Invader 'choking' native plants, gardeners warned

Richard Madden - BBC News
·2 min read
Rhododendron ponticum plant showing vivid pink flowers
Rhododendron ponticum is classed as an invasive species in the UK [Caz Austen/PA Media]

A wildlife charity has urged gardeners not to plant rhododendrons.

The Woodland Trust said the invasive plant could carry a disease that could be fatal to more than 150 species.

The Lincolnshire-based charity has called on the government to introduce stricter measures to stop the plant being imported.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was already illegal to plant rhododendrons in the wild and funding was being provided to control them.

The trust said it had spent £360,000 on removing invasive plants over the past year.

Rebecca Gosling, an expert in tree disease at the trust, said invasive species had placed pressure on wildlife populations.

A rhododendron ponticum bush
The Woodland Trust is calling for stronger rules to stop invasive species from being imported [Caz Austen/PA Media]

"Rhododendron ponticum is a real problem for the UK’s native plants and trees. It is choking native woodland and shading out characteristic plants," she added.

"Action must be taken to protect further species and habitats from the same fate. The government must treat invasive non-native species as a priority issue".

The Woodland Trust, which is based in Grantham, said it cost around £6.2m a year to tackle an estimated 311 invasive species in Great Britain.

A spokesperson for Defra said the Countryside Stewardship scheme funded land managers to control the spread of rhododendrons.

“While we do not have plans to ban the sale... given they are already widely spread, we are working hard to detect, protect and eradicate the threats of non-native species,” they added.

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastyorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk

More on this story

Related internet links

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Driver ignores signs and runs over threatened species’ nest on beach, WA officials say

    The nest was completely destroyed, wildlife officials said.

  • Watch rare birth of twin elephant calves in Thailand as baby girl surprises everyone

    Caretakers at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal only planned on Chamchuri giving birth to one calf one June 7. Then another calf emerged.

  • Illinois is hit with cicada chaos. This is what it's like to see, hear and feel billions of bugs

    RIVERWOODS, Ill. (AP) — The ground had seemed to undulate at night, alive with bugs. Crawling cicada nymphs, striving to get higher after 17 years underground, marched en masse toward and up trees, pausing to shed their skin and emerge as adults. And then the fun began.

  • Calgary pipe repair could take three to five more weeks as 'significant' damage found

    CALGARY — Resumption of normal water service in Calgary could be delayed by an extra three to five weeks.

  • Sunshine Coast homeowner fined $70,000 for dredging creek

    A Sunshine Coast homeowner has been fined $70,000 for illegally dredging a creek and destroying fish habitat in Roberts Creek.George I. Winkler pleaded guilty to two counts of Fisheries Act offences, activities other than fishing that result in death to fish, and harmful alteration or disruption or destruction of fish habitat.On two separate occasions, Winkler hired workers to dredge sections of Stephens Creek, which runs through a property he and his family own, causing fish death and habitat l

  • Scientists race to create antivenom as lives in rural Kenya devastated by snake bites

    Residents of Kitui, Kenya live in constant fear of venomous snakebites as dangerous snakes move closer to their settlement. As the forests around them dwindle due to logging and agricultural expansion, and the climate patterns become increasingly unpredictable, the reptiles are encroaching on human territory with alarming frequency. (AP Video shot by: Zelipha Kirobi)

  • B.C. coal mining company fined for more than 400 violations

    A B.C. coal mining company in northeastern B.C. has been fined more than $45,000 for repeated violations of the province's environmental protection rules, including the failure to monitor mine waste into fish-bearing water and failure to limit particulate being put into the air.Conuma Resources Limited is a metallurgical coal mining company operating in the Tumbler Ridge area in northeastern B.C., roughly 660 kilometres directly northeast of Vancouver.It mines coal from to produce carbon used in

  • Millions of Canadians face intense heat wave

    Millions of Canadians will soon face an intense heatwave. Early next week temperature could spike to record highs across eastern portions of the country as a heat dome settles in. Anthony Farnell is tracking the weather pattern.

  • Do electric vehicles fare better than gas guzzlers when the water starts rising?

    “EVs are designed to operate safe in the rain but they are not designed to be boats”

  • Wild horses return to Kazakh plain after centuries

    Przewalski's horses roamed Asia for millennia before dying out and surviving only in European zoos.

  • Dairy farms reduce climate impact with methane digesters, but communities worry about expansion

    A growing number of California dairy farms are reducing their climate impact with methane digesters that capture the heat-trapping gas so it can be used as biofuel. But farming communities worry about the impact on air quality. (AP Video/Terry Chea)

  • Unsettled conditions bring storm risk to B.C. and Prairies

    Unsettled conditions are expected to impact both British Columbia and the Prairies. Residents should prepare for a mix of weather, including heavy rain, gusty winds, and potentially large hail. The Weather Network meteorologist Rhythm Reet has the details.

  • Uniper maps out steps to boost Wilhelmshaven hydrogen port

    German utility Uniper will focus on talks with a big customer and early steps to develop hydrogen storage facilities this year after winning EU backing for two clean energy projects at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, its operations head said. The state-owned company wants to turn the deep water port into a reception point for ammonia carrying imported hydrogen, and store and transport the hydrogen as part of its decarbonisation strategy. "This year, we want to make concrete progress with (steelmaker) Salzgitter and ... intensively push forward our hydrogen storage projects," Chief Operating Officer Holger Kreetz said in an interview at a Handelsblatt conference published on Friday.

  • Drones reveal Antarctic whale 'acrobatics'

    Aerial footage of humpback whales shows how efficiently they can twist and turn their huge bodies.

  • The best spots to see 58,000 jacaranda trees in L.A., OC

    The jacarandas are blooming in all their glory. These maps show where you can find high concentrations of the love-it-or-hate-it tree.

  • Nearly 20% of wild red wolves have died on NC roads, including one this month

    An effort is underway to help wildlife safely cross U.S. 64 after at least three wolves, including two fathers, have been killed recently.

  • Coastal Shell facility to end operations Sunday, citing financial trouble

    A shellfish disposal facility that's been subject to complaints and legal action over its odour will cease operations in eastern New Brunswick on Sunday.That's according to a letter from Coastal Shell general manager Jamie Goguen to notify processors who rely on the plant near Richibucto. Nat Richard, executive director of the Lobster Processors Association in New Brunswick, confirmed about 10 of his members received the letter announcing the facility closure."We had no advance notice," Richard

  • A pond in warming Mali is disappearing, and a UNESCO-listed fishing tradition is in danger

    Thousands of fishermen holding cone-shaped nets stood side by side, cheering and chanting as they waited for the signal. Suddenly, they rushed to a large muddy pond and cast their nets, dropping to their knees in the mud. For several hundred years, people have gathered in the southern Mali town of San for Sanké mon, a collective fishing rite in June that begins with animal sacrifices and offerings to the water spirits of Sanké pond.

  • Adorable Little Bear Clambers Onto Porch Near Rocky Mountain National Park

    A small black bear was spotted scaling the porch of an Estes Park, Colorado, home on Tuesday, June 11.Gianni Iandimarino owns the Ring camera that captured this video, which shows the small bear climbing the fence and walking across the porch.According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), black bears are known to the region, and are continually trying to share space with an “ever-growing human population.”CPW encourages anyone living in the area to avoid feeding the bears, and to “bear-proof” their homes by being responsible about trash and keeping all bear-accessible windows and doors closed and locked. Credit: Gianni Iandimarino via Storyful

  • Respiratory diseases plague Kenya as people cook with firewood to save money

    Experts say cooking with cheap biomass like firewood is a big part of the problem.