Watch out for those garden ghouls
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- July 10, 2023
- 347
Homeowners are totally responsible for the care and safety of their homes and must protect them and defend their domiciles from all the dangers.
We know fire and wind are the two most common dangers. We can buy insurance to cover any damage done by those two. We can even buy flood insurance if our house is in that danger. But less known hazards are certain plants that are homicidal, though they appear harmless.
For instance, if you have ivy wandering around near your house, be particularly watchful. Ivy is fast-growing, hardy and totally untrustworthy. It may look innocent, but in reality it’s a sneaky, creepy monster looking for anything to capture. Allow it to get a root-hold on your foundation and in no time it will climb all over your house.
Another garden ghoul is wisteria. Its blossoms are beautiful and fragrant, but wisteria is a grasping plant that strangles its victims. A muscular wisteria vine once coiled itself around a support pier under our deck and pulled the poor thing right out of the ground. Even when we chopped the vine off at its base, it didn’t release its hold.
Fortunately, in our area, we do not have the fearful, omnivorous, overbearing oriental import called kudzu. A spawn of hydra, that plant appears immortal. Lop off one of its shoots and two more grow in its place.
As an immigrant, kudzu has adapted extremely well to life in America. Thankfully, it prefers the southern regions of our country. It is delectable and very digestible as well. Initially a cattle food, kudzu soon expanded its choices of places to grow to include trees,
fences, abandoned machinery and buildings.
An unsuspecting friend planted kudzu on an eroding bank near his house. In just a few years, the plant had covered the bank, swallowed a tree or two, swarmed over a fence and began a mad dash toward his home.
Our friend swore that on warm, rainy nights he could hear the kudzu growing. The poor fella became a bit demented, racing around the countryside waving a weed eater and screaming, “The kudzu is coming! The kudzu is coming!”
We thought he may have been committed. No one has seen him for months, but he was right.