Give me Liberty or Give me Death. Give me Native plants and wildlife or give me a barren landscape. In 1775 Patrick Henry's speech concluded with the line " “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”; convincing the second Virginia Convention to raise militias. The words became a battle cry and a symbol of determination to cut away the British stronghold before it strangled them.
Today we are being silently invaded by plants. Yes, plants. Plants that can strangle our Vermont environment one seed, one root, one stem at a time as we take not notice or show enough care or desire to fight back. Nothing short of a second revolution do we need, a homeland Vermont revolution; let's Take Back Vermont Forest, and Backyards, let's march over and across our town and root out, cut down, that silent killer, the invasive Honeysuckle, known by its hollow pith (hole in the center of the inside of the stems).
And if it helps rally volunteers, join in with lopers and saws while shouting out the rallying cry Give me habitat restoration and wildlife or give me a barren landscape; Habitat restoration or Desert.
“We have allowed invasive plants to replace [historic habitat] all over the country. Our native animals and plants cannot adapt to this gross and completely unnatural manipulation of their environment in time to negate the consequences. Their only hope for a sustainable future is for us to intervene to right the wrongs that we have perpetrated.” ― Douglas W. Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens
Let us proclaim and act upon those famous words by John Paul Jones, “I have not yet begun to fight".
There is not enough of us unless all of us take a stand. Stand out and be at the forefront of the battle lines. Set an example for your neighbors, ring the bell of Vermont's historic habitat, strike out against those invasives.
"Non-native, invasive terrestrial plants are one of the greatest threats to the health of Northeastern forests. They negatively impact forest regeneration, forest structure, ecosystem function, recreation, and wildlife habitat, are costly to manage and can be harmful to human health. The threat of invasive species is not going away. It's a long-term stewardship issue that must become a daily part of how we look at and care for the woods that provide us with beauty, recreation, forest products, and our heritage." Vermont Invasives web page.
Invasive honeysuckle:
- Is an ecological trap for birds. Birds nesting in invasive honeysuckle has higher nest predation rates. The berries, which birds eat, have poor nutritional quality;
- Displaces native understory vegetation;
- Forms an impenetrable understory layer;
- May degrade wildlife habitat;
- Can cause the long-term decline of forests by shading out other woody and herbaceous plants;
- May compete with historic habitat for pollinators, reducing seed set of historic habitat plants;
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| Note the leaves are mostly on the outside. Thus easy for a predator to spot a bird's nest. |
We need not go to the woods to find this encroaching enemy, it is here in our town of Jericho, on public townland, along sidewalks and roads, it is here on our home yards. When it goes to seed its progeny is spread and propagated while we sleep at our sentry posts.
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| Invasive Honeysuckle just off the sidewalk on Browns Trace. Well over 8 feet tall. |
We have risen to the sad task of cutting many ash trees in response to the ash borer beetle attacks. Can we not muster our hand tools and love of Vermont's historic habitat, birds, and other native wildlife, in response to invasive honeysuckle? Cut it down before it grows its army, its stronghold that conquers our beloved Vermont lands of both towns and forest. View the Vermont Invasive web page for Honeysuckle identification and management options.
There are four invasive species of bush honeysuckle that invade Vermont forests. These include Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackki), Morrow’s honeysuckle (Loniceria morrowii), Tartanian honeysuckle, (Lonicera tatarica) and Bell’s honeysuckle (Lonicera x bella). All of them are deciduous shrubs with opposite, egg shaped leaves, fragrant flowers, and red or orange-red berries. They can grow to be 15 feet high.
The four invasive species are difficult to distinguish from one another. The most important thing to know is how to tell it apart from native honeysuckle. All of the invasive honeysuckle species found in Vermont have a hollow pith. Native honeysuckle has a solid white pith and is not typically as robust of a shrub as the invasives.
- Lonicera maackii, commonly called Amur honeysuckle or bush honeysuckle, is native to Manchuria, Japan, Korea, and China.
- Lonicera morrowii, commonly called shrub or bush honeysuckle, is native to Japan.
- Lonicera tatarica, Tartanian honeysuckle originates from Eurasia.
- Lonicera x bella, Bell's honeysuckle is native to Asia.
NATIVE Honeysuckle includes:
- Lonicera canadensis (American Honeysuckle)
- Lonicera oblongifolia (Swamp Honeysuckle)
- Lonicera villosa (Mountain Honeysuckle)
- Lonicera hirsuta (Hairy Honeysuckle)
- Diverta lonicera (Bush-Honeysuckle)
Join in the rallying cry, Give me Historic Habitat or Give me Desert. Cut down an invasive honeysuckle today and you will feel better about helping to protect Vermont's natural splendor. Cutaway invasive honeysuckle stronghold before it strangles our Vermont wildlife habitat.
