Island Nature Trust finds invasive species in own garden
Aggressive patch of goutweed discovered at Island Nature Trust
The Island Nature Trust is dealing with an aggressive patch of the invasive species goutweed at its Ravenwood location in Charlottetown.
Julie-Lynn Zahavich, the volunteer coordinator for the Island Nature Trust, acknowledges the organization has been involved in projects to combat invasive species — so there is a certain irony in the discovery.
"It's an invasive species. It is quite common actually. It's in most people's gardens. Most people plant it and then a few years later it's all through their garden," she said.
"It has entirely taken over our garden out front. So it's a ground cover so it's the only other plant we have out there besides the few shrubs that are growing."
The Island Nature Trust is asking for a few volunteers to come forward to help pull out the goutweed from the property, which is rented from Agriculture Canada, this fall.
Native ferns will be planted in its place.