Gardeners, landscapers and horticulturists of all kinds: it's time to unsheathe your trowels. The city of Fayetteville's invasive plant bounty is back, and this year's target is the mimosa tree, sometimes called the silk tree. These prehistoric-looking trees produce bright pink blooms in the spring and, despite their beauty, wreak havoc on natural ecosystems. So the city has tasked its residents with their removal in return for a reward.
Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis invited Fayetteville urban forester John Scott to the Bruce and Ann Applegate News Studio One to tell us more about the program. He starts by explaining what exactly qualifies a plant as an invasive species.
John Scott: It's a non-native plant that was intentionally or unintentionally brought here to our area, and it's escaped the original location and spread into the wild. And then it outcompetes our native plants and displaces native vegetation, and it continues to spread. It doesn't have natural controls like our native plants do, and it's disruptive to the balance of the surrounding environment and damages the ecosystem. That's what an invasive is. And this year we're focused on the mimosa, which has stirred a bit more controversy than I was expecting. A lot of people love the mimosa tree because it is a beautiful tree, but it doesn't change the fact that it is an invasive plant and an invasive tree. There are stands of it on Mount Kessler and Gordon Long parks where nobody planted those trees. I have fond memories of the mimosa, too. As a kid, it was what I learned to climb trees in — a mimosa in our backyard in West Fork. So I do understand people's concern about it, but it is an invasive tree. You may enjoy it in your yard, but know it's spreading itself into the woods adjacent to your property or in your neighboring park and creating little thickets that aren't in control. It is disrupting the natural environment. That's just a reminder of invasives.
Jack Travis: Yeah, it is a very pretty tree. But you're right. If you're driving down, especially as it's getting to be spring — you drive down 49 and you see those pink blossoms all the way down. That's just a great example of how prolific it can be.
Scott: Yeah. And right now the Bradford pears are blooming and they — I'm going to say it — they look beautiful, but they are very invasive. You notice them in places they should not be. They're in any empty fields all throughout our city. I just walked past four of them to get into your office here today. So they're everywhere and they continue to spread. That's kind of why we do this program — because we want people to have conversations. It is a beautiful tree, and just because something is beautiful doesn't mean it doesn't have negative consequences on the environment.
Travis: Let's talk about the program. What can people do to interact with the plant bounty and possibly get a reward?
Scott: What you need to do is take a picture of yourself cutting down a tree or shrub and email that photo to myself at urbanforestry@fayetteville-ar.gov, along with your name, email and your phone number. I'll contact you at a later time and let you know when we have your choice of bounty — which would be a plant selection or a tree — and we'll set a date for you as well to come pick that up. It's usually going to be at our Happy Hollow location at 1455 Happy Hollow Road where we'll have the pickups, but I'll send a follow-up email to let everybody know who participates.
Travis: Do you have any tips for removal — like how to actually get these trees up out of the ground?
Scott: Depending on the size, the smaller ones you can pull by hand, but the larger ones it might take several passes. You might have to cut it down and then come back at a later time to try to get that root ball. And if you don't treat it by dabbing a little chemicals on it — I know people don't like to do that, and I don't either — but invasive plants are just very, very hardy, more so than most other plants. There's a reason they're invasive. So if you want to dab something on it to prevent it from suckering or springing up a new one, you probably should do that.
But we also have introduced a new element to this, which is a photo contest — a best before-and-after. Or you can get creative and do a meme or something funny. I mean, mimosa is also a drink, so use your imagination. I think there's plenty of opportunity there to send a funny picture. And we have some prizes for the photo contest. One of them is a bird feeder with a camera. And then we have a couple of birdhouses and the book Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of Arkansas by local authors Jennifer Ogle, Theo Witsell and Johnnie Gentry.
Travis: And people can send these photos the same way they'd send the removal photos?
Scott: Absolutely. And they can use a little creative license to do whatever they'd like with those photos and make it interesting.
Travis: Will you be sharing those photos on social media?
Scott: Maybe at a later date. We have a little panel of judges and we're going to select the ones we like, and they'll get prizes for it. I have four birdhouses, the bird feeder and two books. So that's quite a bit of prizes. It'll be a little competitive.
Travis: And then we're also celebrating trees pretty soon — the Amazing Tree polls are open right now?
Scott: They are open right now and you can find them all throughout the city. We have three post oaks — I didn't realize that until after I got there — but we do have three post oaks that are eligible. They are a beautiful tree, one of my favorites. We have a nice one in Wilson Park. We have an ash in Greathouse Park that I am very fond of. And if you haven't been to Greathouse Park, it probably has the biggest trees in our park system. It's a really hidden little gem of a park with beautiful trees — a nice place to have a picnic. It's a fantastic connector too. You can get to Kessler there, you can get to Walker. It's a great little park.
We also have a post oak near the Smokehouse, and we have a sugarberry at Clabber Creek that we've been doing invasive removal around. It really is a nice one out there that showcases what you find after you do some invasive removal — you'll find beautiful trees that will do better and grow bigger once you get rid of the invasives competing underneath them. And there's a wonderful one at Gulley Park near that old wire parking lot that's been nominated. They all have tags on them, so if you're out in the parks, you can scan with your phone — there are QR codes on them — and go online to vote for the Amazing Tree.
Travis: Where can people go to find more information about the plant bounty and Amazing Tree — just what you do in general?
Scott: You can always look at the Urban Forestry webpage at the city of Fayetteville. We keep that updated. Using the search tool at the top and typing in "urban forestry" will get you narrowed down to where you want to be.
That was Fayetteville urban forester John Scott, speaking with Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis about the city's invasive plant bounty and the 2026 Amazing Tree competition. This year's bounty target is the mimosa tree. Send your removal pictures to Scott at urbanforestry@fayetteville-ar.gov.
