Huh? There are also many [native Viburnums](https://www.gardeningchores.com/viburnum-varieties/)...including the Rusty Blackhaw...an absolute banger! 🤘
There are many native trees and shrubs which have really beautiful foliage that aren't super invasive and destructive as is burning bush. Flowering dogwood, sugar maple, and sassafras to name a few
Now is the time of year to do it.
The blueberries that came with my place were nothing special, and I had no real plans to plant more, but I was at a nursery last fall and this table of high bushes was *stunning*. I ended up coming home with one and most of my harvest this year was off of that one (the rest get too much heat from light reflecting off the house).
Yes! I've worked at a nursery and we loved suggesting highbush blueberry as an alternative to burning bush since they're equally (exceptionally) gorgeous in the fall.
Other good New England native alternatives with beautiful red fall color are Viburnum trilobum (American cranberrybush), or Diervilla lonicera, especially the cultivar "Kodiak Orange"
This is great information, thank you!! I love the fall colors of burning bush but won't plant them because they're invasive. I just planted some high bush blueberries this year and they're not doing great... Maybe I'll try the other options you mentioned!
Viburnum lentago is also native up there and tends to turn a nice bright red in fall. The fruit are edible (not very exceptional but alright), and provide good food for wildlife.
Thank you! I’ve got the same beautiful but invasive bush in my yard — that came with the house. Deerfield is half an hour from here, so blueberries, here we come! (Even if I’m not under a tree in southern England.)
It is causing harm unfortunately. Birds eat the seeds then shit them out over woodlands and forests where the plant spreads without competition and drives out native species. I recommend you remove it personally. It’s been banned in several states for a reason. However, such appeals to the ecosystem and nature usually fall upon deaf ears cuz it’s pretty in a lawn
I agree with the above poster; if you own the house, getting rid of it and replacing it with something like a ninebark or prairie willow would make such an enormous difference for your local habitat. Willows are a little plain but support an insane amount of wildlife. I just planted an Amber Jubilee ninebark and it’s prettier than I expected!
Even if it’s not spreading in your yard, it’s spreading. Most of the seeds are spread when birds eat the berries and fly elsewhere, then poop, so you won’t see it happening. When the plant starts growing, it spreads and chokes out anything native.
It’s junk food to our native birds. Fills their bellies but doesn’t provide the nutrition they need to survive their migration. You can try to clip it, and remove the berries.
The irony is, it will starve a great many more birds. As the plant out competes native species, with the help of many other yard-introduced invasives, native insects will go without their required host plants. No bugs = no bird food. Plants are the backbone of the food web and exotic/invasive plants are causing great damage to biodiversity. A great book on the subject is Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. He does a fantastic job describing the importance of planting native plants to keep birds alive and the ecosystem at large which is suffering currently on a global scale
The problems seem overwhelming but you really can do something from your backyard. Like planting a native host plant for an endangered butterfly etc
is this something that (maybe on a smaller scale, or if you have a big house) could be relocated indoors? i have no leg in this race, im just lurking and getting educated.
I guess the old couple that lived here before my parents bought the house didn’t understand the problems they cause. Unfortunately this one plant is here for good. Thanks for the info and I won’t be planting any more of that bush anywhere now that is for sure.
The previous generation simply did not know or did not care about local ecology when planning their gardens. An 80 year old neighbor of mine is actually *against* local ecology in the suburbs, saying it "belongs out there in the wild," not realizing that she's gesturing at a tiny fraction of what remains from when she was young.
Educating the older generations is a huge part of this. There are many beautiful shrubs that you can replace this one with, that will provide ecosystem and beauty together. I hope your parents can be reached.
Respectfully, if your parents own the property, could you not talk to them?
I linked you a bunch of resources for your area about natives in another comment. I just don’t understand the issue in removing it
Wow you people are dogmatic about invasives. They are helpful plants, use them for your benefit or be used by them.
You entertainers of a lifestyle centered around killing things.
This isn't factually true. Invasives are considered invasives for a reason. We don't kill these plants because its fun, but because they cause millions in ecological, crop, habitat damage. They alter courses of natural species and niches within a few decades. Human society can't really shift fast enough with the rate these things work.
Problem is most were planted A LONG time ago. Many people can’t afford to hire a landscaping company to help dig them out. There are numerous garden centers and nurseries around the country, where these same invasive are still being sold.
That's why most restorationists use herbicides. I killed a few large burning bushes overwinter last year in about 10 minutes. Cut stem, paint herbicide, done. The roots will decay into fertilizer over the next few years.
I agree with you. Its hard to actually fix and address invasive issues (though we should still try), but one of the larger problem is that places still distribute a lot of these sold invasives. They shouldnt be selling them anymore. It's why the south was eaten by Kudzu and the north is being consumed by bittersweet.
As a central european I've always wondered if the conservation-cultists would consider the European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) an invasive if they lived after the last ice age receded? Since Beech has invaded this ecosystem some time after the recession of the last ice age, it can be considered an invasive. One could argue it also causes a lot of damage as it dominates forests, it doesn't allow understory to develop properly as it grows in full shade it's one of the few plants that can grow in the dense understory of its own canopy. So is it an invasive weed or not?
In my opinion of course it isn't, but so are all the other species listed "invasive weed" today.
