As you walk around your neighbourhood admiring abundant summer gardens, chances are, some of those plants you’re checking out are actually sneaky invasive species! If left to invade, these invasive species can have significant impacts on human, economic, and environmental health.
You can help protect your neighbourhood by planning your own DIY Weed Pull!
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Protect your neighbourhood by participating in our Scavenger Hunt or planning a Wildlife Warrior Bingo!
Squamish
Planning your own weed pull is easy – just follow these steps:
Scroll down to learn more, or download the mobile version.
Save the mobile version of the toolkit to reference while you’re out in the field!
Step 1: Learn how to identify these invasive plants
Yellow Lamium
What it looks like: Yellow Lamium is an evergreen, perennial groundcover that can grow trailing or upright over low-growing vegetation. It has small and yellow flowers with orange or brown markings on them.
Where to find it: This plant tends to prefer habitats with full shade and moist soils that are rich in organic matter. Yellow Lamium is often spotted in ravines, greenbelts, forested areas, and parks.
Himalayan Balsam
What it looks like: Himalayan balsam is an exotic-looking plant that has pink, helmet-shaped flowers. Leaves are stalked, oblong / egg-shaped and have a serrated edge.
Where to find it: This species is extremely invasive in moist, shaded environments. It is often spotted near shady riverbanks or ditches.
Oxeye Daisy
What it looks like: Oxeye Daisy is an upright perennial, growing up to 1m in height in dense clumps. The flowers are daisy-like, with white rays and yellow disks, up to 5cm across.
Where to find it: It lives in mesic to dry areas such as roadsides, pastures, waste areas, grasslands, and forested areas within low to mid-elevations. In BC, it is common south of the 56th parallel.
Common Tansy
What it looks like: Common Tansy is a perennial and a member of the Daisy family. Its flowers are button-like, yellow and lack ray flowers. They occur in dense, flat-topped clusters at the top of the stems.
Where to find it: Common Tansy thrives in dry areas with full sun and well-drained, fertile soils; it also grows well in wet, coastal habitats. It is often found in newly-disturbed sites, river banks, riparian habitats and pasture lands.
English Ivy
What it looks like: English Ivy has dark green leaves that are leathery and waxy to the touch. It only produces flowers during its mature growth stage (10+ years old), which are small, greenish-yellow, and arranged in distinct umbrella-like clusters
Where to find it: English Ivy can be found in a variety of habitats, such as disturbed areas, fields, parks, forest edges, coastal areas, and on steep slopes and cliffs. Its climbing vines can be spotted wrapped around trees, walls, houses, fences, posts, and hedges.
Step 2: gather your supplies
We recommend that you bring the following supplies with you while removing invasives:
- Gardening gloves
- Garbage bags (invasive plants must be disposed of in a landfill, not organics bins!)
- Comfortable clothes and shoes
- Phone (to reference invasive plant ID cards and take photos to report your findings)
- A detective’s eye (you never know where invasives might be hiding in plain sight!)
Step 3: make a plan
Before you head out, consider the following:
- Who owns the land? Make sure you are on public land; always seek the landholder’s permission if you are on private property.
- Are you sure it’s an invasive plant? Make sure to confirm the plant is one of the above invasive species before you start pulling it up. The iNaturalist app can also be very helpful!
- How will I dispose of the invasive plant material? In most areas, all invasive plant material must be disposed of at a landfill and NOT in your organics bin. Learn more about disposal recommendations here.
Step 4: time to pull! 
You’re ready for your DIY Weed Pull – good luck! Download a mobile version of the toolkit here:
Don’t forget to take pictures and report any findings at ssisc.ca/report
Whistler
Planning your own weed pull is easy – just follow these steps:
Scroll down to learn more, or download the mobile version.
Save the mobile version of the toolkit to reference while you’re out in the field!
Step 1: Learn how to identify these invasive plants
Yellow Lamium
What it looks like: Yellow Lamium is an evergreen, perennial groundcover that can grow trailing or upright over low-growing vegetation. It has small and yellow flowers with orange or brown markings on them.
