WAITLIST ONLY- September 12th (raindate 9/13) @ 10 am: Walk to learn about native and invasive plants on the Farmington River Trail
Free image courtesy of www.clip-artlibrary.com modified
The SUN Project-Saving Unionville Natives, is a UConn Master Gardener Community Outreach effort to eradicate invasive plants, protect natives, pollinators and biodiversity on part of the Farmington River Trail in Unionville, Connecticut and engage our community.
If you would like to receive email updates on the SUN Project send an email at savingunionvillenatives@gmail.com to let us know. We will keep you up to date on progress, events and future opportunities to help. We absolutely will never share your email or bombard you with messages.
Keep scrolling to learn what is new for the project as well as learn about invasives, biodiversity, natives on the trail and strategies for invasives.
REGISTRATION CURRENTLY FULL- SIGN UP IS FOR WAITLIST ONLY IF THERE ARE CANCELLATIONS. Join us on Saturday 9/12/2026 (Raindate 9/13/2026) at 10 am for a free, short, guided walk to learn about biodiversity, and native and invasive plants on the Farmington River Trail. Registration is required and space is limited to 15 people to ensure group members can hear us and see the plants. No dogs please. If we have many more interested, we will consider adding another date.
WHERE: The address to plug into your GPS to find the Farmington River Trail large parking lot is: 350 Collinsville Road, Unionville, CT 06085—which is also part of Route 4. This is a different location than the work for the SUN Project.
We will check out plants for about an hour, longer if people would like.
Use this link to the google form below to register for the walk: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfI74fsoMSJzcEH9708EZMLVopEC3PcRU6x8UZs5eNq7UhCcA/viewform?usp=header
NEW AS OF AUGUST 2026
BECOME A COMMUNITY SCIENTIST FOR THE SUN PROJECT ON iNATURALIST!
Photo above is screen shot from the iNaturalist page for the SUN project in which observations from the public in our defined area are shared.
If you are on iNaturalist, you can post your observations of plants, insects, birds, etc that occur in our project area. You can find our iNaturalist project page titled: Saving Unionville Natives: SUN Project at this url: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/saving-unionville-natives-sun-project
The nonprofit social online network, iNaturalist is a platform for sharing biodiversity information to help people learn about nature and identify species.
Snap some photos when you are on the Farmington River Trail from its beginning on Red Oak Hill Road to Rt. 177/South Main Street, upload them to your iNaturalist account to share them. Let's document what we are observing for the community to appreciate the flora and fauna in our backyard.
Invasives on the trail include mugwort, Artemesia vulgaris, (right), Japanese stilt grass, (upper left) and Asiatic bittersweet, (lower left) . The monoculture of mugwort on this part of the trail was particularly dense and is currently being solarized under a tarp to smother it. Other invasive plants on the trail not pictured here include winged euonymous, Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose, autumn olive, Morrow's honeysuckle, tree of heaven, Norway maple, and garlic mustard to name a few.
Invasives Are the Thugs of the Plant World
They are native in other parts of the world, often Asia or Europe.
They have no insects or diseases to keep them in check here in North America.
Invasive plants spread rapidly, often through rhizomes, wind pollination and wildlife and produce many seeds.
They outcompete native plants for water, soil, light & nutrients.
Invasive plants offer little if any food or larval support for native pollinators.
Invasive plants eventually crowd out the native plants, and the local habitat is degraded or destroyed. With fewer native plants, there are fewer pollinators such as native bees, moths, butterflies, flies, wasps, bats and birds, and the local food web loses its integrity and biodiversity.
Did you know Connecticut has identifed more than 100 plants as invasive or potentially invasive in the state? See how many you know on the list: https://cipwg.uconn.edu/invasive_plant_list/
The variability of living organisms underpins all life on Earth: plants, animals, microorganisms and the complexity of ecosystems. Everything is interconnected and interdependent, from the fungi, microbes and other life forms in the soil to the groundcovers, herbaceous plants, woody shrubs, trees, birds, insects and other wildlife. All these life forms support and depend on each other for a healthy planet, including us. Loss of habitat and biodiversity along with climate change are the major environmental crises that are having a critical impact on the planet.