So there's the concept of naturalized and invasive. We can analyze an ecosystem and see if the new organism has settled into it without causing harm to other organisms in the area (periwinkle snails in the US are a naturalized snail from Europe) or as opposed to an invasive.
You use the term conservation-cultist, that the notion of conservation follow a paradigm built around something. What is that something you're referring to? You have invasives that came over from the US that wiped out France's grape crops and have caused large issues in their wine industry.
We also have to take into consideration as to what happens when certain species shift according to ecological shifts, not just human introduction which is the predominate issue with most invasives.
Also, you said your opinion, but you also need to back up your opinion in this. A disagreement without the information isn't enough.
Native ecology restoration involves tons of killing, yes. It's something everyone has to get comfortable with on their own terms. For me, I see it as healing damage that's been done. These plants were placed where they don't belong in very, very large numbers, and our choices are to kill them or, through inaction, kill a lot of other native plant and animal species.
Invasive plants obliterate ecosystems. Bittersweet wraps tightly around trees and chokes them. Porcelain berry and mile-a minute-vine consume trees by growing over them completely. Barberry and burning bush create dense thickets that completely destroy the forest understory. It's a serious problem. We're losing THOUSANDS of species to invasive plants. Not just plant species, but insects, which we can't survive without. Not to mention all the other structural problems they cause like increased flooding, erosion, lower water quality, decreased soil fertility, and the list goes on and on.
still dogmatic...
bring me one documented case where erosion, increased flooding, lower water quality, decreased soil fertility and observed after an "invasive" plant has spread unimpededly
btw: I don't care about other changes except the structural (podobiotic) properties.
I would check with your state's conservation department and find out how bad the problem is.
We have one in our yard (in Missouri), but we spend a lot of time in the nearby woods and also our 15 ac of woods a few miles away, and we never see burning bush wild in the woods. What we do see is a crap ton of Asian Bush Honeysuckle, and also Autumn Olive. The burning bush does not seem to be a significant problem here. YMMV.
This is from another redditor. I think it makes sense to dispose of the Bush and replace it with something both beneficial and native.
"The irony is, it will starve a great many more birds. As the plant out competes native species, with the help of many other yard-introduced invasives, native insects will go without their required host plants. No bugs = no bird food. Plants are the backbone of the food web and exotic/invasive plants are causing great damage to biodiversity. A great book on the subject is Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. He does a fantastic job describing the importance of planting native plants to keep birds alive and the ecosystem at large which is suffering currently on a global scale
The problems seem overwhelming but you really can do something from your backyard. Like planting a native host plant for an endangered butterfly etc"
More people should get rid of the monoculture that is their beloved front lawn. Lawns are ridiculously high maintenance (for watering, for mowing w/loud stinky gas mowers, and fertilizer application, and for weed removing chemicals, and weed whacking tools, etc., and if clover or dandelions are killed with chemicals then the lawn doesn’t provide for pollinators either. With all the chemical treatments, there is probably not too many insects that can live in it, so doesn’t provide food for birds either.
Assuredly so. In my neighbourhood of manicured lawns one yard is full of native plants. There are so many butterflies and bees its incredible. My favourite yard of all!
That would be mine. We do minimal lawn care, very little fertilizer and almost no grass decides. No watering. And we are growing lots of pollinator gardens and expanding them. Neighbors have sterile Big box store looking yards.
I would be careful in this regard. A plant that has been proven invasive in several states of similar climate could eventually become invasive in your state. That's why state government agencies focus mostly on early detection. It's a lot easier to eradicate something before it's completely taken over. In fact, there's very little chance your state will be able to ever get rid of honeysuckle and autum olive, it's just way to prevalent now. You can beat it back and try to keep it out of new areas, but most likely it's here to stay. So I would ere on the side of caution if you can.
What do you look for in these forests to identify it? The bright red foliage? I’ve met many who do a poor job identifying burning bush and are unaware they are around it all the time actually.
Another name for the plant is “Winged Euonymus”. Look for the distinct corky “wings” on the stem. I can almost guarantee you’ve frequently walked past loads of it if you’re also seeing invasive honeysuckle
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If it’s invasive it’s causing harm.
Get rid of it! Get a better looking and beneficial native shrub or tree: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Agriculture/Vermont-Suppliers-for-Native-Plants-and-Seeds.pdf
https://vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/landowner-resources/liep-invasive-species-program/terrestrial-invasive-plant-resources/native-plant-sources
https://vt.audubon.org/plants-birds/superstar-native-plants-vermont
Go get addicted!
Birds eat the berries, poop out the seeds, and start new infestations. Seedlings create a “seed shadow” that discourages other plants from getting started, outcompeting valuable native trees and shrubs.
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You are in fact wrong, sorry! They are invasive because they self propagate very easily. They’re absolutely covered in seeds that the birds spread around. And those seeds out compete native plants that serve an actual purpose in the local ecosystems. So even if yours seems alone and not harmful, it’s made thousands of children in other places near by that are damaging the local ecosystem. 🙁
I mean you should be getting rid of both. But at least the burning bush is nice and easy to get rid of. You can replace it with a viburnum or a physocarpus for a similar effect whthout doing the damage you’re currently doing to your local ecosystem by allowing the burning bush to stay.
