It is a sad thing for someone who wants to be totally organic to have to resort to a weed killer. I used it today only for self-preservation—that is, if I want to continue to walk around outside this summer with some reasonable impunity, I cannot have poison ivy in the area where I continually walk. I know this from numerous extended experiences.
It seems that I turned my head these last few weeks. Yes, I did. I was thrilling over the Bluebonnets in the pasture. Boy, do I have the photographs to show for it. I could easily put someone into a catatonic stupor if I showed them all.
We Texans are such suckers for our Bluebonnets—Indian Paintbrushes, too, and Winecups, Phlox, Verbena, Coreopsis
Indian Paintbrush & pink Phlox
(and all the other DYF—damn yellow flowers, as the ranchers say).
Poppies or Phlox AND Bluebonnets
But we really topple over the Bluebonnets.
After all the rain and now the warmth (70s & low 80s), the wildflowers AND everything else have been showing their pleasure at arrival of Spring. The everything else where I live includes VINES: Greenbriars, grapevines, Willow Vine, Coralberry vine, Coral honeysuckle, Asian honeysuckle, Blackberries, Crossvine, Carolina Jessamine, Passion-flower, Virginia-creeper, Peppervine, Cherokee rose, Rattanvine, and certainly not least, Poison-ivy/Poison oak. While my head was turned, I am suddenly overwhelmed with berry vines, hateful Greenbriar, 20-30 foot long climbing rose branches blooming like crazy, red-orange new growth of Peppervine, and cleverly inter-mingling with those and grapevines are well over 100 poison-ivy starts. I must credit the wonderful book, Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines by Russell Stevens & Chuck Coffrey for helping me to learn the names of the vines choking my trees and covering the fences. You won’t find it through bookstores I don’t think. But you can order it here: http://www.noble.org/webapps/plantimagegallery/Woodies.aspx or call 580.224.6500
With the previously stated reluctance, I finally purchased the smallest bottle of the special Poison-ivy killing Round-Up. $7 spent & covered a bit more than ½ of the side yard. In the dark of night, I went to Wal-Mart and bought the next size bottle. $24!!! For the already diluted formula. The dread of using it is mixed with the total aggravation of spending that much money. Think of the lovely American Beauty-berry bush or Redbud tree I could have bought instead.
Okay, I have about ½ bottle left even though there were some horrific amounts of poison ivy on one side of a grouping of old, old Yaupons totally covered in grapevines and Greenbriar (hate that stuff, but I didn’t spray it!). I’ve been told that you often have to spray twice to effect a kill down to the roots. We shall see. I noticed that the leaves of some of the plants I sprayed with that first small bottle had curled inward. So they have been affected.
I ended my day by transplanting bulbs that won’t bloom because they are now in too much shade to a sunny area. I feel like I’m giving them new life so I feel somewhat better. Tomorrow, I will add some ancient Oxblood lilies and Amaryllis bulbs I’ve owned for many years to that same plot.
Related articles
- Why does poison ivy cause a rash? (boyslife.org)
- Texas Wildflower Update 3/25/12 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)
FloraExplored 