Vine Is a Four-Letter Word

The pile of what I pulled out over the weekend. More to remove at this location, and at least two other spots in the yard.



Sometime a couple of weeks ago I commented on FaceBook that gardening was great except for the bugs that bite you and eat your plants. I believe I need to add "weeds that bite back when you remove them" to the list of gardening unpleasantries. In creating the play garden (it needs a better name, but for now, that's it), I needed to remove some vines, including poison ivy from the west end of the area. I was wearing gloves, but only a short-sleeved shirt. I thought I was doing okay except for the one branch that smacked me in the face. I came inside frequently and soaped up past my elbows to try to remove any oil that may have made contact. Apparently, I didn't get it all. I watched one disturbing looking spot all day yesterday trying to determine if it was a spider bite or a poison ivy rash. Today, as the spots have emerged on both arms below the elbow, one arm past the armpit, and the place on my stomach my arm touches while I sleep -- there's no question. I applied a topical gel to the one spot yesterday and Ivarest to everything today, but more spots are appearing. So far no itch. So far.














Two kinds of ivy, both need to go. The picture on the right shows the largest tree in our yard. You can just barely see the root flare on the right side. This is not good. We need to remove the ivy, which has caused damage to the tree during the periods the property was abandoned, and dig away some of the soil to expose more of the root flare. Hopefully by doing that, removing a few of the large branches, and adding some soil amendments, we can avoid losing the tree.



The side of the tree (same one as above) facing the pool showing the ivy damage. I don't know for certain if the ivy caused the first split, removing about one third of the tree, but it certainly looks like it is trying to split what is left.















The unknown vine on the left is a weed and STINKS! Eeeewwwwww! On the right is Virginia Creeper. Not too bad, but it is in many places we don't want it and from what I understand is very difficult to kill.

But there are many more wonderful things happening here:



My gorgeous Apricot Brandy Hibiscus and a little cicada with a bent wing.