The degradation of the local food web reduces the resilience of our environment to respond to disruptions of climate change, disease outbreaks, the increase in invasives species and disappearance of native plants, insects and wildlife. According to Cornell University, since the 1970s we have lost nearly 30 percent of native birds. More than 22 percent of native pollinators, including bees, moths and butterflies, are at risk of extinction.
Losses in biodiversity reduce the services provided by our ecosystem, including water and air purification, soil formation, pollination, carbon sequestration (holding carbon in soil as a "carbon sink"). Deforestation increases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.
Our well being depends on healthy ecosystems to help grow our food, provide fresh water and clean air. Loss of habitat can contribute to loss of livelihood, drinkable water, places to live, food security and medicines. Climate change is causing an increase in extreme heat and severe weather. These result in the devastating loss of lives and property damage that we see in the news on a regular basis.
"In nature, nothing exists alone." -Rachel Carson
Native plants are those that have naturally existed in an area since before the colonists arrived. They have co-evolved to thrive with their environment's local pollinators and food web and adapted to the climate, soils, and rainfall in the area. Many native pollinators are specialists, only finding nectar or pollen from specific native plants. The native plants, in turn, also depend on the native pollinators to survive.
Common Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca with Monarch butterfly
Tall Rattlesnake Root
Prenanthes trifoliata
Spotted Jewelweed
Impatiens capensis
Canada Goldenrod Solidago canadensis
Pokeweed
Phytolacca americana
Violet bushclover
Lespedeza violacea
Staghorn Sumac
Rhus typhina
Pale Jewelweed
Impatiens pallida
The plants pictured above are a few of the beautiful native species growing on the Farmington River Trail. Other native plants on the trail include trees such as sassafras, black cherry, black birch, shagbark hickory, red maple, sugar maple, red oaks, white pines, white oaks (which are pollinator powerhouses) and more. Protecting the native plants, insects and wildlife not only helps protect the environment, but improves the beauty and recreational value of our trail and town.
Reducing or eradicating invasive plants takes persistence and a variety of strategies. These include the following:
Cutting back plants to the ground repeatedly to prevent photosynthesis and seed development or pulling plants out of the ground
Digging up roots as completely as possible, which is difficult and laborious with most invasives plants, especially in a large area
Smothering the area where the plant is growing with an opaque tarp for a year or more to solarize the plants and kill them
As a last resort with some plants, painting the cut stub of the plant with properly used herbicide to kill roots while minimizing effects on nearby plants
Planting native plants to take the place of invasives that have been removed
Avoiding leaving soil bare where invasives can take root
Continual scouting for invasives to remove
All we have to do is wake up and change. -Greta Thunberg
Connecticut Communities Protecting Native Habitats on the Farmington River Trail and the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail & more
The Collinsville Pollen Trail is celebrating 10 years in 2026 for native habitat restoration along a section of the Farmington River Trail. Their website is https://www.collinsvillepollentrail.org. Visit the beautiful gardens they have planted along the trail.
Cheshire is removing invasives and planting natives in several areas in town including the FCHT. https://www.cheshirepollinatorpathway.org
The Southington Land Conservation Trust is planting native plants and trees along the rail-to-trail as part of a pollinator pathway. https://www.southingtonlandtrust.org/pollinator-pathway
The Hamden Land Trust works on creating a pollinator pathway along the FCHT. https://www.hlct.org
We also learned that South Windsor, Connecticut is building the South Windsor Cross Town Trail, for pedestrians, bicyclists, and horseback riders which it intends to make into a pollinator pathway.
Every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food that we take comes from the natural world. And if we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves. -David Attenborough
© 2026 Saving Unionville Natives-SUN Project