Now that the septic system has been replaced, and the apartment is almost done, we can finally begin work in earnest, getting rid of our invasive plants!
In April 2011, we had a Public Hearing at Town Hall, where our wetlands consultant presented the necessary documents.
We are lucky to have a good friend who is knowledgeable about all kinds of shrubs and trees. We’re also fortunate to have a connection to a number of big and strong H.S. football players/weight lifters, willing to come over and help us.
My neighbor’s daughter, Elisha, and I hacked through the densest parts of our “jungle.” The centermost area of the north side of our pond, which was, ironically, not the largest patch of knotweed or phragmites, was a tangled mess of other invasives: buckthorn, autumn olive, multiflora rose, bittersweet and knotweed, and once we could see that far down, a smattering of spurge. There were also some rubrus (some sort of brambles) and grapevines all helping to knit it together. At that point in time, I could not imagine anything at all, ever growing on that slope. If nothing else, we wanted to at least create pathways, so it would be possible to access areas of infestation from various angles.
We managed to uncover what looked like a pretty decent willow, as well as the beautiful Juniperus virginiana. The latter is definitely a native. Note the brush pile in the back acre, above. We had covered the Phragmites and rhizomes already on a tarp, with another tarp, then weighted it down, because a strong tropical storm was expected, and we didn’t want anything to escape or blow away.
