Invasive alien plants removed and replaced by natives

By Shelley Harms

Conservation Commission volunteers David Torrey, Nash Pradhan, Daniel
Torrey and Meredith Torrey replace invasive species with native plantings at Norfolk’s
town hall.

Normally quiet on weekends, Town Hall was a beehive of activity on Saturday, May 2. Those coming to appeal their assessments dodged grubby gardeners, as the new Conservation Commission ripped out four large winged euonymus (burning bush) and Japanese barberry, and replanted the bed with eight witch hazels, two viburnums and one shadbush. “Burning bush and Japanese barberry are alien invasive species,” explained Sue Frisch, Conservation Commission chair. “Birds eat their seeds and spread them far and wide. In some places, barberry has completely taken over the forest floor. We’re grateful to the Norfolk-Colebrook Garden Club, which donated the shadbush and the viburnums, and to the Northwest Conservation District, which donated the eight witch hazels.” Nash Pradhan, owner of Ginger Creek Nursery, supervised the project, which included transplanting rhododendrons, hostas, daylilies and daffodils to adjacent beds. By eight a.m., Pradhan and John Anderson had finished pulling out the large bushes using Pradhan’s pickup and a sturdy chain. Shelley Harms and her family pitched in to dig up roots, pull up old landscape fabric, and transplant hostas and rhododendrons. Pebble Potter transplanted daylilies and daffodils, filling in another bed. Sue and Bruce Frisch brought the new shrubs and placed them in consultation with Pradhan. By ten-thirty a.m., the mulch had been spread, dirt swept up, and everyone was ready to go home. The commission plans to add groundcover and more mulch at a later date. “It looks great,” said First Selectman Sue Dyer on Monday. “We’ve been wanting to do this project for some time, and are glad the Conservation Commission took it on.” Northwest Conservation District Executive Director Jean Cronauer said, “We’re delighted that Norfolk is doing this. If everyone replaced their barberry and burning bush with natives, there would be more food and habitat for our native pollinators and other wildlife, and we wouldn’t have so many ‘escapees’ threatening our forests.”