Global warming induced manifold impacts in various ecosystems of the world. Changes in the behaviour and distribution of indigenous plants and animals have increasingly been reported. However, not only native species respond to changing environmental conditions, the same applies to introduced species. A good example of a warming induced invasion is documented for forests along the shores of Lago Maggiore in southern Switzerland, where evergreen broad-leaved exotics successfully colonize former deciduous forests.The remarkable aspect of this process is that this trend is not restricted to a single invasive species but includes a whole suite of evergreens, which are about to establish a new community. Based on the invasion history of the introduced palm Trachycarpus fortunei, the mechanisms and limiting factors of this invasion process are presented and discussed in respect of present and future climatic conditions.