Our Approach

How we write these guides

We're a volunteer field guide, not a research institution, and we try to be honest about what that means. Here is how we put these pages together and where our information comes from.

We write from the field first

Most of what's here comes from doing the work: pulling honeysuckle after the first frost, watching Callery pear reclaim an old pasture, trying and failing to kill knotweed the easy way. When we describe how a plant behaves in Central Ohio, it's usually because we've watched it behave that way along the Olentangy, the Scioto, or a fencerow near home.

We check the regulatory and science details

For anything factual beyond our own observation, such as which plants are regulated in Ohio, how a control method works, or what the research says about a species, we rely on public sources like the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, university extension programs, and peer-reviewed work. Where a specific fact or figure comes from a source, we link to it so you can check it yourself.

We don't guess about herbicides or safety

Removal advice, especially anything involving herbicide or work near water, is an area where getting it wrong has real consequences. We describe general approaches and point you toward doing it correctly, but we're clear about when a job is worth handing to someone with the right training and permits rather than improvising.

We update as we learn

Field knowledge changes, regulations change, and we get things wrong sometimes. Pages carry an updated date, and if you spot an error or know something we don't, we genuinely want to hear it. Reach us through our contact page.

What we are not

We are not a government agency, a licensed pesticide applicator, or a substitute for professional advice on a serious infestation or a legal question. We're the people doing the weekend work, sharing what we've learned so the next person has an easier time of it.