and you can't really crub out the chameleon plant.

Do you have any experience with that Heather?

>>I don't have experience with that one, no.

>>Well the way I deal with the chameleon plant is I actually smother it.

I get a lot of leaf matter, I get a lot of pine tags, I get mulch and I just totally, completely cover it.

So, I'm totally eliminating any of the light and such to get down into that plant.

And it kills it.

It only takes usually about a month or two and then you can pull back the mulch, 'cause you don't wanna leave it too thick 'cause you want that oxygen to get to all the microbiology down into the soil.

But it smothers it and in smothering it actually breaks it down and feeds, you know, the soil.

So it's great.

That's how I deal with it.

And usually I then have to just pull it around the plants that I wanna keep.

>>Can you use the weed barrier, just block it?

>>Weed barrier for a temporary situation, yes.

>>Okay.

>>But you don't wanna leave it there because, that too, it also has PFASs in it.

>>Yeah, yeah.

>>You know, we don't wanna poison our soil with those.

>>Yeah, Yeah.

>>But as a temporary, that's a good suggestion too, yes.

So, there's other ways to do things.

Another one, Michael from Winchester asked, "What's the best way to get rid of Johnson grass?"

Have you had experience with Johnson grass?

>>No, I haven't.

>>Oh, it's, have you?

>>It's something that we're trying to, same thing.

Trying to use the weed barrier, kind of for a season, to try to get the solar heat to kill them.

So yeah, we're kind of testing that out on some of our sites right now to see what's the best method.

>>Yes, 'cause when you're using solar heat, you're solarizing.

You're putting down plastic barrier typically.

And it's not there forever.

>>No.

>>But then the solar comes through and kills also, it kills everything in the soil, but it's also killing what you're after.

And the problem with Johnson grass is it's a rhizome, much like irises are.

>>Mm.

>>So it's not just a simple root, it's far more.

So it has a lot of stored, I'll say, energy down into that root.

So solarizing would be a good way, let me know how you're doing with that.

>>Yeah, we're testing that out.

>>Yeah, I'm really interested in that.

So...

I've got one here.

Jacob from south side has asked, can you grow Boabo trees in our zone?

Would they be considered invasive or detrimental to the ecosystem?

>>What's a Boabo?

>>I have no idea, Jacob and I will get back to you on that, okay.

(all laughing) We have another question.

What is the replacement for Ivy that was recommended earlier?

Do you replant any native plants?

>>So, so far in the areas we've done, like Elise has talked about, we really are seeing really great native seed stock in place right now.

So, we really haven't much replanting 'cause we really just haven't had to yet.

So we're lucky in that area.

We have done some riparian buffer planting, you know, some areas that had Wisteria.

We put trees back to get that riparian area, but we haven't really done any of that kind of, vine replacement yet.

>>Yes, yes, it's tricky.

It's a lot of work.

But, the plant we did use earlier to answer the question was we use Crossvine and it's equally evergreen and it grows up trees, but it doesn't shroud and cover and choke, but it does cover the ground if you let it.

So, that's to answer that one.

And then, we also had a question from Laura about asking for cardboard.

Do you ever use cardboards in your garden?

>>Cardboard is is not really great for soil.

>>No it's not.

>>It's not, so... And you know what, because it, when it gets wet and whatnot, it just dissolves so easily.

It doesn't really help to control the weed.

So, I wouldn't use it if that's...

I mean, I wouldn't use it for when I'm doing my gardening.

>>For many reasons let's not, so.

>>Yeah.

>>Well we're out of time.

It went really quick.

>>Oh no.

>>So Heather, I wanna thank you for being with us.

>>Thank you so much.

>>It's a joy to have you.

>>Thank you so much.

>>And Jen, thank you for being here.

>>Well, you're so very welcome.

>>We always enjoy knowing, hearing more about your knowledge.

So, I wanna thank you all our guests today and thank you for watching.

We hope that you take some time to consider the effects of invasive plants in your area.

And if you're unsure how to get started, then Blue Ridge Prism and the Virginia Invasive Plant Coalition are excellent resources.

You can also connect with your local extension agent for plant removal advice.

You know, there's several ways for you to connect with us until we are back again.

You can sign up for our newsletter at vpm.org/vhg.

The team and I share tips and ideas for your garden there once a month.

Our Facebook page is also full of gardening information, so be sure to visit us there.

Yeah, I look forward to being with you again soon.

And until then, remember, gardening is for everyone.

We are all growing and learning together.

Happy Gardening.

(lively music) >>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown is made possible by, the Mary Roper Davis and Robert Poore Roper Memorial Fund.

And by... (birds chirping) (lively guitar music) (lively guitar music continues) (lively guitar music continues) (gentle music)