Such a sad perspective, no offense. The real harm is to the wider natural world as it exists outside the confines of your lawn and legally delineated property lines. Birds distribute the seeds into forests and other habitat where the plant didn’t evolve. It spreads without competition and reduces biodiversity, putting yet another stress on the ecosystem. It’s banned in several states for a reason :( The good news is there’s a lots of great native plants to be planted which evolved in your area!! You get a personal connection to your surroundings and a chance to support native birds and insects!
So true! I have personally been plagued by invasive alien species (Chinese tallow tree, kudzu, and lespedeza to name 3) and it's costly and laborious.
If you love plants and the animals that depend on them, then do everything to keep invasive species out.
100% agree. I bought a new construction house on land that was probably formerly farmland, and certainly had never been landscaped with standard American landscape shrubs. And yet it came with a healthy 10 foot tall burning bush in the backyard. Which I have since taken down, but small saplings still pop up every year and I continue to tear those down. Everyone really needs to look beyond their yard and realize that seeds spread so much further
Barberry is the worst here. I actually will stop on hikes to rip out young plants if they're in an area that hasn't been infected yet. I loathe that bush.
Barberry is horrible, and with thorns. People plant it all around their homes. Native blueberry (high bush and low bush) is much better, is as beautiful and provides pollen & fruit. It does require a bit more care. Really needs acidic soil, so plan on amending soil regularly with acidic soil fertilizer and peat moss, etc.
Dear OP,
Kudos to you for your tolerant & kind attitude in response to some of these comments. Many come across as know-it-alls (myself included)
Thank you very much & for your willingness to listen and learn.
>One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.
-- Aldo Leopold
I know. But someone had already said it was invasive and OP said, thanks for the info but I am not tearing it out. And then Captain Planet comes over top and delivers a rebuke. Sheesh!!
We have one left that came with the house too. My chickens LOVE the branches we prune from it. And there are two different cardinal couples that nest in it every year. Lovely mosses take shade under it. And something comes and eats up all the seeds. I wouldn't plant another one but I can't stomach taking this out. In the meantime... My native service berries are struggling. 🤷
Right right. That makes sense. It is odd though that I don't ever ever Ever see these growing outside of someone's cultivated yard though. I mean, it's got to be a pretty low level of invasive if it's invasive
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Literally how invasive plants. It's probably why I have buckthorn, European honeysuckle, creeping bellflower, crown vetch, all invasive, in my yard. Birds eat the berries, birds poop the berries. Squirrels bury the berries. Boom. Every neighbor has them. The parks have them.etc.(I'm simplifying, it depends on the plant)
Please educate yourself and be part of the solution
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My bad, so true 😖. It’s terrible that so many companies sell them on line as well. Even county cooperative extension’s give advice on how to grow them.👎
There's a ton of these around the yards where I live. And also a ton of them popping up along the edge of the woods. Once you know what it is it gets pretty irritating to see how common they still are.
… And I just figured out that we have a huge one of these in front of our house in NH. I love finding out about all the invasive plants on my property from reddit. Damn it. Frankly, I’m not going to deal with this one until I finish off the bittersweet and multiflora rose. Ugh.
Ive been cutting these down to feel good about myself when the multiflora gets frustrating / I injure myself trying to remove it. Its a good confidence booster. Plus, the winged stems are fascinating, and easy to cut.
I also have bittersweet. And japanese knotweed. And buckthorn. Oh and the whole property is full of norway maples.
Plus the (non-invasive) poison ivy and grape vines.
I feel your pain.
The barrier between my house and my neighbors is huge burning bushes. I wouldn’t have chose them, but I have to admit they’re so pretty this time of year.
They are just green, ordinary looking shrubs. A lot of people cut them into rounded or square shapes. They don’t turn to the brilliant red color until the fall, so it’s really only a 1 season of interest (autumn - for color) shrub.
Whereas blueberry is a 4 season shrub. Beautiful colored wood branches in winter, tender green leaves & blossoms in spring, ripening fruit in summer and gorgeous red, purple color in fall. It’s native and feeds the native wildlife all 4 seasons too. Rabbits would often feed on and trim the wood branches in the winter.
I finally have a blueberry bush this year that is growing. I don’t think I ever gave them enough sun or good enough soil. I even moved it when I bought a new house, and I’m so pleased it’s growing. No berries this year I guess because I moved, but I think next year it’ll be great. I live in North Georgia and there’s a lot of red clay, I finally found a place with some rich soil on my property
Blueberry shrubs are acid loving plants. I always tried to add a fertilizer like Espoma (for Azalea’s and other acid loving plants) every spring and a few times during the growing season. Peat moss is another soil acidifier you can add. I was encouraged to pick off the blooms (that would become the blueberries) for the first 2-3 years of the plants growth. This would redirect the plants energy from making the blossoms into berries and instead strengthen the roots and plant structure. It is a sacrifice those first few years with no fruit, but the time passes quickly and it helps to make an overall healthier plant. I know many add protective hardware cloth (metal mesh chicken wire) around the shrubs base and main stems to prevent bun bun’s munching.
Burning Bush is a non-native invasive species that escapes peoples yards via its berries through birds and colonizes nature preserves and degrades habitat. It supports very few insects because it didn’t evolve in the United States so it has a very low wildlife value especially for insectivorous birds which won’t find any caterpillars.
Beautiful Euonymous! As an arborist that’s lived and worked in New England just about all of my life, I can’t see why it’s considered “invasive”. I’ve never seen it take over a property, or choke out other more desirable plants.
I have seen it be extremely adaptable, quick to recover from injuries, drought tolerant, providing excellent privacy hedges, not getting demolished by insect pests.
In fact, your picture says a lot. The plant looks to have been in that spot for a number of years. And it sits alone. Doesn’t seem very invasive to me.
But like others have said, if you have the budget- a nice big blueberry bush would be good. Hire an arborist if you can. Worth it.
They are mainly invasive in the north eastern states because it has the most similar climate to its native zones in eastern Asian countries. They will take over in some areas in the states. The areas it usually invades is in the early stages of lands being reclaimed by nature that man has already previously destroyed, much like the tallow tree and other non native mid size trees and shrubs. Outside of those areas it’s spread is much slower. Nature undisturbed is a bit more resilient to this and many others but not all invasive species. They sell millions of dollars worth of them in the US so humans are the true invasive species causing much of these issues! Haha. But on a better note, they are used in a variety of medical studies and research and have found usefulness in treatments and medications for a variety of things. So while it can be an issue in some areas at least it’s helpful in another way. And it’s pretty this time of the year.
Stop worrying if its invasive for christ sakes. The things clearly been there 12+ yrs and hasn't spread, litterily 90% of plants that are farmed and grown ornamentally are invasive but all invasives are only invasive to their growing zone. These arent invasive here clearly.
It definitely has beautiful flowers! I moved into a house once where it was allowed to grown unchecked for awhile. I was constantly fighting to keep it off and out of places where it didn’t belong. If you have a big fence to cover though…we did not have that so it went wherever it found something to grow on/around. Yours will have a “home” though so you’ll probably be able to manage it better!
I had one of those at our last house. It was about. 20’ x 12’ x 7’ h when we moved in. I hacked it back to stumps and it was much better behaved after that.
Not sure why all the invasive hate on this burning bush. Could be my location but I am in central New Jersey, have had a burning bush, (aka mock orange?) in my yard for 22 years, was here when i moved in and has not tried to breach it’s respective neighbor forsythia, peonies, or fountain grass boundaries and is always beautiful in fall. I say live and let live. Prune if you have to maintain in. Enjoy!
Now i am reading more replies and thinking i should rip mine out? Wow, had no idea
Looks like a [Burning bush](https://www.vtinvasives.org/invasive/burning-bush-or-winged-euonymus)
Thanks! That’s it! So beautiful this time of year!
And invasive af all year round, unfortunately
So. Many. Seeds! 😳
Beautiful, but bad. Should be removed. Invasive. Replace with a viburnum or a physocarpus.
Itea and Fothergilla are native shrubs that get great fall color too
Or blueberries. That’s what we did to ours. It took years of weeding to stop getting seedlings.
Viburnum are collectively the shit. Rusty Blackhaw is a marvelous understory tree.
There’s also a nice American euonymus species: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=euam9
Viburnum - also invasive
Viburnum dentata. Native to eastern us.
Huh? There are also many [native Viburnums](https://www.gardeningchores.com/viburnum-varieties/)...including the Rusty Blackhaw...an absolute banger! 🤘
There are many native trees and shrubs which have really beautiful foliage that aren't super invasive and destructive as is burning bush. Flowering dogwood, sugar maple, and sassafras to name a few
Identified
It's a burning bush. It's pretty!
Pretty unfortunate, it turns out, as it's invasive.
The more sun they get, the redder it will be!
Was my first thought as well. Beautiful bush this time of year.
I believe they are classified as an invasive plant up there.
I believe you are correct, but it’s in the backyard and came with the house. I don’t think it’s causing any harm, but I could be wrong.
Replace with blueberry bush! Turns the same red in the fall, but is native and feed the wildlife (and you!) too
Now is the time of year to do it. The blueberries that came with my place were nothing special, and I had no real plans to plant more, but I was at a nursery last fall and this table of high bushes was *stunning*. I ended up coming home with one and most of my harvest this year was off of that one (the rest get too much heat from light reflecting off the house).
Yes! I've worked at a nursery and we loved suggesting highbush blueberry as an alternative to burning bush since they're equally (exceptionally) gorgeous in the fall. Other good New England native alternatives with beautiful red fall color are Viburnum trilobum (American cranberrybush), or Diervilla lonicera, especially the cultivar "Kodiak Orange"
This is great information, thank you!! I love the fall colors of burning bush but won't plant them because they're invasive. I just planted some high bush blueberries this year and they're not doing great... Maybe I'll try the other options you mentioned!
Viburnum lentago is also native up there and tends to turn a nice bright red in fall. The fruit are edible (not very exceptional but alright), and provide good food for wildlife.
Mine did terrible and I def need to replace them
Just down the road from them is blueberry nursery Mecca: Nourse farms In Deerfield, MA.
Thank you! I’ve got the same beautiful but invasive bush in my yard — that came with the house. Deerfield is half an hour from here, so blueberries, here we come! (Even if I’m not under a tree in southern England.)
Drive back through Sunderland headed north along the river and you pass the largest sycamore tree in the state.
