she's just my boardwalk briar rose

[asakiyume]

Sounds like a line in a country song, but in fact it's a literal thing: here is indomitable Rosa multiflora, the rambling rose, coming up through the boardwalk over the marsh by our house.



Also coming up through and around the boardwalk are some boardwalk Virginia creeper, some boardwalk poison ivy, some boardwalk oriental bittersweet, some boardwalk Japanese knotweed, and some boardwalk brome grass.

Many thanks to Wakanomori for the photo of the boardwalk briar rose!

Comments

[queenoftheskies]

I don't think I've ever seen a briar rose. It's very pretty.

[asakiyume]

It's got super sharp thorns! And it does form impenetrable walls--I can totally believe the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty when I come across a stand of Rosa multiflora. Those thorns are deadly! But the fragrance is very sweet.

[cmcmck]

Japanese knotweed is a plant that is deeply unloved here- it's what they call a 'notifiable plant' due to how destructive it is.

[cgbookcat1]

The house I rented in grad school had a Japanese knotweed infestation. The roots were a long way down and close to the house, so eradication wasn't an option. When I moved in there were plants over 6 feet tall. We kept it under control by trimming each new sprout and squirting Roundup down the stems. We then had to put the sprouts in the trash, because composting them would just create new plants. It's a horrible plant.

The briar rose is lovely!

[asakiyume]

Yowzers! I remember hearing tales like that as a child.

I found out it's edible. If you pick the sprouts when they're quite young, you can eat it like asparagus. That's a good revenge.

[asakiyume]

Of the things that are eagerly overwhelming the boardwalk, only poison ivy and Virginia creeper are native. Rosa multiflora, Japanese knotweed, and Oriental bittersweet are all invasive, and the brome grass is nonnative (I don't know if it's invasive or not).

[sovay]

Sounds like a line in a country song

It really does! A good one, too.

[asakiyume]

Maybe folky country--something that Jake Xerxes Fussell would sing.

[sovay]

Maybe folky country--something that Jake Xerxes Fussell would sing.

Yes! Or Tom Waits, on the lines of "Coney Island Baby."

[lizziebelle]

I love when Mother Nature totally ignores the humans' attempts to tame her.

[asakiyume]

Me too!