Take Action—Invasive Plants
Press the images below to find out how to take action!
Plant Habitat!
Plant habitat by adding more diversity to your home landscape! In addition to seeing more butterflies and hummingbirds and supporting pollinators, you might also enjoy some of the benefits below:
- Trees: cut hot summer temps inside your home and in your backyard.
- Shrubs: best for birds! Most suburbs have few shrubs, which provide valuable nesting space.
- Grasses: bunchgrasses like little bluestem or switchgrass create strong winter interest in gardens
- Flowers: pro-pollinator!
- Map your yard! And get support setting goals for your home
- Make your yard a certified wildlife habitat
- Get RainSmart! Become a Master Rain Gardener.
Don’t plant a pest
Most invasive plants arrived by way of our gardens, planted for their hardiness or beauty. Many invasive plants are still available for purchase. As climate change progresses, what plants that are invasive in warmer regions will become more invasive in southeast Michigan? Learn more by watching the video below
Before you go shopping for plants, print and carry this guide to alternatives to invasive ornamental plants, or download the free app “Landscape Alternatives for Invasive Plants of the Midwest” available for iOS or Android through your app store.
Support control efforts, at home and in your community
The Big Four Rouge Rescue Invasive Plants
Please review the species below and remove them from your yard. Press each photo to learn more about the plant.
Garlic mustard. Photo by Vicki Ashton, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Common buckthorn. Photo by Kenraiz Ziarnek (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Dame’s Rocket. Photo by Aaron Stokes (CC BY 2.0)
Honeysuckle. Photo by F. D. Richards (CC BY-SA 2.0)
At home
- Learn to identify the plants in your yard.
- Check out Oakland County CISMA site for common invasives
- Download or buy the Field Guide to Invasive Plants in Michigan’s Natural Communities
- Explore free online species training courses (https://www.misin.msu.edu/species-training/)
- For your typical small lot, once you’ve identified plants in your yard…
- Participate in Rouge Rescue or other volunteer events to learn effective control methods
- Visit the Michigan DNR website to learn more about how to effectively manage invasive species: http://www.michigan.gov/invasives/0,5664,7-324-68002—,00.html
- For larger, rural lots, take the time to develop (or hire a consultant to develop) a restoration plan. If that plan includes invasive species control efforts, make sure that the plan provides realistic steps for long-term success, including recommendations for how to promote beneficial species to grow in place of the invasive species removed.
In Your Community
- Report invasive species in natural areas by visiting the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network: https://www.misin.msu.edu/report/misin/
- Participate in Rouge Rescue to learn more about changes in natural areas in your region and to help restore them.
