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Attack of the Invasives
Sep. 13th, 2005 11:21 pmToday I learned that all the cool plants my house had when I moved in are invasives.
The big beautiful tree shading half the front yard and the front of the house? Chinaberry. Spreads everywhere by seed. Fate? Struck by lightning. More and more branches keep dying and have to be removed.
The big tree shading the back of the house? Paper mulberry. Spreads aggressively from both root and seed. Takes over when you dig up other plants. Millions of seedlings everywhere. Falls over in high winds because of shallow roots. Fate? Hired arborist to chop the big one down before it broke in half and landed on the house. Pulling up and cutting hundreds of smaller ones a year.
The other big tree shading the rest of the backyard? Arizona Ash. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but it's on the list. Fate? Hacked by city-hired workers so the branches wouldn't interfere with electrical wires during a storm. Other half still mostly doing well. Not invasive in my yard.
The ground cover beautifying my side yard? English ivy. Takes over everything, like kudzu in slow motion. Fate? Trying to grow on path, in air conditioner, and between house shingles. I hate to have to kill this one off, but you've got to get them before they get you.
The pretty vine along one fence that magically survives my neighbor's fence-line poisoning parties and has lovely sugary droplets in each flower? Japanese honeysuckle. Another smotherer. Fate? Nothing bad is happening now, but when the ash goes, the extra light should make this plant take off into the stratosphere. And then it must die, die DIE!
Ahem.
Moral: Have an arborist inspect the yard before you buy a house.
The big beautiful tree shading half the front yard and the front of the house? Chinaberry. Spreads everywhere by seed. Fate? Struck by lightning. More and more branches keep dying and have to be removed.
The big tree shading the back of the house? Paper mulberry. Spreads aggressively from both root and seed. Takes over when you dig up other plants. Millions of seedlings everywhere. Falls over in high winds because of shallow roots. Fate? Hired arborist to chop the big one down before it broke in half and landed on the house. Pulling up and cutting hundreds of smaller ones a year.
The other big tree shading the rest of the backyard? Arizona Ash. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but it's on the list. Fate? Hacked by city-hired workers so the branches wouldn't interfere with electrical wires during a storm. Other half still mostly doing well. Not invasive in my yard.
The ground cover beautifying my side yard? English ivy. Takes over everything, like kudzu in slow motion. Fate? Trying to grow on path, in air conditioner, and between house shingles. I hate to have to kill this one off, but you've got to get them before they get you.
The pretty vine along one fence that magically survives my neighbor's fence-line poisoning parties and has lovely sugary droplets in each flower? Japanese honeysuckle. Another smotherer. Fate? Nothing bad is happening now, but when the ash goes, the extra light should make this plant take off into the stratosphere. And then it must die, die DIE!
Ahem.
Moral: Have an arborist inspect the yard before you buy a house.