The Big Green House

Friday, November 21, 2003

 

Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the Earth?

Washington State, due to the generally mild climate and year-round moisture, has become home to a great many insidious, exotic pests. (Pause here for native Washingtonians to make the obligatory joke at the expense of transplanted Californians.) I was very surprised to find that the blackberries one sees in just about every uncultivated spot up here are actually Himalayan blackberries. Tasty, yet stubborn; once it gets established, nothing short of chemical warfare will totally eradicate it.

The same is true of the English ivy growing everywhere that the blackberries haven�t taken over. This vine is really bad news.* People plant it as groundcover, unaware that it will eventually take over the entire area, climbing trees and choking them off.

This, in fact, is what has happened on the lot just downslope from Science Manor. We went over there today to check on the progress the guys have made refinishing the floors. That�s actually coming along nicely; they think they�ll be done just before Thanksgiving, which is right on schedule. Since we were there, Science Girl wanted to water some plants in the kitchen. While she did that, I took the opportunity to look out the back window. There�s a very nice view out that way, but something about it didn�t seem right today. Then I looked at the railing of the deck, which was almost completely covered in tree branches. �Oh�, I said to myself, �one of the trees lost a limb during the storm the other night.�

Well, yes and no.

Approximately 75% of an ivy-covered alder tree blew over and now fills most of the back yard. Had it fallen five feet to either side, it would have likely taken out the entire deck and possibly the kitchen as well. As it is, we lost part of the back fence & (probably, but we�re not sure yet) a few recently planted hydrangeas, but there�s no damage to the house. SG spoke with the woman who owns the property on which the tree stood, and it sounds as if she�s being pretty reasonable about things. That�s quite a relief.

In a way, this may turn out to be a good thing. Now we have the opportunity to point out that the ivy is also attacking the huge maples on her property & be fairly certain that we�ll be heard.

In happier news, it snowed again last night. We were just getting ready to go to bed when SG called me into the kitchen and had me look out the window. Huge flakes of snow were falling and had covered the road & everything else. We hurriedly changed out of our jammies and into warm clothes, put the sweater on the dog and went out for a midnight stroll in the snow, which was still coming down pretty heavily. It changed from the larger, wetter flakes to a nice powder over the course of our walk, and then stopped just as we were getting back to The Big Green House. We got about half an inch, all told, which stuck around most of the day. There may even still be some left when I get home tonight. That would be nice.


*While researching this little piece, I found out that not only is it a invasive pest, it�s also poisonous to pets. Yet another reason for its eradication.

bmarkey 11/21/2003 08:18:00 PM