June 5, 2021, is International Environment Day highlighting the theme related to "Take Care of the Earth", and ecosystems restoration. Click on the link to read more.
View this video to see how to use a weed wrench to pull up plant roots and all.
Bernie
Observing life in nature.
Connecting Vermont's historic habitat and wildlife, with our community.
PS Some folks wrote about their battle with Goutweed/Bishop's weed. We note that our resident woodchuck (Marmota marmax) is quite fond of Goutweed/Bishop's weed). Only wish it would eat much more of it.
Reader Reaction:
Thanks for sharing Bernie – such an important issue. Have you checked out the tool the Buckthorn Blaster? I made a video on using it here: https://youtu.be/n-p8qRWbs1I. It’s tough to make the decision to use herbicide but virtually everyone in the conservation community has realized it’s the only way to address this problem on a landscape scale – it’s not about liking herbicide but rather recognizing that it can be used as a restoration tool. The Buckthorn Blaster is the ultimate way to do that – it’s super-minimal and targeted. I think it’s making a difference in Chittenden County!
J. Ethan Tapper | Chittenden County Forester
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources | Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
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This from a local environmental conscious farm person:
Bernie,
Interesting article. I'm not so down on honeysuckle though, especially because I see it stabilizing a lot of stream and river banks. Even on the farm, we had a couple bushes on the fringe of the woods near the stream that flooded quite seriously at times. We had planted native shrubs nearby the honeysuckle and were waiting until they really got well established before we were going to deal with the honeysuckles (they were holding that bank). I've seen that in a lot of other places as well. Encouraging people to get rid of them and plant natives is great but there are times when they are helping the already disrupted landscape.
Best,
Nancy
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Great topic for you to cover in your blog. Non-native invasives (plant, animal, and insect) are going to change the landscape as we know it eventually. Many of these plant species are so pervasive now that we'll never be rid of them. So the best we can do I think is to eradicate them in our own little plots of land or in public spaces. Maybe this will be enough to provide a haven for our native species but I doubt it. But in the meantime, we need to keep up the fight. I personally wouldn't bother cutting honeysuckle stems with loppers unless I was either going to treat the stems with herbicide or wanted to encourage the plant to produce more stems (yeah, I don't think so!). I pull the plants either with my tractor or by hand if the plants are small. Often in more shaded places like deep in the woods, there are lots of little honeysuckles that are in the understory just waiting to be released. These are usually very easy to pull up. the very large plants often found at woods edges and along hedgerows are easy to wrap a chain around and pull with the tractor. I did this along a hedgerow on my property and got very little re-sprouting, indicating that I got most of the roots. I do think that we can eradicate plants like honeysuckle, buckthorn, and barberry from certain defined spaces fairly effectively as opposed to plants like Japanese knotweed and Bishop weed (Goutweed) which are nearly impossible to eradicate without the use of strong herbicides which let's face it, is just not physically and environmentally feasible.
Good Luck in your fight! I'll do what I can,
Don
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“Thanks, Bernie! I can second the farm person’s comment: Recently beavers have been decimating extensive riparian plantings along the Allen Brook here in Williston. Shrub willow, native dogwoods, and to some extent box elder regenerate pretty well, but with slower root expansion. However, most trees that were planted can’t survive the beaver activity. Invasive honeysuckle has not been touched by the hungry beavers and continues to hold the brook bank. Had we removed it, we would be seeing more erosion especially in the areas of beaver activity. So... I’ll continue to clear it other places, but am reluctant to do so along the brook bank in the presence of beavers. Thanks! —Chapin”
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Hi Bernie,
I will read your article on honeysuckle later, once I have my reading
glasses and I can open my Kindle, which is where I send all reads to.
Anyway. I make the effort to remove maybe 100 honeysuckle from our
property and it paid off. I used a 12K pound winch and pulled from the
roots. Each year I have to spend maybe an hour pulling shoots. (My
bigger worry is the knotweed. I have two infestations... Have
researched it...)
Thanks,
Toby
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For further reading of invasive honeysuckle, visit:
Thanks, Bernie! I can second the farm person’s comment: Recently beavers have been decimating extensive riparian plantings along the Allen Brook here in Williston. Shrub willow, native dogwoods, and to some extent box elder regenerate pretty well, but with slower root expansion. However, most trees that were planted can’t survive the beaver activity. Invasive honeysuckle has not been touched by the hungry beavers and continues to hold the brook bank. Had we removed it, we would be seeing more erosion especially in the areas of beaver activity. So... I’ll continue to clear it other places, but am reluctant to do so along the brook bank in the presence of beavers. Thanks! —Chapin
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