Korean Bellflower – Beware – Invasive Mystery

  • Post published:07/10/2014
  • Post comments:3 Comments

This flower showed up mysteriously in my garden. A Facebook appeal has identified it as Korean Bellflower, Campanula takesimana. The warning is that it is invasive, but I have found it for sale from several nurseries on line. Only one Canadian company noted that it was a strong grower and needed to be kept in bounds. I also checked Google images so I think I have a good ID, even though there is not total agreement about how…

Let’s Eat the Invasive Species

  • Post published:08/27/2013
  • Post comments:2 Comments

'How (and why) to Eat Invasive Species by chef Bun Lai in the new issue of Scientific American proposes an answer to the economic damage ($120 billion a year) that invasive species cause. Eat them. Eat the wild boar, the lionfish and Japanese knotweed. Turn them into thin-sliced hot meat drizzled with ginger, garlic,roasted sesame and sauvignon blanc soy sauce, or thinly sliced raw lionfish sprinkled with lime juice, seven kinds of crushed peppers, roasted seaweed flakes, toasted sesame seeds…

Native Alternatives to Invasives

  • Post published:09/04/2010
  • Post comments:7 Comments

“Invasive species have the potential to completely alter habitats, disrupt natural cycles of disturbance and succession, and most importantly, greatly decrease overall biodiversity, pushing rare species to the brink of extinction. Many ecologists now feel that invasive species represent the greatest current and future threat to native plant and animal species worldwide, greater even than human population growth, land development and pollution.” William Cullina of the New England Wildflower Society We do not have to travel far to…

A Wonder – and a Warning

I got a call from Edwin Graves who said I had to come and see the wisteria on his rental property in Greenfield. He told me it had climbed into two cherry trees, but he didn't tell me those two trees were 60 feet tall, and that the wisteria climbed into the very top reaches. The Graves bought this Greenfield house for her parents back in about 1981. Since they moved out in 1989 the house has been…

Obligations at the Edge

  • Post published:12/29/2009
  • Post comments:3 Comments

As I prepare for the new year I have been thinking about the importance of conservation, about preserving the best of what we have for the benefit of the next generations.  Today I am posting a piece I wrote three years ago after talking to an inspiring conservationist and speaker.  My inspiration is a gaggle of grandchildren, two of whom love to play in the old apple tree in our field, home and pantry to birds - and…

Falling – Gently

  • Post published:09/21/2009
  • Post comments:7 Comments

After a chilly, even cold, week we are now enjoying a sunny warm spell.  Autumn begins tomorrow but the fall into the golden season is now a gentle one. I am looking forward to a mild week because there is a lot to do in the garden. In spite of the chill, I did get to observe the eradication of the Mile-a-Minute vine in Greenfield, and visit some other gardens last week. I cannot stress how dangerous this…

Mile-A-Minute is too fast

  • Post published:09/19/2009
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Mile-a-Minute vine is the latest threat on the invasive plants front. This nasty vine has moved up from the mid-Atlantic states and is now well established in Connecticut. Massachusetts residents should be on the lookout for this fast growing vine, up to six inches a day! It has arrowhead leaves and nearly invisible but really treacherous barbs. It flowers in August and starts setting seed which begins to ripen right about now. The seed is small and blue,…

Life Will Not Be Denied!

  • Post published:09/12/2009
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Life will not be denied is a cry that goes up with some regularity at the End of the Road, often because some weedy thing is trying to get the better of me. But sometimes . . . there is an example of how nature simply abhors a vacuum. Earlier this year I posted about the acres of invasive yellow flags that grew in an abandoned beaver pond.  Then, during the summer the dam gave way. Stinky water…

Bad Iris!

  • Post published:06/12/2009
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Looks pretty doesn't it? And it is as pretty as many irises one might choose to plant in the garden. Don't! This is the common yellow flag that loves water and wet sites. It spreads by rhizomes, but I found out to my dismay that it also spreads by seed carried on the wind. A friend gave me several yellow flags to plant around my pond.  They didn't do too much, but one day I  found this indestructible…