My nomination for Invasive Plant of the Year: Bittersweet. Dad thought it would be neat to plant this thing at the shady end of the old grape arbor where the grapes have pretty much died out. Dad is gone now, but the bittersweet had become quite robust, taking over most of the grape arbor and had migrated over to a power pole and was two thirds of the way up. The latter looked like an especially bad idea. So I decided that it has to go, and after a half a day of digging, pulling, and cutting, I'm confident that I have failed to eliminate it. Who would have suspected that even a quarter inch vine shoot connects to a one inch root below the ground's surface? Yes, it has lush green foliage and pretty red-orange berries and grows fast. I suspect it may even be sentient, as it tried several times to strangle, trip, or ensnare me as I was working on it. I look forward to attacking this worthy opponent again in the spring ;-)
- posted
20 years ago