Ruthie Maynard-Jones used to think of her back yard as a sanctuary.
Her house in St. Petersburg, Fla., backs up to Little Bayou Park, which was once a secluding wilderness of trees, vines and shrubs. But in the last six months, Maynard-Jones has watched the shade-producing overgrowth disappear, replaced by sunlight and noise.
Where it was once lush, green and silent, it is now exposed. Noise from the cars goes unfiltered. Snakes appeared, possibly seeking shelter. A giant turtle showed up in her pond.
Maynard-Jones remembers someone telling her about a restoration project at Little Bayou. But she still doesn’t understand why the vegetation that had once enclosed her back yard was removed. She’s not certain what restoration means, or if it’s a good thing.
Across Pinellas County, neighborhood groups and individuals are fighting to protect their green spaces from an army of quiet invaders. And some residents don’t even know that there’s a war going on.
For centuries, plants have come from distant shores to Florida soil. When these plants take root, they have no natural enemies to prevent them from growing over the indigenous habitat. The invaders take over, disrupting the natural balance and displacing the plants and animals that make up the ecosystem.
“It’s having an effect on the ecology of Florida,” said Bill Overholt, associate professor of biological control research at the University of Florida. “All plants need space to grow in. If you have an exotic plant, it’s displacing native plants.”
In the past 20 years, the public has become more aware of the problem and the number of projects to remove the plants has increased. But proponents of restoration still struggle to inform people about the need to remove some plants to make room for others.
Without proper education, most residents don’t know what invasive plants lurk in their back yard. This makes matters worse. No matter how much work is done to remove nonnative plants from public spaces, they can still spread from private yards.
It’s almost impossible to completely eradicate invasive plants, said Debbie Chayet, grants specialist with the Pinellas County Parks and Recreation Department. “Some species spread from wind displaced seeds. Others spread easily from birds.”
Birds eat berries and then poop out the seeds.
It used to be that gardeners and homeowners embraced colorful flowers and twisting vines imported by nurseries. Later, groups like the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Society were created so people could compare notes on the best way to get rid of the plants.
And people are always looking for more information. Jan Allyn, secretary for the Florida Native Plant Society of Pinellas County, said neighborhood associations and plant societies frequently ask for speakers.
“We’re lucky if we have people to cover all the things people are asking us to do,” she said.
With knowledge comes action. Philippe Piquet, co-owner of Twigs & Leaves, a local nursery that sells mostly native plants, says most of his customers come in wanting to purchase plants that will grow naturally in Florida.
“They know what they are looking for the most part,” he says. “It’s not the average consumer who comes to look for pretty colors.”
Pinellas County Parks Department employees keep busy pruning the large county parks for plants that don’t belong. But neighborhood parks don’t get the same level of attention. That means motivated residents and neighborhood associations must coordinate the care of local green space.
Once the groups have created a plan of attack, they have to find the funding. Cleaning out an area inundated with large invasive trees can be expensive. Removing one tree can cost $100 to $1,000. Dale Armstrong helps find money to do the work. As the coordinator of neighborhoods and yards for the Pinellas County Extension Office, Armstrong typically directs people to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, which in 2005-06 provided more than $70,000 in mini-grants for restoration projects.
Back in Maynard-Jones’ back yard in Little Bayou, dozens of small trees were cut down. Former resident Ray Wunderlich is the driving force behind the clean-up. He watched the park deteriorate due to illegal dumping and neglect. Since 2005, he’s been working with the city of St. Petersburg, the Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and other groups to return Little Bayou to its indigenous state.
As part of his agreement with the city, Wunderlich and other volunteers informed people living near Little Bayou of their plans. Most of the residents were cooperative, although some did feel the effects through loss of shade, said Bill Bilodeaux, who has helped with the project from the beginning.
But Wunderlich doesn’t always get a positive response from residents of the areas he’s trying to restore. Homeowners near a park in Pinellas Point were that concerned Wunderlich’s improvements might bring more people to the neighborhood. It was his first restoration project.
“They were afraid I’d plant a huge forest,” he said. “They didn’t want their quiet park prettied. They didn’t get that I was going to replant it with native plants.”
Armstrong said it’s not uncommon to encounter resistance with these projects. Often people are reluctant to remove invasive trees from their back yards, because they see any loss of living plants as a bad thing.
“With the carrotwood tree, people see that it fulfills a need in the landscape,” he said. “They might not be real proud their tree is nonnative, but it’s often the only shade they have in their yard.”
People might not understand the confusing terms of native and nonnative plants. But when the snakes and bird which once filled their yards disappear, they might take notice.
Experts say the only way Florida communities will be able to regain control over invader plants is through educating the public and making use of biological weapons and sheer manpower.
Maynard-Jones is typical of many homeowners. She’s busy with volunteer work and a job, so she has someone else do her lawn work. Although she’s native to St. Petersburg, she never heard that the plants in her back yard could be causing trouble.
She misses her shady yard. Her air conditioner has to work harder to cool her house. But she wants to do the right thing.
“I’d like to be educated about it,” she said. “If it’s taking away from what’s supposed to be there, I’d like to know.”
