To The Editor:
...and we're losing! It's hard to believe that a plant can do this to us, but those dealing with Japanese knotweed, kudzu, and Bishop’s goutweed know well. Wild bush honeysuckle, like the others a foreign invasive, has taken over millions of acres, mainly in the Northeast. They come up early, shade out native forests, trees and plants and their seeds and nuts and, unfortunately, are extremely productive this year.
The paired bright red berries on 6 to 15 bushes contain from 3 to 7 seeds per berry, seeds which are deposited and planted by the birds that eat them. They are low nutrition, not what migrating birds need, and it's easy to see that one large bush can contain thousands, millions, of seeds.
The wild invasive varieties, Amur being one of them, have stems that have a tiny tunnel inside. That's how one can tell invasives from our native species. After clearing out, killing them down to the roots in a nearby section of field a few years ago, it's very difficult to see this year's production there so healthy and profuse. Want more information? Google wild bush honeysuckle; check out lots of dependable entries. It's interesting (?) to see how they were being sold by nurseries years ago. They're very pretty! We fight off other invasions; wish we could do this one.
Judy Larson DiMario
Fayston
