Invading plants take root

On a spring day in 2003, Karin Albert and a gang of plucky volunteers slipped on gardening gloves, grabbed shears and shovels, and headed into the thick brush ringing Burnaby Lake, prepared to do battle. Or at least they thought they were prepared. The foe was English ivy (Hedera helix), a member of the ginseng family often used ornamentally for landscaping purposes. Native to Europe and Asia, the plant was introduced to North America in the late 1800s and quickly proved itself an adept colonizer, helped along by well-intentioned green thumbs who plant English ivy in their gardens, oblivious to the plant