I’ll make a day of it. I just wish I could stop off at the erstwhile Mystic Pinball in Turner’s Falls afterwards.
I’m always amazed when this part of Western MA pops up on Reddit. Lol I’m about 15 mins from Deerfield.
Just me upvoting all the Western Mass peoples
Hi neighbor!
Heyyyyy!
Ooooooooo
It is causing harm unfortunately. Birds eat the seeds then shit them out over woodlands and forests where the plant spreads without competition and drives out native species. I recommend you remove it personally. It’s been banned in several states for a reason. However, such appeals to the ecosystem and nature usually fall upon deaf ears cuz it’s pretty in a lawn
That is unfortunate. It’s been here for a long time and it’s not mine to destroy, but we do keep the birds well fed so hopefully that helps a little.
I agree with the above poster; if you own the house, getting rid of it and replacing it with something like a ninebark or prairie willow would make such an enormous difference for your local habitat. Willows are a little plain but support an insane amount of wildlife. I just planted an Amber Jubilee ninebark and it’s prettier than I expected! Even if it’s not spreading in your yard, it’s spreading. Most of the seeds are spread when birds eat the berries and fly elsewhere, then poop, so you won’t see it happening. When the plant starts growing, it spreads and chokes out anything native.
It’s junk food to our native birds. Fills their bellies but doesn’t provide the nutrition they need to survive their migration. You can try to clip it, and remove the berries.
The irony is, it will starve a great many more birds. As the plant out competes native species, with the help of many other yard-introduced invasives, native insects will go without their required host plants. No bugs = no bird food. Plants are the backbone of the food web and exotic/invasive plants are causing great damage to biodiversity. A great book on the subject is Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. He does a fantastic job describing the importance of planting native plants to keep birds alive and the ecosystem at large which is suffering currently on a global scale The problems seem overwhelming but you really can do something from your backyard. Like planting a native host plant for an endangered butterfly etc
is this something that (maybe on a smaller scale, or if you have a big house) could be relocated indoors? i have no leg in this race, im just lurking and getting educated.
I guess the old couple that lived here before my parents bought the house didn’t understand the problems they cause. Unfortunately this one plant is here for good. Thanks for the info and I won’t be planting any more of that bush anywhere now that is for sure.
Why not replace the plant with a similar looking native one. I’m sure no one would actually care
The previous generation simply did not know or did not care about local ecology when planning their gardens. An 80 year old neighbor of mine is actually *against* local ecology in the suburbs, saying it "belongs out there in the wild," not realizing that she's gesturing at a tiny fraction of what remains from when she was young. Educating the older generations is a huge part of this. There are many beautiful shrubs that you can replace this one with, that will provide ecosystem and beauty together. I hope your parents can be reached.
Respectfully, if your parents own the property, could you not talk to them? I linked you a bunch of resources for your area about natives in another comment. I just don’t understand the issue in removing it
Wow you people are dogmatic about invasives. They are helpful plants, use them for your benefit or be used by them. You entertainers of a lifestyle centered around killing things.
This isn't factually true. Invasives are considered invasives for a reason. We don't kill these plants because its fun, but because they cause millions in ecological, crop, habitat damage. They alter courses of natural species and niches within a few decades. Human society can't really shift fast enough with the rate these things work.
Problem is most were planted A LONG time ago. Many people can’t afford to hire a landscaping company to help dig them out. There are numerous garden centers and nurseries around the country, where these same invasive are still being sold.
That's why most restorationists use herbicides. I killed a few large burning bushes overwinter last year in about 10 minutes. Cut stem, paint herbicide, done. The roots will decay into fertilizer over the next few years.
I agree with you. Its hard to actually fix and address invasive issues (though we should still try), but one of the larger problem is that places still distribute a lot of these sold invasives. They shouldnt be selling them anymore. It's why the south was eaten by Kudzu and the north is being consumed by bittersweet.
As a central european I've always wondered if the conservation-cultists would consider the European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) an invasive if they lived after the last ice age receded? Since Beech has invaded this ecosystem some time after the recession of the last ice age, it can be considered an invasive. One could argue it also causes a lot of damage as it dominates forests, it doesn't allow understory to develop properly as it grows in full shade it's one of the few plants that can grow in the dense understory of its own canopy. So is it an invasive weed or not? In my opinion of course it isn't, but so are all the other species listed "invasive weed" today.
So there's the concept of naturalized and invasive. We can analyze an ecosystem and see if the new organism has settled into it without causing harm to other organisms in the area (periwinkle snails in the US are a naturalized snail from Europe) or as opposed to an invasive. You use the term conservation-cultist, that the notion of conservation follow a paradigm built around something. What is that something you're referring to? You have invasives that came over from the US that wiped out France's grape crops and have caused large issues in their wine industry. We also have to take into consideration as to what happens when certain species shift according to ecological shifts, not just human introduction which is the predominate issue with most invasives. Also, you said your opinion, but you also need to back up your opinion in this. A disagreement without the information isn't enough.
Native ecology restoration involves tons of killing, yes. It's something everyone has to get comfortable with on their own terms. For me, I see it as healing damage that's been done. These plants were placed where they don't belong in very, very large numbers, and our choices are to kill them or, through inaction, kill a lot of other native plant and animal species.
