Phragmites australis, an invasive reed species from Europe is spreading rapidly throughout North America. In the last few decades, Phragmites has also been spreading on Wellesley College’s campus, located 14 miles west of Boston, MA. Here Phragmites has formed dense stands in a wet meadow and in a lacustrine wetland, displacing other plant species as a consequence. This has potentially adverse consequences for the biodiversity and the functioning of these ecosystems. The goal of our study is to better understand the drivers behind the invasion success of Phragmites in this managed landscape. We collected data over two consecutive growing seasons (2021/2022) at three sites on campus, monitoring the arthropod and plant communities associated with marked Phragmites ramets along the edges of these stands. Additionally, we determined parameters related to the photosynthetic behavior and stress tolerance of Phragmites, and monitored ramet growth and leaf damage due to herbivory. (1) Our results show that aphids and stem borers introduced from Europe regularly affect Phragmites. A phloem feeder, the mealy plum aphid (Hyalopterus pruni), causes chlorosis, followed by fungal infections and premature senescence of leaves, while stem borers reduce flowering and induce side shoot formation. However, many of the other natural enemies found in the native range of Phragmites are missing. Hence ‘enemy release’ may in part explain the invasion success of Phragmites. While, generally considered a pest, Phragmites forms the basis of a robust food web of arthropods that includes aphids, parasitoids and predators. The arthropods that we collected on Phragmites were diverse, belonging to 17 different orders, and various guilds such as phloem feeder, chewers, predators, parasitoids, and detritivores.  Most of them were probably incidentals and not dependent on the presence of Phragmites. (2) Phragmites co-exists with over 60 plant species along the edges of the stands. These species include trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses. Several species, like Rhamnus cathartica and Convolvulus arvensis are invasive species themselves, and many others thrive in disturbed areas. Several vine species use ramets as support (e.g. C. arvensis) and often affect Phragmites’ ability to unfold their leaves or even bind several ramets into a tangle. Trees mechanically hindered Phragmites growth as the reeds were touching branches. Hence some of these species may limit the spread of Phragmites, while others are poor competitors and were not found further inside the stands. (3) Our data on the morphology and physiology of Phragmites show that its invasion success is in part facilitated by the ability to increase in height and produce new leaves throughout the growing season into late October. This growth behavior goes along with high stomatal densities on both leaf surfaces, high photosynthetic capacities late into the growing season (even during the severe drought of ‘22), and a high stress tolerance, as indicated by high photochemical efficiency. Overall, invasion success of Phragmites seems to be the consequence of an intricate interplay between partial enemy release, limited competition and intrinsic plant characteristics.