Jenny Meisel, native and invasive plant specialist with the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District, in eastern Washington among balsamroot and phlox. (Courtesy/ Jenny Meisel)
Sometimes when Jenny Meisel drives down the highway, she’ll do a double take if she sees a plant she thinks might be invasive.
The native and invasive plant specialist with the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District has an eye for those things.
“When you know plants and have been seeing them for so long and are good at identifying them, I can spot them from across the way,” she said.
For Meisel, the color of a flower or a growth pattern or shape can look familiar. It triggers a response for her to go and take a closer look.
Meisel has worked at the district since 2008, helping homeowners identify invasive plants, giving advice on how to remove them and suggesting natives that are better for the environment.
She spends a lot of time hiking on trails and in natural areas, going out with people who know more about plants than she does.
Meisel grew up in Wisconsin in a rural home surrounded by corn fields.
She said she was outside all the time, playing in the dirt and with plants.
Down the street, she would go to a vacant lot to collect Monarch caterpillars to bring home and raise.
“Nature has always been a big part of my world,” she said.
She said she has a natural curiosity of wanting to know what’s in her surroundings. It bothers her when she doesn’t know what plants or birds are when she travels to a new place.
She said knotweed plants are one of the worst invasives in western Oregon because an inch stem fragment can sprout a new plant.
“It can find cracks in cement and pavement and foundations and grow into and in between that,” she said.
English ivy is another invader that’s seen in a lot landscaping but can be detrimental to trees and native habitats.
She also called out shiny geranium and Italian arum, which is commonly planted as an ornamental but sprouts more if the soil is disturbed.
Meisel said some plants are grown because they look nice, not necessarily because of their benefit to the environment.
“It’s a matter of changing that mindset. ‘This is invasive,’ here are better things that can grow here for wildlife and pollinator,” she said.
She said she likes to recommend shrubs as a hardy, go-to native. She said many shrubs have flowers for pollinators and berries for wildlife.
One of her all-time favorites is a plant called Blue Blossom, which blooms in May and grows fairly large.
“Mine just buzzes with bees in the springtime,” she said.
She said another good option is red flowering currant, which gets clusters of pink flowers and produces berries in the fall the birds eat.
The plant blooms when Rufous hummingbirds are migrating and arrive in Oregon in the springtime, she said.
And finally, she suggested Oregon sunshine, a herbaceous plant with yellow flowers that likes sunny conditions and doesn’t need a lot of extra water.
Meisel said the district is also helping people recover from the Beachie Creek and Lionshead Fires.
That involves teaching about invasive plants and information about replanting following a fire and where to buy native plants.
“We’re trying to be a resource there for landowners because they’ve lost so much,” she said.
Contact reporter Saphara Harrell at 503-549-6250, [email protected].
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