Invasive Species Week starts today! This is the time every year when the Non-Native Species Secretariat (NNSS) – a body representing the environmental agencies of all 4 nations of the UK – promotes the work of various organisations who work in this sector.

Highlighting the scale and scope of the threats invasive species pose to the environment and what all of us, whether professionals or amateurs, can do to help is something very close to the Property Care Association and its many invasive weed members. Solving big environmental problems starts with everyone accepting responsibility – it is definitely not ‘someone else’s problem’.

The timing of Invasive Species Week this year is particularly apposite as we have just seen a major announcement by UK Government about their plans to restore nature and “Build back greener” (including zero net biodiversity loss by 2030).

Raising awareness of the impact of invasive species

Obviously, if you are a PCA Invasive Weed Group member, some or all of your time will be spent surveying and/or managing invasive weeds, but for the wider public, apart from Japanese knotweed and, perhaps, Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam, there is a poor appreciation of the impact that invasive plant species can cause, and this leads to a lot of unintended consequences.

Whilst PCA members are familiar with the very many other plant species that are a threat to the environment, what does this mean from the perspective of the average homeowner especially those that are keen gardeners?

If I use my own garden as an example (it is not particularly large or exceptional from an horticultural point-of-view) we currently have a fairly ‘healthy’ community of invasive species, most sourced from garden centres more than 10 years ago but some were accidental arrivals (stowaways in commercial compost or from friend’s gardens?)!

Taking measures to prevent spread to the wild

So if I commissioned an invasive weed survey of our garden, what advice would I expect given we have no plans to build in any part of the garden? I would hope to be told not to worry unduly, that being in possession of these plants is not a crime. Indeed, you might tell me that one of these plants is actually quite good for wildlife (fyi my comments are below). But the key piece of advice I’d expect to hear is to take measures to prevent spread to the wild.

How? Well, the main action with many garden invasives is to be very careful with the soil around the plants. Either through the proliferation of bulbils, corms, rhizomes or stolons, many perennials can easily end-up being spread around the garden or in to the green compost bin. The problem with the latter is that there is no guarantee that commercial composting operations will kill these propagules so it’s probably better to sieve the soil, desiccate the propagules and incinerate or crush before disposal.

That’s quite an onerous responsibility on even conscientious gardeners but hopefully you’ll find that, in the main, gardeners are quite eco–aware and will respond positively to any guidance that is beneficial to wildlife. Seed spreading plants like Cotoneaster, especially as blackbirds and pigeons are so fond of the berries (which is one of the reasons they are ‘good for wildlife’ – an interesting conundrum), are somewhat more problematic. Deadheading after flowering is an option but not always easy, and timing is critical!

In order to help, the best management strategies for over 50 invasive plant species are helpfully provided in the PCA’s “Practical Management of Invasive Non-Native Weeds in Britain and Ireland”.

How does Invasive Species Week fit in?

If we are to raise awareness in the wider population so that, in the long-term, all ‘Schedule 9’ invasive plants are much, much less likely to be the cause of negative environmental impacts, then we must all play our part and take responsibility.

To help promote awareness, best practice and how best to deal with invasive weed related problems, we launched an ‘Invasive Species Info Hub’ packed with lots of guidance documents, information, blogs as well as access to events we have scheduled this week. These events include a CPD video hub to promote continued learning that also includes BASIS Award points for each of the CPD recordings, which you can access via the button below.

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