It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life."
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Gardening. This time of year, it can be soft and gentle, with such tasks as the dainty trimming of spent blossoms or a little light weeding between plants. I love to rake leaves into the gardening beds, to decompose over the winter. There’s joy, too, in digging an easy hole for a new plant; fall is a great time to introduce a new perennial.
This is what I was imagining when Tony suggested we head to our son’s for the day, to see his new front steps and to plant a few perennials from our yard into the adjacent garden bed. Sure! Let’s go plant these and then go for a walk down to that small lake near his house…that’ll be fun!
Not to be.
Yesterday, we were in the full muck of it, trying to dig up the wily roots and underground stump of a wisteria. Wisteria is an invasive plant here in the MidAtlantic, known for scaling tall trees and smothering them in gorgeous purple blossoms, basically strangling them to death. They also do great damage to walls and pathways located nearby, with their deep and widespread root system. This wisteria is a big reason why the stairs needed to be redone in the first place.
A ‘new’ shoot of wisteria caught my eye as soon as I stepped out of the car, growing up through the soil, so innocent and sweet – right alongside the new steps. Supposedly, the contractors “removed the wisteria” – but I had a feeling that ‘removed’ meant simply chopping down, not the necessary ‘digging up and out.’
There we were, the three of us, working for nearly four hours – digging, slogging, beating, shattering, lifting, cutting, sweating out this invasive. At least we had good weather! And, good company – it was fun to work together, however unexpectedly.
So much for popping in a few plants. Maybe we’ll go for a walk next time.
I’ll close with a little poetry fun –
feeling stumped
dirt mud slivers fly
shatter split erupt
what a beast this is!
right here right here see
saw cut ax
dig
deeper
can we lift it?
break it off?
where does this lead to?
what if we dance, pogo style
jump up and down
oh no there’s another shoot
way over here
get!
out!
of!
here!
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Love the poem and the photos showing all the hard work. Strong roots run deep!
Nice line, Joanne! “Strong roots run deep!” – love it!
Maureen,
How can something so beautiful las wisteria be such a squatter doing damage to a home? That’s rhetorical, of course, but I do wish we could turn back time to the days of not introducing plants native to one place to another. Here we have big problems w/ invasive plants and such in our waterways. I like the way your poem takes us up and down those steps visually.
It is a deviously beautiful plant. I’m beginning a list of things one does with great joy that are soon regretted – planting wisteria is on that list. Bamboo, too!
Maureen, that wisteria didn’t get the best of you – – you gave it what for! I know your son appreciates that you know what to do and how to help. Since your husband’s family is from Georgia, you know all about our Kudzu. Cogongrass and mimosa trees are two more we have to be on the lookout for. I like how you sprung into action, even jumping around pogo-style, to eliminate these bad plants at the root. Did you know that where I live, you can rent a team of goats to get the Kudzu under control? I like your way better – – killing it right at the root of the plant.
We were astonished at the work involved – but we really did spring into action. I hope my son stays on top of it…I fear it may still be lingering beneath the dirt. Oh my.
Maureen, that is some poetry fun about the mighty wisteria. Three adults and four hours, and I wonder if maybe someday down the road a little sprout will make its way back up. Is that possible? I like the foreshadowing at the beginning of the easy autumn gardening tasks that weren’t to be on this day. I can picture you all taking turns swinging the ax at the roots during this part of the poem, like a seesaw:
“right here right here see
saw cut ax
dig
deeper”
I fear this, exactly, Denise! That a little sprig will still work its way up out of the soil. It is tenacious, oh my. I must admit – the guys did the hard work with the ax; I chickened out of swinging that thing. I helped move dirt and cut shoots away – and documented with photos, haha.