Be on ‘Plant Alert’, citizen gardeners urged
GARDENERS are being recruited to find the next Japanese knotweed before it “jumps the garden fence” in a project spearheaded by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.
Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam both originated as ornamental garden plants, before they spread across the UK and caused havoc to homes and waterways.
Now, gardeners have been asked by BSBI and the University of Coventry to help identify whether any new plants could end up becoming a menace.
The citizen science project, called Plant Alert, offers gardeners a quick and easy way of reporting any ornamental plants showing signs of invasiveness.
Scientists say the traits that should be watched out for are vigorous growth, prolific self-seeding, longer flowering periods and any plant that the gardener has to “keep on top of ” to prevent it spreading. Plants which are logged on the Plant Alert app will be studied by botanists and potentially restricted from sale.
Kevin Walker, head of science at BSBI, said: “Bitter experience has shown that species that are invasive in gardens are also the ones that are likely to ‘jump the garden fence’ and cause problems in the wild; usually because they can regenerate very effectively and grow vigorously, outcompeting native species.
“The most effective way to reduce the impacts of these species is to identify them before they escape into wild.
“Armed with this information we can then alert others to the threats they pose allowing policies to be put in place to prevent their sale and implement eradication programmes in case they do manage to escape.” Dr Katharina Dehnenschmutz, Plant Alert coordinator, said: “Ornamental plants escaping from gardens are the main pathway for non-native plants outnumbering native plant species in the British flora, with some of them having high negative impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity and the built environment.”