Callery Pear: the tree Ohio finally banned
Illegal to plant here since 2023, yet still spreading down every fencerow from Delaware County to Circleville. How to spot it, why birds keep moving it, and what to plant in its place.
A volunteer field guide
Plain-language notes on the invasive plants spreading across the Upper Scioto watershed, and the native species worth planting instead. Written by and for the people who steward this ground.
Latest Field Notes
Illegal to plant here since 2023, yet still spreading down every fencerow from Delaware County to Circleville. How to spot it, why birds keep moving it, and what to plant in its place.
The single most common invasive shrub in our woods. How to know it, when to cut it, herbicide-free options, and the native shrubs that fill the gap.
No, cutting it down won't kill it. What knotweed is doing underground, why it favors the Olentangy and Scioto banks, and the multi-season approach that works.
How to tell it from native sumac, why a cut stump sends up a dozen shoots, and the control approach that actually reaches the roots. Plus its link to the spotted lanternfly.
Bright yellow and easy to mistake for a native, it carpets floodplain woods before the spring wildflowers wake up. How to tell it from marsh marigold, and the narrow window to act.
Green all winter, it smothers the forest floor and girdles saplings while everything native is dormant. Identification and the two-front removal it takes.
First-year rosettes versus second-year bloom, why spring is the only window that matters, and why you bag it instead of composting it.
The right time to cut, pull, or treat depends on the plant and the method. A month-by-month plan for the watershed's major invaders.
Five simple habits, timing, smell, leaf arrangement, disturbed ground, single-species density, that let anyone start recognizing invasives in a weekend.
Pull the bush honeysuckle and you leave a gap. These six Ohio natives, spicebush to serviceberry, fill it while feeding the birds and pollinators the honeysuckle never did.
Eight native trees that make good yard and street trees and replace Callery pear, from serviceberry and redbud to swamp white oak and hackberry.
Deep-rooted natives that hold an eroding bank on the Olentangy or Scioto, especially after clearing knotweed. Trees, shrubs, and grasses by site condition.
Eight natives that feed the bees and butterflies already living here, with bloom times, siting notes, and where to find them near Columbus.