Where to find it: This plant tends to prefer habitats with full shade and moist soils that are rich in organic matter. Yellow Lamium is often spotted in ravines, greenbelts, forested areas, and parks.
Common Burdock
What it looks like: Common Burdock is an herb that grows 0.5-1.5 m tall and produces burs with hooked bristles that can cling onto clothing, equipment, and animals. The green leaves are large, heart-shaped and hairy underneath, with wavy edges and a slight upwards curl.
Where to find it: It thrives in the moist, fertile, and nitrogen-rich soils of disturbed areas such as roads, ditches, and riparian areas.
Fun fact: These burs were actually the inspiration for Velcro!
Oxeye Daisy
What it looks like: Oxeye Daisy is an upright perennial, growing up to 1m in height in dense clumps. The flowers are daisy-like, with white rays and yellow disks, up to 5cm across.
Where to find it: It lives in mesic to dry areas such as roadsides, pastures, waste areas, grasslands, and forested areas within low to mid-elevations. In BC, it is common south of the 56th parallel.
Common Tansy
What it looks like: Common Tansy is a perennial and a member of the Daisy family. Its flowers are button-like, yellow and lack ray flowers. They occur in dense, flat-topped clusters at the top of the stems.
Where to find it: Common Tansy thrives in dry areas with full sun and well-drained, fertile soils; it also grows well in wet, coastal habitats. It is often found in newly-disturbed sites, river banks, riparian habitats and pasture lands.
Knapweeds
Spotted Knapweed
Diffuse Knapweed (photo by Bryan Kelly-McArthur)
There are 2 types of invasive knapweed: Diffuse Knapweed and Spotted Knapweed.
What they look like:
Diffuse Knapweed has hairy, greyish-green, split leaves on many branches growing from a single upright stem. The flowers are white or sometimes purple, with small, sharp, rigid spines on the bracts.
Spotted Knapweed has hairy, deeply-cut leaves and purple flowers (occasionally white) on one or more upright stems. Flowerhead lower leaves have a black-tipped fringe that gives a spotted appearance.
Diffuse and spotted knapweed both have a taproot and grow to around 1 metre in height.
Where to find them: They prefer open areas and well-drained soils where they establish in grasslands, open forests, and along roadsides.
Step 2: gather your supplies
We recommend that you bring the following supplies with you while removing invasives:
- Gardening gloves
- Garbage bags (invasive plants must be disposed of in a landfill, not organics bins!)
- Comfortable clothes and shoes
- Phone (to reference invasive plant ID cards and take photos to report your findings)
- A detective’s eye (you never know where invasives might be hiding in plain sight!)
Step 3: make a plan
Before you head out, consider the following:
- Who owns the land? Make sure you are on public land; always seek the landholder’s permission if you are on private property.
- Are you sure it’s an invasive plant? Make sure to confirm the plant is one of the above invasive species before you start pulling it up. The iNaturalist app can also be very helpful!
- How will I dispose of the invasive plant material? In most areas, all invasive plant material must be disposed of at a landfill and NOT in your organics bin. Learn more about disposal recommendations here.
Step 4: time to pull!
You’re ready for your DIY Weed Pull – good luck! Download a mobile version of the toolkit here:
Pemberton
Planning your own weed pull is easy – just follow these steps:
Scroll down to learn more, or download the mobile version.
Save the mobile version for reference when you’re out in the field!
Step 1: Learn how to identify these invasive plants
Yellow Lamium
What it looks like: Yellow Lamium is an evergreen, perennial groundcover that can grow trailing or upright over low-growing vegetation. It has small and yellow flowers with orange or brown markings on them.
Where to find it: This plant tends to prefer habitats with full shade and moist soils that are rich in organic matter. Yellow Lamium is often spotted in ravines, greenbelts, forested areas, and parks.
Knapweeds
Spotted Knapweed
Diffuse Knapweed (photo by Bryan Kelly-McArthur)
There are 2 types of invasive knapweed: Diffuse Knapweed and Spotted Knapweed.
What they look like:
Diffuse Knapweed has hairy, greyish-green, split leaves on many branches growing from a single upright stem. The flowers are white or sometimes purple, with small, sharp, rigid spines on the bracts.
