The dense leaf cover of a Norway maple in full evidence. The trees are considered invasive. Shutterstock

Some people hunt deer. I hunt invasive plants.

As with deer hunting, the best time for hunting invasives is late October to early November. I do my hunting in a ledgy wooded area, about 30 feet by 50 feet where nothing, at least as far as I know, has ever been planted on purpose.

When we moved to our property about a half a century ago, there were oaks, red maple trees, one pine and some blackberries that never seemed to ripen. Those I leave alone. The prime target of my annual hunt is Norway maple seedlings. Neighbors on two sides have huge Norway maples, so we get plenty of seedlings. The trees are easy to find in November because they keep their leaves way longer than the native maples and oaks do.

Norway maples, popular in Britain, were first brought to the United States by famed botanist John Bartram way back in 1756 and had become popular as a street tree by the 1800s. They grow quickly, have dense leaf cover, produce many typical maple helicopter seeds in early to mid-summer and, if you ask me, aren’t special in any way. In the last hundred years or so, Americans have planted a lot of Crimson King, a Norway maple cultivar with red to purple leaves that I do find attractive in the right setting. As with most cultivars, though, the seeds produce trees with the green leaves of its original parent, not the cultivar.  Those very plentiful seeds sprout in our vegetable and flower beds ever year, and we regularly weed them out when we tend the beds.

We don’t weed the woods, of course – except at this time of year. I first try to pull these Norway maple seedlings, but often I can’t. In those cases, I cut them close to the ground, knowing that next year the roots will produce another seedling that I will have to cut again. That aggressiveness is why Norway maples, including Crimson King, were on the state’s first list, in 2018, of plants that that are now illegal to sell in or import to Maine. Like all invasives, these trees outcompete the native plant species for resources, in this case, water and nutrients. They also reduce biodiversity in the environment and usually provide less food and shelter to native insects and other animals.

To be clear, Crimson King is a different species from the native red maple. We have three of the natives, which have green leaves most of the year, turn a gorgeous red in early fall and drop their leaves early. When our children were young, we tapped the red maples in spring. The boiled sap will produce maple syrup, though not as bountifully as sugar maples do.

You can see why gardeners were drawn to these: The bright foliage is eye-catching. But Burning Bush is invasive and is no longer legal to sell in Maine. Staff Photo/Joe Phelan

While hunting the Norway maple seedlings in our yard a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to find several other plants from the do-not-sell list. The scariest, for me, were three burning bush plants, Euonymus Alatus. The stems of these bushes have ridges, which is how I recognized them although they weren’t red. In full sun, the bushes turn a bright red that can be spotted from blocks away – that’s why gardeners have often found them attractive.

We bought two bushes shortly after we moved into our house decades ago, then learned about their highly invasive nature and removed them even before the state banned their sale. We still see burning bush in many yards and sometimes feel like speaking to homeowners who harbor this pest. Being on the “do not sell list,” though, does not mean homeowners can be forced to remove the plant; such specimens are essentially grandfathered in. I’ve come to think the color is garish, and I wonder if the law could be amended to issue fines for people who continue to allow them to grow. I have no way of knowing if the three I found this fall sprouted from seeds from the bushes we once grew or were dropped by passing birds, who ate the berries someplace else and inadvertently spread this invasive. It’s possible because any number of burning bushes grow in Cape Elizabeth on municipal property near our home.

I also found some multiflora rose, the invasive plant (from Japan) I dislike most of all. It was climbing up one of our oaks. A neighbor removed a hedge of this rose a couple of years ago, so I wasn’t surprised to see it. I was just surprised it was so big. I must have missed it last year.

Bittersweet is in the woods every year, and I pull it without trouble. I just have to be sure I get to it before it produces berries. I have some good news on that front: A neighbor approached, saying he likes to make bittersweet wreathes for the holidays but wasn’t able to find any. Maybe it’s less abundant than it once was?

I found no other invasives during this year’s hunt, but I expect barberry, honeysuckle and privet to show up anytime. I’ll be ready, though. I enjoy a good hunt.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com.