Today I joined Tom Brightman and Kevin Fryberger of the Brandywine Conservancy at their Waterloo Mills Preserve to co-lead a walk on managing invasive plants. A very hardy crowd of landowners and people who want to volunteer to protect natural areas braved the 40-ish-degree steady downpour to walk around the preserve to look at the results of Kevin's management there. Many of the invasive plants were already absent due to Kevin's work, but there were still some to see.
Kevin also had time to show everyone some of his favorite native plants that he's added around the pond: red chokeberry, persimmon, Carolina allspice, fothergilla, sourwood, dog-hobble, and fringe-tree. (That's Aronia arbutifolia, Diospyros virginiana, Calycanthus floridus, Fothergilla gardenii, Oxydendron arboreum, Leuocothoe fontanesiana, and Chionanthus virginicus—many of the same native species which we too have planted around the visitor center at Crow's Nest.)
It's great to collaborate on an event like this; I enjoyed seeing Kevin's workshop, tools, and the results of his work. And for those of us who often work alone at somewhat isolated preserves to know that others are out there doing similar work.