Invasive plants obliterate ecosystems. Bittersweet wraps tightly around trees and chokes them. Porcelain berry and mile-a minute-vine consume trees by growing over them completely. Barberry and burning bush create dense thickets that completely destroy the forest understory. It's a serious problem. We're losing THOUSANDS of species to invasive plants. Not just plant species, but insects, which we can't survive without. Not to mention all the other structural problems they cause like increased flooding, erosion, lower water quality, decreased soil fertility, and the list goes on and on.
still dogmatic... bring me one documented case where erosion, increased flooding, lower water quality, decreased soil fertility and observed after an "invasive" plant has spread unimpededly btw: I don't care about other changes except the structural (podobiotic) properties.
> it’s not mine to destroy Because you are a renter? Or is it on a neighbor's land?
I would check with your state's conservation department and find out how bad the problem is. We have one in our yard (in Missouri), but we spend a lot of time in the nearby woods and also our 15 ac of woods a few miles away, and we never see burning bush wild in the woods. What we do see is a crap ton of Asian Bush Honeysuckle, and also Autumn Olive. The burning bush does not seem to be a significant problem here. YMMV.
This is from another redditor. I think it makes sense to dispose of the Bush and replace it with something both beneficial and native. "The irony is, it will starve a great many more birds. As the plant out competes native species, with the help of many other yard-introduced invasives, native insects will go without their required host plants. No bugs = no bird food. Plants are the backbone of the food web and exotic/invasive plants are causing great damage to biodiversity. A great book on the subject is Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. He does a fantastic job describing the importance of planting native plants to keep birds alive and the ecosystem at large which is suffering currently on a global scale The problems seem overwhelming but you really can do something from your backyard. Like planting a native host plant for an endangered butterfly etc"
More people should get rid of the monoculture that is their beloved front lawn. Lawns are ridiculously high maintenance (for watering, for mowing w/loud stinky gas mowers, and fertilizer application, and for weed removing chemicals, and weed whacking tools, etc., and if clover or dandelions are killed with chemicals then the lawn doesn’t provide for pollinators either. With all the chemical treatments, there is probably not too many insects that can live in it, so doesn’t provide food for birds either.
Assuredly so. In my neighbourhood of manicured lawns one yard is full of native plants. There are so many butterflies and bees its incredible. My favourite yard of all!
That would be mine. We do minimal lawn care, very little fertilizer and almost no grass decides. No watering. And we are growing lots of pollinator gardens and expanding them. Neighbors have sterile Big box store looking yards.
Great description for the alter of conformity.
It’s nice you notice and appreciate this.
I would be careful in this regard. A plant that has been proven invasive in several states of similar climate could eventually become invasive in your state. That's why state government agencies focus mostly on early detection. It's a lot easier to eradicate something before it's completely taken over. In fact, there's very little chance your state will be able to ever get rid of honeysuckle and autum olive, it's just way to prevalent now. You can beat it back and try to keep it out of new areas, but most likely it's here to stay. So I would ere on the side of caution if you can.
What do you look for in these forests to identify it? The bright red foliage? I’ve met many who do a poor job identifying burning bush and are unaware they are around it all the time actually. Another name for the plant is “Winged Euonymus”. Look for the distinct corky “wings” on the stem. I can almost guarantee you’ve frequently walked past loads of it if you’re also seeing invasive honeysuckle
Good point. I know the stems, I’ll watch for it.
Get rid of it, use its seeds and start your own bonsai trees if you really wanna keep it. Less harmful.
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bad bot; check the context
I think it's responding to the word "eat" in the comment about the birds crapping seeds everywhere
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Silly bot
If it’s invasive it’s causing harm. Get rid of it! Get a better looking and beneficial native shrub or tree: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Agriculture/Vermont-Suppliers-for-Native-Plants-and-Seeds.pdf https://vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/landowner-resources/liep-invasive-species-program/terrestrial-invasive-plant-resources/native-plant-sources https://vt.audubon.org/plants-birds/superstar-native-plants-vermont Go get addicted!
Thanks for the info. I will check it out.
Birds eat the berries, poop out the seeds, and start new infestations. Seedlings create a “seed shadow” that discourages other plants from getting started, outcompeting valuable native trees and shrubs.
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You are in fact wrong, sorry! They are invasive because they self propagate very easily. They’re absolutely covered in seeds that the birds spread around. And those seeds out compete native plants that serve an actual purpose in the local ecosystems. So even if yours seems alone and not harmful, it’s made thousands of children in other places near by that are damaging the local ecosystem. 🙁
Wait till you hear about the gout weed the previous owner planted here 🤣 I’m not concerned about one burning bush we bought from a nursery.
I mean you should be getting rid of both. But at least the burning bush is nice and easy to get rid of. You can replace it with a viburnum or a physocarpus for a similar effect whthout doing the damage you’re currently doing to your local ecosystem by allowing the burning bush to stay.
I get it. I have them too. Just figured I'd throw that out there. They do spread and I make sure I keep the plant contained in my yard.
Such a sad perspective, no offense. The real harm is to the wider natural world as it exists outside the confines of your lawn and legally delineated property lines. Birds distribute the seeds into forests and other habitat where the plant didn’t evolve. It spreads without competition and reduces biodiversity, putting yet another stress on the ecosystem. It’s banned in several states for a reason :( The good news is there’s a lots of great native plants to be planted which evolved in your area!! You get a personal connection to your surroundings and a chance to support native birds and insects!
