I just dug out this invasive Amur Honeysuckle from my Lilac bushes. Still have more out back. These are almost as bad as the Mulberries.
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You’re making great progress, it is a lot of hard work, both taking out the invaders and the wonderful replanting you’ve accomplished!
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Way easier when they’re not tied into the Lilac roots. Also, I know lilacs aren’t native, but they haven’t spread in 20+ years, so they aren’t a removal priority. This big patch of Eropean Dewberry in my back yard is on next year’s hit list though.
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This is after painting a small boat hatch at work, finishing framing and hanging a door in the house, and cleaning up all of that project mess.
You should sleep very well tonight!
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Great work! I suggest wild plum for planting.
I own a grand total of six-tenths of an acre, with a house, a paved driveway, and a shed on it. I have lived here more than 20 years and I am STILL removing invasives - privet, winged euonymus (burning bush), glossy buckthorn, oriental bittersweet, Norway maple, shrubby exotic honeysuckles. In the last few years, I have resorted to cutting and painting stumps with herbicides, because simply cutting them down repeatedly didn’t work. I have a giant brush pile. I am not sure I’m making any real progress. (And let’s not even talk about the European lily of the valley.)
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I have 40 forested and swamped acres. I do what I can in the “civilized” part around the house.
Basically, it’s an ongoing case of " I fought the lawn and the lawn won".
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I learned with mulberries that the only reliable way is to dig out their root systems. I’ve decided to apply this to other invasives too, like that honeysuckle. If you catch it early, it’s only a small disturbance to the soil, but if you cut it and it still grows back later the root system is bigger.
@oksanaetal I couldn’t find any plums listed as native on INPS or Prarie Nursery, so I’ll avoid it out of caution. There are plenty of things I can find listed as native, so that seems safer to me. Thanks though.
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I have decided that there is not a single Rhamnus species with which I am on good terms. They’re all paying for my hatred for grudge against dislike of R. cathartica.
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