Now in bloom before the berries form, this is the time to do our small part. (Google wild bush honeysuckle and you'll find out far more than I can tell you here.) Once the red berries form, it's too late because of disposal problems and the millions of berries "planted" by birds which eat them and poop them everywhere. They're not nutritious for birds, either.
Look at one small sprig and you'll find multiples of yellow-white blossoms, usually in groups of four, each one of which will produce paired red berries, thousands per bush. The stems are somewhat hollow unlike our native cultivated species with pinkish flowers.
Shallow-rooted, the young shrubs are easy to pull up, and lopping off whole branches or entire bushes can be very satisfying when you realize how many "plantings" you're stopping. Try counting those flowers on a small twig and you'll be amazed. For large bushes, after I remove branches I drill a hole in base and put in a tiny amount of undiluted weed-killer. It goes into roots and the bush is "finished"! (I don't normally use weed-killers.)
Please join those of us who do our best to curtail this one of several imported invasives with no natural enemies to keep them in check, and thank you. Every little bit helps.
Judy Larson DiMario
Fayston
{loadnavigation}
