Identifying plants turned into an "overwhelming" task for one Virginia resident, who quickly discovered that most of their yard had been overtaken by invasive plants and turned to Reddit for advice.
The plea for help came within a post on the r/NativePlantGardening subreddit. In it, the OP said they used an app to help figure out which plants in their yard were native. What they instead found was that nearly 90% of the space was covered by lesser celandine and common periwinkle, both considered invasive species in their area.
"I'm not sure it's even possible for me to manually take out each plant because of the scale, and when I look around all of my neighbors have these plants as well," they wrote. "Is it even possible to eradicate the invasive plants and replace with good native plants?"
Invasive plants are more than just a nuisance. They can do real harm to local ecosystems.
These plants tend to spread quickly in their new environments, forcing out native plants. They can block native plants from getting needed water and sunlight, and they don't provide the nutrients necessary for local pollinators to thrive, putting the region's ecological balance at risk.
Despite its pleasant, buttercup-like appearance, lesser celandine is notorious for its rampant spread and has been a thorn in the side of many gardeners.
In this instance, the OP was looking to do the right thing by identifying and promoting the growth of native plants. Rewilding your yard and filling it with native plants is not just better for the environment. It also reduces the need for costly, environmentally damaging pesticides, and it takes much less work to maintain.
Commenters on this thread sympathized with the OP's plight — and with the amount of work they likely faced to rid themselves of the lesser celandine.
"Manual removal means removing all the topsoil and bagging for disposal," one commenter wrote. "Truly it is a monster unlike almost any other."
But others said that, with some elbow grease, the task could be accomplished.
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"I spent a lot of time last year battling a similar swath over a large area with careful hand digging," one wrote. "A year later, there are only a handful popping up here and there, which I've stayed on top of with weekly digging."
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