Pitkin County: Hand over your noxious weeds

PITKIN COUNTY – Pitkin County Land Management and the county Open Space and Trails Program have teamed up with local nurseries to provide free coupons to county residents in exchange for ornamental noxious weeds.

Noxious weeds are non-native, invasive plants that spread rapidly, crowding out other vegetation. The invaders often have little nutritional value to wildlife and disturb the soil’s nutrient balance, according to county officials. Many noxious weeds were initially introduced by gardeners as attractive ornamentals, but have since escaped cultivation to spread aggressively across native ecosystems.

In order to encourage landowners to replace noxious ornamentals with more appropriate native or non-invasive species, the county is offering coupons worth $20 to residents in exchange for the following noxious ornamentals: Myrtle spurge, oxeye daisy, Dame’s rocket, scentless chamomile, absinth wormwood and houndstongue.

The coupons may be redeemed through Nov. 31 at Crystal Gardens and Planted Earth. The limit is two per person. Weeds must have come from Pitkin County.

To participate, bring full, 13-gallon (kitchen-sized) bag(s) of weeds to the Pitkin County landfill or the county Public Works building at 76 Service Center Road (between the Aspen Animal Shelter and the RFTA bus barn).