The itch has all but disappeared, and though my arm looks like I've wrapped it in alligator skin I made it through the roughest part of the poison ivy fest. We've been battling a few areas in our yard that have been taken over with invasive plants and fighting the overgrown mess of vines and shrubs I really was just tempting fate.
People have their own views about the role invasive species play, and I'm not here to start a big debate about that. These plants were simply running us out of the relatively small area of lawn we're keeping. Charlie took a chainsaw in the ring for the first round--resulting in a t.k.o. of the Japanese Privet (above left). Hooray! Charlie for the win! The ugly mass of vines are still kicking, though; they include some form of exotic wisteria, English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle and a few other sometimes pretty, mostly relentless growers. At the end of the day we had 5 or 6 piles of privet and wisteria, each about 4 feet tall, lining the curb and waiting for the city compost trucks to cart them away.
There's still a lot of work ahead and yeah, we could've doused it all with Round Up, but that's not how we roll. On the plus side, I've ended up with my own pile of strong materials for [free!] trellises to use throughout the veggie beds. Free is good, right? Chemical free? Even better!
To tally the score, that's plants 2; Renee & Charlie 1. The next round is ours, you plants better be shakin' in your britches!
Do you have a particularly vicious plant contender taking over your yard? What sort of techniques are you bringing to the ring to eradicate the beast?
Renee Garner has a passion to make things grow, although her brownish thumb wants her to believe otherwise. When mud pies aren't on the menu, you can find her doodling the days away at Wolfie and the Sneak.
Creeping Charlie. How do I get rid of it once and for all?
Posted by: Hilary | May 20, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Interesting post, Renee! I'm taking a class in Plant Pathology right now and we've been discussing invasive species for about a month now. It's amazing how many plants and animals can completely take over a landscape. A really interesting one to learn about is kudzu in the Southeast U.S.--It was introduced because it's useful for a lot of things, it feeds livestock, and it can be a gorgeous shade plant for porch trellises, but now it is completely taking things over! Good job on all your hard work, keep it up!
Posted by: Brooklyn | May 20, 2011 at 12:52 PM
i ordered a book on amazon about that yesterday :-)
Posted by: Design Elements | May 20, 2011 at 03:48 PM