Invasive species

Invasive Old Man’s Beard or Traveler’s Joy clematis

Today we're highlighting our "How to Remove Clematis" video for your viewing pleasure. This invasive canopy weed is abundant throughout our region, and is often found alongside English ivy, taking down trees in our forested areas. Please share this with your friends and neighbors and help us battle this robust invader!

 

This clematis perennial blooms all summer on woody deciduous vines with stems growing up to 30 yards long. The leaves are compound and coarsely toothed and Clematis vitalba 2008-08-28-11 Eilers Rd Canby CLACKthe flowers are small, greenish-white clusters. The feathery seed heads, which give the plant its name, are easily spread by the wind, water and soil.

Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba), also known as Traveler’s Joy, blankets shrubs and native trees over 60′ tall. Once the tree collapses, the vine continues to grow along the ground in layers several feet thick, preventing any other plants from growing.  As the vines kill native trees and plants, it also destroys food sources for native wildlife.  This European native vine spreads quickly here, producing more than 100,000 seeds a year, and prefers roadsides, river banks, gardens, hedges, disturbed forests and sheltered areas.

If you’re dealing with vines climbing up trees, first cut the thick vines waist-high. That will allow the upper vines to die.  You can dig up the lower vines and those along the ground but be sure to dig out the roots or the vine will return.

Read more about this clematis in this brochure.

Some native plant alternatives are:

  1. Oregon honeysuckle
  2. Rock clematis
  3. Hairy honeysuckle

Videos

Projects

River View Cemetery Restoration Project

West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District began working with River View Cemetery in 2012 to restore over 14 acres of forested land covered with highly invasive weeds such as English ivy and “Traveler’s Joy” […]

Hummingbird Hill Forest Restoration Project

In 2013, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District board member Jane Hartline met Carol Canning at a gathering in Linnton.  They quickly bonded over their distaste of English ivy, in particular the ivy covering […]

Balch Creek Canopy Weeds Project

The Balch Creek Canyon starts in the Tualatin Mountains of the West Hills flowing east down Cornell Road through Forest Park’s Lower Macleay Park section. Balch Creek is an ecologically significant watershed with over 120 […]

Organizations