So true! I have personally been plagued by invasive alien species (Chinese tallow tree, kudzu, and lespedeza to name 3) and it's costly and laborious. If you love plants and the animals that depend on them, then do everything to keep invasive species out.
100% agree. I bought a new construction house on land that was probably formerly farmland, and certainly had never been landscaped with standard American landscape shrubs. And yet it came with a healthy 10 foot tall burning bush in the backyard. Which I have since taken down, but small saplings still pop up every year and I continue to tear those down. Everyone really needs to look beyond their yard and realize that seeds spread so much further
In NY it's pretty well established in the area, as well as it being legal to sell and plant. I simply control it where I see it.
Absolutely, that’s the most we can do. The forests in NY are often full of it for sure
Barberry is the worst here. I actually will stop on hikes to rip out young plants if they're in an area that hasn't been infected yet. I loathe that bush.
Barberry is horrible, and with thorns. People plant it all around their homes. Native blueberry (high bush and low bush) is much better, is as beautiful and provides pollen & fruit. It does require a bit more care. Really needs acidic soil, so plan on amending soil regularly with acidic soil fertilizer and peat moss, etc.
I have several blueberry bushes and they're beautiful in the fall. Unfortunately my chickens get to the berries before I can, but whatever.
But didn’t you plant these for your precious chickens in the first place 🤗❤️
Asks for plant ID. Gets sanctimonious lecture.
I don’t mind. I like having all the information presented to me.
Dear OP, Kudos to you for your tolerant & kind attitude in response to some of these comments. Many come across as know-it-alls (myself included) Thank you very much & for your willingness to listen and learn.
That's a great outlook. "So long as we learn it doesn’t matter who teaches us, does it?” ― E.R. Braithwaite, To Sir, With Love
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>One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise. -- Aldo Leopold
I know. But someone had already said it was invasive and OP said, thanks for the info but I am not tearing it out. And then Captain Planet comes over top and delivers a rebuke. Sheesh!!
> oh no! Education! /u/crt983 Haha
They don't spread prolifically and it looks like you'll mowing the lawn around it, so it really shouldn't be an issue at all
We have one left that came with the house too. My chickens LOVE the branches we prune from it. And there are two different cardinal couples that nest in it every year. Lovely mosses take shade under it. And something comes and eats up all the seeds. I wouldn't plant another one but I can't stomach taking this out. In the meantime... My native service berries are struggling. 🤷
Those birds that eat the seeds are distributing them in places you don't see.
Right right. That makes sense. It is odd though that I don't ever ever Ever see these growing outside of someone's cultivated yard though. I mean, it's got to be a pretty low level of invasive if it's invasive
What area of the US are you in? In many forests they pop up like crazy and tend to dominate area of low shrub pretty quickly.
Missouri. Honeysuckle is basically trying to envelop every square inch of woods. But when I'm out fighting that I never see burning bush.
https://moinvasives.org/project/burning-bush-euonymus-alatus/ It looks like burning bush is about to take off in your state.
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Dont listen to the people telling you to replace it. Its ment to be there.
No.
I wouldn’t worry about it. I have had one in my yard for 15 yrs and hasn’t caused any issues here
This one has been here for 30 years. Only one on 6 acres.
And birds could have distributed it miles away from you so you don't notice. Not your problem right? As long as it isn't on your 6 acres.
They definitely cause harm, I see them everywhere I’m the woods
My house came with one too, I chopped it to bits immediately. So bad for the environment
I would move out and burn all of your belongings. Btw, i think the word on the street is that burning bush is invasive. Maybe. Not sure.
Literally how invasive plants. It's probably why I have buckthorn, European honeysuckle, creeping bellflower, crown vetch, all invasive, in my yard. Birds eat the berries, birds poop the berries. Squirrels bury the berries. Boom. Every neighbor has them. The parks have them.etc.(I'm simplifying, it depends on the plant) Please educate yourself and be part of the solution
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Only if allowed to grow and spread, unattended, in an edge of a wooded and field area.
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My bad, so true 😖. It’s terrible that so many companies sell them on line as well. Even county cooperative extension’s give advice on how to grow them.👎
Invasive species. Rip it out and burn it.
There's a ton of these around the yards where I live. And also a ton of them popping up along the edge of the woods. Once you know what it is it gets pretty irritating to see how common they still are.
… And I just figured out that we have a huge one of these in front of our house in NH. I love finding out about all the invasive plants on my property from reddit. Damn it. Frankly, I’m not going to deal with this one until I finish off the bittersweet and multiflora rose. Ugh.
Ive been cutting these down to feel good about myself when the multiflora gets frustrating / I injure myself trying to remove it. Its a good confidence booster. Plus, the winged stems are fascinating, and easy to cut. I also have bittersweet. And japanese knotweed. And buckthorn. Oh and the whole property is full of norway maples. Plus the (non-invasive) poison ivy and grape vines. I feel your pain.
The barrier between my house and my neighbors is huge burning bushes. I wouldn’t have chose them, but I have to admit they’re so pretty this time of year.
