Spring rains are upon us here in Missouri. Everyday this week has been misty and muggy. Weeds are thriving right now, and I know we complain about our unwanted plants a lot, but the worst of them all are the invasive bush honeysuckle. If you live on basically any continent that’s not Asia, you’ve seen this honeysuckle. There aren’t any natural competitors in most landscapes since this plant leafs out so early and chokes out any other life that tries to take root.
If you can see in the photo above, the dense forest floor is completely full of bush honeysuckle which currently have little white blooms on them. But don’t let the flowers fool you- they’re multiplying like crazy. Don’t feel sorry for them! If Tyler could insert a dad joke here, he would say, “They’re called honeySUCKle for a reason- because they SUCK.”
If it’s green in this picture- it’s invasive. We spent most of our evening last night pulling, weeding, and cutting. We’re hoping to pull the most mature plants and then keep managing by trimming until we can establish new plant life (AKA my lungwort and wild ginger!) and erosion control on the slopes of our yard. I don’t know, guys- I’m not an expert. It’s so overwhelming. If you happen to be a honeysuckle expert, please heeeeellllllppppp.
On a more exciting note (and speaking of erosion), our dry creek bed bridge is washing out and becoming increasingly freaky to walk across. We don’t know how old it is as it has been here since we moved in. It is in dire need of replacement and we’re pretty excited about it! We’ve been itching to build something since we finished the mini shed.
You can tell it’s been raining all week because our yard legitimately looks like a tropical rainforest. All of that rain has been adding to our erosion problem and the footings of this bridge are all but exposed now.
This is not a great picture of the erosion problem, but maybe you can look for snakes or trolls or something. The bridge is currently 16 feet long without a support in the middle, which is generally fine for foot traffic. However, we need a bridge that will confidently support a riding mower and any heavy equipment that we need on the other side of our yard. Our new bridge plan is about 22 feet long and at least 5 feet wide with a support in the middle. I’m so excited to get started on the new bridge that I almost forgot about the honeysuckle invasion for a minute!
Here’s what I’m envisioning…
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