I had the privilege of working just after a decent snowfall this January and thought I'd share some of the pics I took. I was mostly tasked with removing invasive species.

When the initial removal was complete, there remained healthy populations of silky and grey dogwoods and a nice elderberry thicket.

These headclipping weevils can do some disheartening damage to some plants and I think they are becoming more frequent. To help control future populations throw as many of the beheaded flowers in a sealed bag and throw it out. The flowers contain the larvae of next years' adults. Check out this excellent article by Joe Boggs for more details.
bygl.osu.edu/index.php/node/2020

Finally, our spring grow list has been compiled! Contact us with any questions at nativecbus@gmail.com, somersetnativeplantnursery@gmail.com, or on Facebook.

PERENNIALS @ $5 3.5" POT
beebalm                                                              false blue indigo
blazing star (Liatris spicata)                             foxglove beardtongue
blue stemmed goldenrod                                great blue lobelia
blue wood aster                                                 green headed coneflower
New England Aster                                            grey headed coneflower
butterfly milkweed                                            golden Alexanders
common milkweed                                           rattlesnake master
swamp milkweed                                              narrow leaf mtn. mint
cardinal flower                                                  oxeye sunflower
columbine                                                          purple coneflower
common boneset                                              sweet joe pye
common yarrow                                               Virginia waterleaf
compass plant                                                   royal catchfly
cup plant 
whorled rosinweed
GRASSES @ $5 3.5" POT
big bluestem                                                     Indian grass
little bluestem                                                   prairie dropseed
sideoats grama
TREES AND SHRUBS 1 GALLON @ $10, 3 GALLON @ $20
American plum 3                                             red cedar 3
black chokeberry 1, 3                                       elderberry 1, 3
bladdernut 3                                                     flowering dogwood 3
buttonbush 3                                                    silky dogwood 1, 3
Ohio buckeye 3                                                grey dogwood 3
chokecherry 1                                                   red twig dogwood 1, 3
winterberry 3                                                   blackhaw viburnum 1, 3
hazelnut 3                                                         American highbush cranberry viburnum 3
ninebark 3                                                        arrowwood viburnum 3
redbud 1, 3                                                        mapleleaf viburnum 3
paw paw 1,3                                                      spicebush 1, 3

Multiflora rose is one of the nastiest invasive species I work with. Besides the skin piercing thorns, the stems can grow all over each other, climb twenty feet up into trees, and become an impenetrable thicket. On this particular site, the multiflora is so dense that I didn't find much life after the mess was removed. Sometimes a thicket like this will shelter some tree and shrub seedlings and saplings from deer predation, but all I found were a few stunted spicebush (deer resistant native shrub) and a few beech trees a couple feet tall that the deer have been feeding on. This situation is very common in forest canopy gaps where trees have fallen and suddenly there is a spot with full sun available on the forest floor. Even small multiflora roses can have a deep root system so digging everyone of them up is not an option with large scale infestations. The stems are cut and removed and herbicide is applied to the stumps. This is referred to as the cut stump method of herbicide application. This method is very efficient since only a small amount of herbicide is used as opposed to hosing everything down during the growing season which requires much more herbicide and will incur collateral damage to nearby plants we want growing. Without using herbicide on these larger plots, the multiflora will be right back where it was in a couple of years.  A follow-up herbicide application will be needed in April when spot treatments will be needed. Also, I should take pictures while wearing my glasses!