Brookline ranger Alexander Cassie. Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BROOKLINE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — We are being invaded. Not by aliens, but by invasive plants.
That was the subject of a workshop in Brookline designed to educate people about how to tell the difference between invasive plants that should be permanently pruned, and healthy native species that should be encouraged to flourish.
Invasive plants reproduce and spread quickly, taking space, nutrients, water and light from other plants.
If uncontrolled, invasive plants can damage gardens, parks, streams and infrastructure.
At the invasive plant workshop organized by 'Friends of Halls Pond', Alexander Cassie was the featured instructor.
He's a ranger from the town of Brookline and was pointing out invasive perennials that seem to be everywhere, even this early in the season.
He identified glossy buckthorn, a shrub, that can grow up to 15'. And lesser celandine, also known as big buttercup, a ground plant with yellow flowers that multiplies and forms unwanted mats crowding out and killing other healthier native growth. "If you catch it when it's little, you can pull it right out of the ground," he said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@ChaielSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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