Month: May 2015

The northeast corner of the pond still has knotweed and bittersweet resprouts. It’s a tough area. The young river birch whip has been defoliated by sawflies. To its right is a baby bayberry, and further back on the right, a rosa rugosa. We planted rosa rugosa over areas that had the most robust knotweed rhizomes, and it seems to be holding down the fort.

In early summer, the east end of the pond is still pretty wet, so you can’t drive the tractor too close. Still, it’s an excellent time to pull phragmites resprouts, because it’s easier when they’re in the water. I put on my waders and patrolled the east end of the pond with the canoe, gathering up all the phragmites stems that were floating on top of the water at that point.

I piled them all, mostly dead stems, but a few resprouts, into the canoe, pulled the canoe up away from the water with the tractor, then loaded up the front end loader, then dumped them on the burn pile to dry out. I did about 3 canoe loads. The pond looked a lot better when I was done!

Plus – I am now strong like bull!

At the extreme east end of our property, including some of our next-door neighbor’s property, was a huge infestation of glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus). It had wound itself down an old stone wall, with roots 1-2 inches around. It was a monster. I had avoided it. Somebody had to deal with it. On a cool day, with little to no chance of rain, I cut and treat several stumps.

The prior year, I had taken several pods of milkweed seeds from the back acre, and spread them around the top part of the slope, above where all the knotweed was. It worked! A whole bunch of milkweed came up. It smells great. The butterflies love it. The groundhog likes to munch on it. It’s a great plant.
Slightly further up the slope, a young Osage Orange (maclura pomifera), on the left, and Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), on the right, are enjoying the posh accommodations in the nursery area: