Sunnyside Acres Heritage Society
"Dedicated in perpetuity for its intrinsic and heritage values."
Invasive Plants
Invasive plants are non‑native species that spread aggressively and disrupt local ecosystems, often out‑competing native plants and altering habitat conditions. In Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest, the primary invasive species are Himalayan blackberry, English ivy, and Lamium.
With long‑term support from the Surrey Natural Areas Partnership and the City of Surrey, most occurrences of these species have been removed. However, ongoing vigilance is essential, as invasives can quickly re‑establish if left unmanaged.
Himalayan blackberry [a.k.a. ‘bramble’] is one of several Rubus species which include the native salmonberry, thimbleberry and trailing blackberry. The introduced Himalayan Blackberry has strong, often angular , fast-growing stems armed with sharp, re-curved thorns. The toothed leaves vary being 3-lobed on flowering stems and 5-lobed on vegetative ones; all are green on the upper side and covered with whitish hairs on the underside. The fruit, black when ripe, is edible and tasty. Removal calls for excavation of the extensive root system, possibly over more than one year, and perhaps application of the weedkiller, glyphosate, to young shoots in spring.
English ivy is a vigorous and aggressive perennial vine which has both a juvenile, ground trailing form and an arborescent, climbing form. It can develop dense, smothering ground cover and, just by eventual weight, cause trees to break or topple. Lower leaves are lobed, dull green above and lighter on the underside, about 15cm across. Because it causes harmful habitat change it should be removed or at least controlled wherever it is found and discouraged in gardens.
Lamium, sometimes called ‘dead nettle’ because it doesn’t sting, is a spreading ground cover plant which produces several angular stems from its base. The opposite leaves are heart-shaped, shallowly toothed and distinctively coloured being green along the edges and in a large part of the centre and white elsewhere. Stems are angular. Lamium spreads vigorously but is relatively easily up-rooted. When discarding garden plants, take care not to introduce Lamium into natural areas.