In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Lee Gilliam helps a homeowner reclaim a piece of his yard that’s overrun with invasive and aggressive species.

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Lee Gilliam identifies and removes invasive plants in a homeowner’s garden, including removing a tree overrun with ivy, with the help of an expert arborist.

Where to find it?
Lee identifies 2 invasive species of plants inhabiting the homeowners yard:
• English Ivy [https://homedepot.sjv.io/5g3eRD] - Often confused for an invasive species, but is native to New England. However, if not properly maintained, it can become problematic.
• Asian Bittersweet [https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/t...] - An invasive species that is very aggressive and quick to overtake native plants and strangle stems and trunks.

Wearing garden gloves [https://homedepot.sjv.io/XYqPgy], Lee and the homeowner remove the asian bittersweet by pulling them as well as digging it out from the roots. They also trimmed the english ivy back using pruning shears [https://homedepot.sjv.io/PyZA1Y] and loppers [https://homedepot.sjv.io/Mm14PY].

The arborist, Brandon from Maltby and Company [https://maltbytree.com/], identifies a blue spruce and notes that is diseased. It has needlecast [https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r10/fo...] - a fungal disease specific to spruce trees. Because the tree is too sick to save, Brandon and his team remove the tree and use a stump grinder [https://homedepot.sjv.io/g1Vzmv] to grind and remove the stump.

Lee installs PMJ Rhododendrons [https://homedepot.sjv.io/0Z3rEY] where the tree was removed to still give the homeowner a level of privacy.

Products and services from this episode
Certified arborist: Maltby and Company [https://maltbytree.com/]

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How to Manage Invasive Plants | Ask This Old House
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