Pictures are of a small patch of land down by my boyfriend and I’s pond, some invasive plants and some cool natives I found. We have about 1 and 1/2 acres of woodland to restore so it’s been slow work but fun. Today I removed about 30 Amur honeysuckle, 2 Chinese wisteria, and an absolute mess of winter creeper. My boyfriend is out there right now pulling some larger autumn olives out! Feels really good to have a small corner cleaned out of this woodland, and I can’t wait for more natives to fill in naturally! I got to see some cool plants I didn’t know were growing there too. I originally came out to clear the hostas (keeping a couple and the rest are going to happy neighbors, MIL and SIL) and got caught up in removing Amur which led to the finding of the Chinese Wisteria. Man let me tell you I GASPED. Didn’t think the previous owners had planted anything other than hostas down there…. Well they also planted winter creeper. It’s been fun. How do I know it was planted and not “wind blew it in” or some shit?Because I’ve already removed 2 burning bushes, horseradish (planted IN the lawn), white mulberry, periwinkle, and rose of Sharon. Plus they were each not placed far from a tree and directly behind it from the path.
Who else is out there restoring land and fighting invasives? How does it feel for you?
Location 5b Iowa
Edited for location.
by AstroDragon2020
12 Comments
Strong work!!!
I feel exhausted, daunted, and worried that i might be covered in poison ivy oils!
Your efforts look great, however I think you should plant natives there yourself. Nonnatives will blow themselves into that ready open soil and you’ll be fighting this all over again, with new players
Good looks! I’m in the process of doing the same with about the same size of woodland, removing white mulberry and Siberian elm as well as some other herbaceous stuff.
It is really daunting but just wait for the feeling when you start to feel and see that you are winning! It never gets old.
What are 11, and 12?
Exhausted
With my OCD it feels good for a couple minutes and then I start freaking out about getting the new plants into the ground. I also have a bad habit of ordering plants at the time that I think I am almost done and then it takes a few extra days of site prep so now I’m outside at 9pm putting plugs into the ground.
I always feel overwhelmed and fulfilled. You’re making your corner of the planet better! Keep up the good work!
Best part is you get to do it again next year. But do it in early spring when you can really get the roots up. Most things growing in the early spring are invasive from what I have observed.
Dirty, happy and usually a little bit bloody. We’ve got blackberry, ivy, clematis and some new yellow ones that keep me on my toes. My creekbank is pretty clear but there is an overgrown lot across the street that gets some guerilla gardening to keep all that seed off my property or worse (spreading along the creek to
All points north and south. Great job!
Thank you for doing this. It makes a difference, it really does.
Thats so much work holy crap good job! Whew!!!! Hopefuly you have some cool stuff waiting in the soil that can pop up now – looks like some stuff is already visible. I’d put any leaves you have around in that spot.
Fast groundcover plants for spots like that are panciled or frost aster (any aster really), *Rudbeckia*, wild strawberry, violets, *Packera*, wild ginger, columbine, wild geranium. Like I’d get a handful of seeds or rhizome chunks of any of those and throw them in there as a fast start. This also looks like a great spot for spring ephemerals like bellworts, bluebells, trilliums etc.