Invasive Plants in the Park

On a recent park stroll on the hill to Evergreen Terrace I noticed a rather pretty red flower, that I thought was a bit out of place, When I took a closer look at the surrounding flora. I saw that most of the lushness was mostly due to invasive plant species. Scotch Broom, Himalayan Blackberry, and Periwinkle were pretty noticeable.

One of our neighbors was out with her dog and I mentioned about the invasive plants being, so um well invasive. I pointed out the native Sword Ferns, and blackberry being crowded out by the Periwinkle (whose name I always get wrong, I just know it starts with P, Thanks Shirley). I also mentioned one plant I did not know that kinda looked like a Rhododendron or Azalea. She mentioned that it might also be an invasive but did  not know the name. I noticed that it also was crowding out the Ferns. Frankly the whole hill was a poster child for the 15 invasive plant specie in BC, we have 4 in about a 50 foot stretch.

Here is a pic of the hill with some native sword fern and Big leaf maple , there is some native blackberry in there struggling with the overwhelming Himalayan blackberry and the Periwinkle overflowing on the road

This is the unidentified plant that Shirley mentioned. On the way back to my unit I looked for it and noticed it everywhere a LOT of it, and to my amazement some in my own yard, which I only try to allow a few natives.Turns out Shirley was correct Spurge-Laurel or Laurel Daphne is everywhere in the park. While birds do love the black fruit and help spread it everywhere, all parts of the plants are poisonous to humans and the sap is known to cause skin rashes on contact, although it did not seems to bother me. This is apparently a relatively new invasive but it is incredibly prolific in the park and mostly on private pads.

On the Same Hill

I have no real mandate or ax to grind here; I mean I kinda like Blackberry jam. I just thought I would post this for the folks that care about the Garry Oak and other native plants. There is some great info at BC Museum on the Bc Museam Spurge as well as other “Alien” flora and Fauna.