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| All right, you win |
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This was so as to be able to go out and help the boss do actual outdoor work. We finally had the weather for it.
We headed up the heifer pasture hill to start cutting brush out of the fences. There is always plenty of it and I gotta say, those darned rose bushes drew first blood, on me at least.
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| Getting ready to grow over all the fences |
I vaguely remember reading during my kidhood, that wild rugosa roses made great fences. You could get them real cheap and never have to dig in another post.
Whoever came up with that theory needs to come out and help with our brush cutting efforts. Those blasted roses take over a pasture, forming gigantic clumps the size of a house trailer. They spread in every way plants can be spread.
They are vicious.
Oh, they have their uses. They are gorgeous in June when the whole valley is redolent with their seductive fragrance, and they trail bridal veils of blossoms over every fence and field. They provide cover and feed for wildlife and birds, and are useful for stabilizing fragile ground.
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| No grass yet |
Nevertheless, they are an invasive pest and they cause us plenty of extra work. They will have to be lopped out of the fences at least three times this year. Every year. At least.
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| I can never resist this old truck |
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6 comments:
Same here - we deal with blackberries. No amount of pie and jam can make me like clipping those buggers out of the fence several times a year. If only milk flowed and gardens grew as easy as those dang plants!
Why is it the stuff you really want to grow struggles and fails to cooperate and the wild thorny things take over the known world in a nanosecond? Just asking...
The Multi-flora roses work well as fences over in Europe so, way back in the day, some government genius thought they should work here and encouraged farms to plant them. I had a real problem with them here around my pond, I finally put a self-tightening chain around the base of each bush and pulled them out with the tractor. I made a brush pile out of them that the birds just love. Now everybody is happy.
I'm thinking that rose's ancestors got their kick-start from a fella who lived not far from where I grew up in Ohio. This from my hometown's local paper. Sorry :(
"Less positive among Bromfield's innovations was his . . .multiflora roses. Bromfield determined that these plants could replace barbed wire fence as a way to separate farm fields and properties. They required no maintenance, grew thickly with sharp thorns, and clearly defined the separation of pastures from croplands, as well as producing pinkish white blossoms that are really pretty.
Problem . . . Bromfield's multiflora roses in terms of spreadability and obnoxiousness. Each spring, I curse Bromfield as I sickle, prune and spray away at multifloras which attempt to engulf our shrubs and trees along the edges of the woods in our yard. Their thorns are nasty, and their growth habits persistent. They were Bromfield's curse on this part of Ohio."
Hmmm . . . is this what you're battling?
We have those small roses...they are horrid. But gradually the onion farmers took care of them...and the asparagus and anything else cool.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Nita, hear, hear! I got the darned things stuck in my hair, stabbed into my hands and arms and all manner of unpleasantness and there are a LOT more to go!
Caroline, I sure wish I knew. Grass in the pastures is welcome and indeed much needed...so why it is invisible there and six inches tall in my herb bed? I wonder....
DD, the boss scoops them out whole with the skid steer if he can get to them. alas there are so many he can't get close to. I do not love them much.
Cathy, YES! and thank you for reminding me where I first read of the nasty darned things! I believed him too, although at least I never planted any of them. I have dug up, cut up and cursed enough of them though. The birds take care of the planting.
LInda, here they are an invasive problem. they will take over a whole field if you don't keep after them.
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