When I poked around the woods before buying the house I found oranges. Little orange globes, still hanging on trees, in Maryland in October. It only took a few seconds of Googling to find we have trifoliate orange and it is invasive, and wickedly thorny to boot.
We also have autumn olive, wineberry, barberry, Bradford pear, and multiflora rose. As they say in North Dakota, oofta.
And we have marvelous trees. Willow oak, shingle oak, red maple, persimmon, tulip tree, pine, and black cherry.
I’ve been making a path in the woods, aiming for Goose walkability. Everything thorny or pokey at nose level of a French bulldog must go. So I’ve spent many an hour pulling multiflora rose and wineberry, leaving the nice soft leaf litter, now bordered by the piled corpses of invasives.
And as I go I find wonderful things. Ferns, viburnams, and baby spice bushes. I will have a lifetime of weed pulling in these woods, and it’s going to be worth it.