Spotted Knapweed has hairy, deeply-cut leaves and purple flowers (occasionally white) on one or more upright stems. Flowerhead lower leaves have a black-tipped fringe that gives a spotted appearance.
Diffuse and spotted knapweed both have a taproot and grow to around 1 metre in height.
Where to find them: They prefer open areas and well-drained soils where they establish in grasslands, open forests, and along roadsides.
Oxeye Daisy
What it looks like: Oxeye Daisy is an upright perennial, growing up to 1m in height in dense clumps. The flowers are daisy-like, with white rays and yellow disks, up to 5cm across.
Where to find it: It lives in mesic to dry areas such as roadsides, pastures, waste areas, grasslands, and forested areas within low to mid-elevations. In BC, it is common south of the 56th parallel.
Common Tansy
What it looks like: Common Tansy is a perennial and a member of the Daisy family. Its flowers are button-like, yellow and lack ray flowers. They occur in dense, flat-topped clusters at the top of the stems.
Where to find it: Common Tansy thrives in dry areas with full sun and well-drained, fertile soils; it also grows well in wet, coastal habitats. It is often found in newly-disturbed sites, river banks, riparian habitats and pasture lands.
Common Bugloss
What it looks like: Common Bugloss has succulent, lance-shaped leaves with linear edges that feel fleshy and hairy to the touch. Before blooming, the flowers are initially reddish and can be found in coiled clusters at the end of stems, which resemble fiddlenecks. After blooming, the flowers range from bright blue to purple and have distinctive white throats.
Where to find it: Common Bugloss generally prefers habitats with high sun exposure and low soil moisture such as roadsides, cultivated fields, pastures, alfalfa fields, and rangelands. This species also tends to thrive in disturbed sites and waste areas where plant competition is low.
Dalmatian Toadflax
What it looks like: Dalmatian toadflax grows up to 1.2 m with cheerful yellow snapdragon-like flowers and pale green heart-shaped leaves. A milky juice appears when stems or leaves break. A single plant can have up to 25 flowering stems.
Where to find it: Dalmatian Toadflax is found along roadsides, in gardens, cultivated fields, and other open, disturbed areas of BC. It is an aggressive competitor for native grasses and wildflowers at low- to mid-elevation areas.
Step 2: gather your supplies
We recommend that you bring the following supplies with you while removing invasives:
- Gardening gloves
- Garbage bags (invasive plants must be disposed of in a landfill, not organics bins!)
- Comfortable clothes and shoes
- Phone (to reference invasive plant ID cards and take photos to report your findings)
- A detective’s eye (you never know where invasives might be hiding in plain sight!)
Step 3: make a plan
Before you head out, consider the following:
- Who owns the land? Make sure you are on public land; always seek the landholder’s permission if you are on private property.
- Are you sure it’s an invasive plant? Make sure to confirm the plant is one of the above invasive species before you start pulling it up. The iNaturalist app can also be very helpful!
- How will I dispose of the invasive plant material? In most areas, all invasive plant material must be disposed of at a landfill and NOT in your organics bin. Learn more about disposal recommendations here.
Step 4: time to pull!
You’re ready for your DIY Weed Pull – good luck! Download a mobile version of the toolkit here:
Are you a plant detective?
You can also head outside for an invasive plant scavenger hunt. The Invasives Scavenger Hunt is a great way for children 7-12 to get to know their environment better, sharpen their plant identification skills, and generally have fun playing detectives!
If you are ready to play detective, visit https://ssisc.ca/scavengerhunt
Pulling Invasive Plants?
Contact us to get featured!
Plant nerds and nature lovers across the Sea to Sky region have been volunteering their time to fight the spread of invasive plants in their neighbourhoods. We thank them for their time and salute their efforts!
For example, the 19 Mile Creek neighbourhood, in Whistler, joined forces to remove Yellow Flag Iris from their property. Read about their experience on Hammer Roasting’s website!
Are you participating in a “worker bee” weekend which involves removing invasive plants? We’d love to hear about it! Get in touch so we can support your event, answer your questions and promote your good deeds.
Links
- More activities: