Clematis Free

I wish.

I have been going on some what manic weeding frenzies for the last three weeks editing out the hated and unwanted Clematis virginiana vine. The entire slope below the roadside vegetable garden was particularly infested with it since it has not received much attention before. I made the first push on this slope last fall.

Nothing much blooms on this slope. That is why it has taken a back seat. That is also why the clematis has to go. Nothing much blooms here and I aim to change that.

The clematis prefers sun and the sunny utility meadow follows the power lines. I started my concentrated assault on the clematis three years ago. The meadow was choke full of it.

And the meadow goes on and on. From one end to the other it is at least and acre of land. An acre of land I have been hand weeding of the steel rooted clematis for the last three years. I am making progress. I'd like to think the sunny utility meadow is 80% to 90% free of the clematis by now.

I've been weeding out the clematis around the perimeters of the roadside vegetable garden too. Where there is sun there is clematis. It will only wander so far into the shade of the forest.

The first sowing of greens have begun to germinate and a few sugar snap peas are up. No sign of the potatoes yet.

The clematis situation in the garden becoming was not any better. It was another three quarters of an acre of hand weeding of the steel rooted clematis. The sunny end of the slope below the scenic byway was a veritable carpet of the clematis. It's hard to grow baby shrubberies when they are under constant threat of being grasped by reaching tendrils and engulfed.

The clematis swept down the slope through the forest and back out into the sun of the utility easement. I've been weeding out the clematis here for seven years. The last three years have been more purposeful and aggressive. I am making progress. The garden becoming might be 95% free of clematis by now. Damn vine. Hate it.

I want the pretty little things, not a mono crop of clematis. The Dwarf Crested Iris at bloom is barely four inches tall. It simply can't compete with a smothering vine sitting on top of it blocking out the spring sun in a leafless forest that it depends on.

The trilliums are not much taller. That spring sunshine is just as critical for their survival and reproductive success. More of the transplanted trilliums are beginning to appear. Now where is that Painted trillium?

And when the clematis disappears I am rewarded by the appearance of native plants I had no part in planting. The Jack in the Pulpits are showing up in all kinds of places. They may have been there waiting all along. Without all that vine growth on top they are easier to see and much more likely to grow bigger and better.

Out there in the vast expanse, a garden is set free to grow in abundance and diversity when the thugs are edited out. All the small ephemerals of spring can been seen, unencumbered by thick cords of vines starting to leaf out and turn green.

The cultivated part of the wild cultivated gardens is half just knowing what to get rid of.