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Washington State
Noxious Weed Control Board
Monitor List
Why
do so many ornamentals ESCAPE?
Many
noxious weeds are, in fact, escaped garden plants.
Some escaped plants are temporary wanderers outside our
care and nurturing, some only occupy niches where nothing else
wants to grow. Some,
however, become ecological bullies, crowd out native plants,
poison livestock, and damage local ecosystems.
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Qualities of
Common Ornamental Plants |
Characteristics of
Noxious Weeds |
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- Adapted or adapt quickly to
environment
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- Free of major insect or disease
problems
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- No natural predators or diseases
to keep populations in check
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- Produce abundant propagules
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How you can help
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Choose native plants where possible, and to add color and
diversity to your garden, choose plants with a long standing
reputation for being well-behaved. For some great
alternatives to invasive ornamentals check out:
Garden
Wise, Non-Invasive Plants for Your Garden ,
Garden
Smart Oregon, A Guide To Non-Invasive Plants, and
Replace
Your Invasives with Natives Poster.
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Avoid wildflower
seed mixtures. Instead,
choose flower and grass seed individually from the
well-behaved plant lists and mix your own.
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Remove spent
flower heads from plants such as butterfly bush.
Bag and dispose of them with trash rather than
compost or yard waste.
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Watch
for and remove any volunteer seedlings that may emerge.
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Report
sightings of ESCAPED
plants on our monitor list.
Knowing where and how wide spread escaped plants are
helps us determine what plants we need to be most concerned
about.
ESCAPED!
Have you seen any of
these plants on a roadside, hillside, by a river or stream?
Have you seen them in a ditch or forested area?
Chances are pretty good that they have escaped
cultivation.
We are currently
monitoring for these species. If you spot an ESCAPED
plant (not intentionally planted),
please report using the form below descriptions.
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Arundo
donax, also known as “Giant
Reed”, is a tall, erect perennial grass.
It can look a lot like a rather leafy bamboo, and
grows to heights of 20-30 feet when established.
It may have green or variegated leaves.
Arundo spreads by underground rhizomes, forming
dense stands. Where
it has escaped cultivation (
California
and much of the southern
United States
), Arundo has developed large, difficult to control
infestations, and is a very serious fire hazard.
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Daphne
laureola, also
known as “Spurge
laurel”, is an attractive small bushy
plant with leathery, shiny, evergreen leaves.
Small, very fragrant but inconspicuous flowers are
born in early spring in clusters at the base of the
leaves, followed by black seed producing berries.
Spurge laurel will grow in sun or shade, and looks
the best with some of both.
Though its appearance is deceptively innocuous, all
parts of the Spurge Laurel plant are highly toxic,
including the berries, leaves, and milky sap.
Birds can carry the berries for long distances and
drop seeds into forested areas where populations can
spread undetected for years. |
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Cortaderia
seloana, also known
as “Pampas Grass”, has been a widely planted favorite
in the Northwest for many years.
Native to
Brazil
,
Argentina
and
Chile
, established plants are a common sight in neighborhood
landscapes, its feathery, distinctive plumes reaching up
to 20 feet in height.
Until recent years, Pampas Grass seemed to be
well-behaved in the Northwest, as they were almost
exclusively female plants, grown from root divisions for
their superior ornamental qualities.
Now there are both male and female plants sold,
grown from seedlings, which may have inadvertently had
genetic traits inherited from an even more aggressive
related invader known as “Jubata Grass”.
Both Pampas Grass and Jubata Grass have escaped and
infested large areas in some places in the
United States
, particularly
California
, smothering native plants and creating serious fire
hazards due to the large amount of dead, dry material that
is produced by plants every year.
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