Although honeysuckle might sound like something lovely and fragrant, some kinds of honeysuckle bushes are really bad news for our local woods and fence rows.
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When these bush honeysuckle plants were brought here from Japan and Asia in the mid 1800s, it was thought then that they had pretty blossoms, and red berries that birds and wild life liked. The plants were also very hardy, meaning that even I cannot kill honeysuckle with my brown thumb. And therein lies the problem.
In the last 150 years or so, bush honeysuckle varieties have gone beyond thriving to invading and taking over our woodlands and fields. You can see bush honeysuckle creeping out and thickening the fence rows between fields, robbing farmers of cropland.
Bush honeysuckle is generally the first of the outdoor plants to get green and the last to lose its leaves. With a longer growing season than most deciduous plants, honeysuckle grows like a weed, which is what it basically has become. Birds like the red berries and spread the seed all over the area in their droppings. The seeds germinate and grow everywhere.
Woodlots or fence rows overcome by honeysuckle no longer have wild flowers. Maple, oak, and other seedlings don’t have a chance to grow through the thick honeysuckle growth which hogs all the sunshine. Eventually there will be only scrubby honeysuckle and no trees.
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This is why we have all the honeysuckle clearing events this time of year. We want to save our trees and wild flowers.
The honeysuckle is leafing right now. That makes it easy to find, but clearing an area of honeysuckle is not easy. This plant is so hardy, that just cutting it off does not kill it. Honeysuckle fighting warriors have to employ specialized poisons to the stumps to eradicate each plant, and not bother the good plants or soil.
But it is worth it.
The wild flowers in areas of George Rogers Park will be lovely over the next month because of the honeysuckle clearing battles fought 10 to 20 years ago.
Because of these efforts something magical happened. Large beds of daffodils appeared along the back road of the park and Tecumseh Circle. Bud Jividen, Ziggy Zigenthaller, and other workers were amazed to see the hundreds daffodils until they spoke with some of the old timers who remember the daffodil beds from long ago before the honeysuckle invasion.
Those rescued daffodil and some grape hyacinth beds are quite lovely this time of year and well worth the drive out to George Rogers Clark Park. If you have time, hike the trail back to the lake and enjoy the thriving natural wildflowers that have also been rescued from the strangling honeysuckle.
And remember to give thanks for all the honeysuckle warriors of yesterday and today. Because of them there will be wild flowers in our grandchildren’s future.
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