This is most of the group that pulled black swallow-wort at Hemlock Gorge Saturday morning, August 15. Brandeis biology professor & invasive species expert Eric Olson (who took this photo) estimated "15 people, thousands of pods collected before releasing 10 or more wind-borne seeds each."
This is a nasty weed, hard to get all the roots out, so I mostly followed Eric's example and just tried to bag as many plants as possible to capture the pods and limit seed spread. Most of these pods a week ago were green, but we saw one example, below, where you can see the milkweed-like seeds. If you see it in your yard, try to get it all. Eric in this video explains why. Katherine Howard (second from right in photo above), one of the lead organizers of Newton Conservators invasive weed pulls, has been going back to Upper Falls to work on other infestations she's spotted. It will be a long battle to keep this and other invasives from overwhelming native species and habitat. Here's more info at a National Park Service link provided by Eric.
This is a nasty weed, hard to get all the roots out, so I mostly followed Eric's example and just tried to bag as many plants as possible to capture the pods and limit seed spread. Most of these pods a week ago were green, but we saw one example, below, where you can see the milkweed-like seeds. If you see it in your yard, try to get it all. Eric in this video explains why. Katherine Howard (second from right in photo above), one of the lead organizers of Newton Conservators invasive weed pulls, has been going back to Upper Falls to work on other infestations she's spotted. It will be a long battle to keep this and other invasives from overwhelming native species and habitat. Here's more info at a National Park Service link provided by Eric.
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