Pollinator Pockets West Roxbury, MA

Remove Invasives

Know your neighborhood's worst offenders.

Invasive plants spread aggressively and crowd out the natives pollinators rely on. Clearing even one from your pocket makes room for plants that actually feed wildlife. Click any plant below to learn why it's harmful, how to identify it, and how to remove it.

A large Tree of Heaven growing in a park, with its broad spreading crown of compound leaves

Tree of Heaven

Ailanthus altissima

A fast-growing tree that poisons the soil around it and is the favorite host of the spotted lanternfly.

Identify & remove →
Oriental bittersweet in summer, showing glossy rounded green leaves and small greenish flowers clustered along the stem

Oriental Bittersweet

Celastrus orbiculatus

A woody vine that climbs, strangles, and topples mature trees under its own weight.

Identify & remove →
Black swallow-wort climbing a chain-link fence, with slender seed pods standing upright among the leaves

Black Swallow-wort

Cynanchum louiseae

A milkweed relative that lures monarchs into laying eggs their caterpillars can't survive on.

Identify & remove →
A stand of flowering garlic mustard with tall stalks of small white four-petaled flowers

Garlic Mustard

Alliaria petiolata

A shade-loving herb that poisons woodland soil and wipes out spring wildflowers.

Identify & remove →
Creeping bellflower with tall spikes of nodding purple bell-shaped flowers among green foliage

Creeping Bellflower

Campanula rapunculoides

A pretty purple-belled garden escapee with deep, brittle roots that make it nearly impossible to dig out.

Identify & remove →
Common buckthorn foliage — glossy, finely toothed leaves whose veins curve to follow the leaf edge toward the tip

Common Buckthorn

Rhamnus cathartica

A thorn-tipped shrub-tree that leafs out early and holds its leaves late, shading the forest floor bare.

Identify & remove →

⚠️ Always confirm a plant's identity before removing it, wear gloves, and never burn or compost invasive plant material that can re-root or re-seed. When in doubt, consult a local conservation group.