extraction photos

You can see the details of the root system and how much we removed from the lilac tree.

extraction

Despite my somewhat limited research into the japanese honeysuckle, we decided that the plant had to go - especially since upon taking a closer look we discovered that its strong vines were strangling the life out of the trees it had wrapped itself around. The extraction took few hours, using wire snips to cut the vines away from the original tree. I read that the plant will not regrow if cut to within 4 inches of its root. I really had to question whether to remove the honeysuckle, since I was seeing more bees back in the yard and the leafy foliage offered extra privacy and honestly seemed to belong in the yard. But it was slowly destroying a hydrandea bush, a lilac tree and a rhododendrun that's the sie of a small tree. We bagged up the remains in the fall composting bags that the city distributes and hope that the garbage man will direct them to the composting center even if its not the right season. So, while I didn't take the buds down to Chinatown to sell for medicinal tea, the trees are doing a lot better now and the backyard has gained some space.

it smells sweet

I am working on a post on invasive species – specifically the Japanese Honeysuckle, which has completely taken over the periphery of our backyard, suffocating small trees and shrubs and rapidly spreading its vines until I fear it will completely dominate the entire courtyard. Thing is, I don’t want to start removing it until I know that there is no direct benefit to the environment, such as being very attractive to pollinators, which are becoming more rare almost daily. As I hope to research further, the plant has supposed medicinal and insecticidal uses, but has been quite a bother to the eastern U.S. Here are some pictures for reference.

kudzu

So my parents have a couple of parcels of land in South Carolina that are completely overgrown with kudzu, which, being from CT I had never before heard of. I have a lot more to learn about permaculture before finding a botanical solution that we can plant to rid the land of the invasive species, but take a look at this article from the Times re specially trained goats and their use in reducing kudzu:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/us/05goats.html?ex=1338696000&en=7965e814b49e840b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink