Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership

Fall is the perfect time to look around Harpswell at nature's seasonal growth. From roadsides to shorelines, trees and shrubs are signaling the season's end. As the brilliant colors fade, leaves drop and skies open — wait, why is that maple tree still green? And why are those yellow vines wrapping around utility poles, pines, firs and spruces?

The answer to the question about the best time to remove invasive plants is: It depends! Timing is important when working with invasive plants. Some are easily removed in early spring, when the ground is moist and the plants are small. Others are more easily identified later in spring or in summer, when their flowers are in bloom. Still others will spread if treated too early in the growing season.

This spring has been cold and rainy, making it easy to forget the "flash drought" of 2025. However, for residents whose wells ran dry last summer, it may not be so easy to forget that extended dry spell. This summer may prove to be just as bad, if not worse, based on some predictions.

I watch with despair as my carefully curated garden shrivels up in Maine's extended drought of 2025. The plants I selected to inhabit their native landscape are brown and dry. Even the drought-tolerant Joe Pye weed has lost all sign of color.

Dense stands of knotweed line any number of roads in Harpswell. It's easy to identify at this time of year, when clusters of small, white-green flowers bloom along its stems. Knotweed's height — at times up to 10 feet — and its hollow, segmented stalks cause many to mistake it for bamboo.

While kayaking down a waterway on a balmy day, I noticed stately, 15-foot-tall reeds with fluffy tops lining the banks in thick stands. Waving majestically in the breeze, these reeds would surely part to reveal a pyramid or two. But no, this was not the Nile River

Have you been wondering why your invasive plants keep coming back? Or whether your trees will die when bittersweet vines climb all over them? The Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership wants to help you get to the bottom of these questions and more.

Standing tall along streams, roadsides and marshes, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is easily spotted in the summer months with its erect, purple spikes.