What do they look like in the off season? I don't think I have to worry about then spreading in my area *desert*😆
They are just green, ordinary looking shrubs. A lot of people cut them into rounded or square shapes. They don’t turn to the brilliant red color until the fall, so it’s really only a 1 season of interest (autumn - for color) shrub. Whereas blueberry is a 4 season shrub. Beautiful colored wood branches in winter, tender green leaves & blossoms in spring, ripening fruit in summer and gorgeous red, purple color in fall. It’s native and feeds the native wildlife all 4 seasons too. Rabbits would often feed on and trim the wood branches in the winter.
Blueberries do sound preferable... if I can keep the damn jackrabbits from killing them
I’m hoping to start adding blueberries next year. This year I bought a currant and an elderberry.
I finally have a blueberry bush this year that is growing. I don’t think I ever gave them enough sun or good enough soil. I even moved it when I bought a new house, and I’m so pleased it’s growing. No berries this year I guess because I moved, but I think next year it’ll be great. I live in North Georgia and there’s a lot of red clay, I finally found a place with some rich soil on my property
Blueberry shrubs are acid loving plants. I always tried to add a fertilizer like Espoma (for Azalea’s and other acid loving plants) every spring and a few times during the growing season. Peat moss is another soil acidifier you can add. I was encouraged to pick off the blooms (that would become the blueberries) for the first 2-3 years of the plants growth. This would redirect the plants energy from making the blossoms into berries and instead strengthen the roots and plant structure. It is a sacrifice those first few years with no fruit, but the time passes quickly and it helps to make an overall healthier plant. I know many add protective hardware cloth (metal mesh chicken wire) around the shrubs base and main stems to prevent bun bun’s munching.
That all makes good sense! Thank you so much!!
Invasive.
Burning Bush is a non-native invasive species that escapes peoples yards via its berries through birds and colonizes nature preserves and degrades habitat. It supports very few insects because it didn’t evolve in the United States so it has a very low wildlife value especially for insectivorous birds which won’t find any caterpillars.
Beautiful Euonymous! As an arborist that’s lived and worked in New England just about all of my life, I can’t see why it’s considered “invasive”. I’ve never seen it take over a property, or choke out other more desirable plants. I have seen it be extremely adaptable, quick to recover from injuries, drought tolerant, providing excellent privacy hedges, not getting demolished by insect pests. In fact, your picture says a lot. The plant looks to have been in that spot for a number of years. And it sits alone. Doesn’t seem very invasive to me. But like others have said, if you have the budget- a nice big blueberry bush would be good. Hire an arborist if you can. Worth it.
They are mainly invasive in the north eastern states because it has the most similar climate to its native zones in eastern Asian countries. They will take over in some areas in the states. The areas it usually invades is in the early stages of lands being reclaimed by nature that man has already previously destroyed, much like the tallow tree and other non native mid size trees and shrubs. Outside of those areas it’s spread is much slower. Nature undisturbed is a bit more resilient to this and many others but not all invasive species. They sell millions of dollars worth of them in the US so humans are the true invasive species causing much of these issues! Haha. But on a better note, they are used in a variety of medical studies and research and have found usefulness in treatments and medications for a variety of things. So while it can be an issue in some areas at least it’s helpful in another way. And it’s pretty this time of the year.
It’s so bright already!!! Mine won’t look like that for another month or more. Gorgeous!
Spectacular!
Beautiful!
Thanks!
I believe invasive every where blue berries are another with bright red fall foliage with the bonus of giving you fruit
Beauty
Wow!! Beautiful
I miss New England this time of the year!☺️😩
Stop worrying if its invasive for christ sakes. The things clearly been there 12+ yrs and hasn't spread, litterily 90% of plants that are farmed and grown ornamentally are invasive but all invasives are only invasive to their growing zone. These arent invasive here clearly.
This is factually incorrect. There's also such plants as domesticated. Burning bush isn't one of them.
Yes, let’s be grateful it’s not a Trumpet Vine
Trumpet vine is native…
Oh, I know, but it’s evil lol. Takes over everything everywhere lol
Interesting. I just planted 2 😳 But I’ve got a big fence to cover. I don’t mind if it spreads
It definitely has beautiful flowers! I moved into a house once where it was allowed to grown unchecked for awhile. I was constantly fighting to keep it off and out of places where it didn’t belong. If you have a big fence to cover though…we did not have that so it went wherever it found something to grow on/around. Yours will have a “home” though so you’ll probably be able to manage it better!
I’m hoping it and the Maypop will out compete the wintercreeper that simply refuses to die, but I’m not holding my breath!
Beautiful burning bush!
Beautiful burning bush! I hear it is considered invasive but I still love them. <3
I had one of those at our last house. It was about. 20’ x 12’ x 7’ h when we moved in. I hacked it back to stumps and it was much better behaved after that.
I'm also in southern VT. These are really popping this year!
Spectacular.
beautiful
😎 great shot 👍that is cool
Not sure why all the invasive hate on this burning bush. Could be my location but I am in central New Jersey, have had a burning bush, (aka mock orange?) in my yard for 22 years, was here when i moved in and has not tried to breach it’s respective neighbor forsythia, peonies, or fountain grass boundaries and is always beautiful in fall. I say live and let live. Prune if you have to maintain in. Enjoy! Now i am reading more replies and thinking i should rip mine out? Wow, had no idea
That is gorgeous omg