Turning Points

In various pictures posted so far, you can see a pasture in the distance. It is not part of my property, but I am on good terms with the owner. I asked him if I could go after the multiflora rose on the edge of his pasture, both to prevent a source of re-seeding on my property and to improve my view a little bit. When I spoke to him about it over the telephone, he was reluctant to grant me permission, but once we sat down on Saturday and started chatting about other topics, he volunteered that he just wasn’t able to cut it with the sickle attachment on his tractor and that I could go ahead and remove it. But he did want me to pull out all of the branches that the ice storms had broken from the trees so that he could cut them up for firewood. I pulled what I could out and then enlisted the help of my neighbor, Kevin, who used his chain saw to cut the larger branches into manageable pieces. What you see in this picture is the pasture line, infested with multiflora rose, and some of the branches which we dragged out into the pasture:

Here is a shot of the Bull Hog in action, shredding the multiflora rose:

And here is a shot of the finished job:

Larry Holden, the farmer who leases the pasture from my neighbor, wasn’t terribly happy with the branches in the pasture, as he had to haul them away to a pile where my neighbor could cut them up, but since I had my neighbor’s permission to pull the branches out into the pasture, I think he’ll forgive me with time.

It took the Bull Hog less than 2 hours to clear 850′ of fence line along the edge of the pasture. That included a couple of stops to remove barbed wire that the operator accidentally ran into while mulching the rose plants – it was hard to see the fence, the rose was so thick!

Last summer, I engaged the services of Sutherland, LLC, which owns a Bull Hog machine, to clear thickets of multiflora rose and oriental bittersweet. The thickets were so dense that once they were finished, I really couldn’t see what else needed to be done until the leaves fell last fall. When I visited in November, it was clear to me that there was an area that also needed to be cleared so that downed locust from Hurricane Hugo could be removed. I don’t have pictures of the Bull Hog in operation in that area, because I was busy discussing some work to be done with a surveyor at the time. But I do have pictures of a pile of logging debris that the Bull Hog made short work of. Even though the hourly price has gone up from $100 to $125, the Bull Hog is still a great bargain. It can do in an hour what it would take a person days and days to do. It is truly an amazing piece of machinery!

This shot is of a pile of logging debris at the end of the driveway:

The Bull Hog in action, mulching the debris:

And the end result:

The mulched debris will prevent erosion on the slope, also, since it covers the bare ground.

When I got the first part of the driveway finished in late 2008, I was unsure where the house site would be and thus didn’t know the route of the driveway. I made that decision early last summer and a neighbor cut the trees in the way for firewood. Unless the house site changes, which is not too likely, the driveway as built now is pretty much what it will look like in 10 years. Of course, I may add native plant beds along the sides to dress it up! Or maybe blackberry and other small, fruiting plants. Nice way to lure the black bears within photography distance, eh?

This shot is taken from the end of the driveway looking up towards the top of the hill:

And this shot is taken at the top of the hill looking down towards the end of the driveway:

The route looked pretty ugly last fall, after the trees were cut down, but now that the driveway is finished, I think it looks very nice!

I learned about this plant shortly after buying my property in early 2008 but never did any research on it. I was told that it was wild onion, but upon closer inspection, I think it is wild garlic, which is in the same family. I would have to see it in flower to be certain. The common names are interchangeable, but wild onion is allium canadense while wild garlic is allium vineale. A common name for it is Crow Garlic. Flowers tell the difference, of course, but one characteristic that helps distinguish the two is that wild garlic has hollow round stems while wild onion has flat stems. It is a native of Europe, North Africa, and western Asia and was introduced to North America, where it is considered an invasive pest, particularly by dairy farmers, because when cows graze on the plant, it gives their milk a garlic flavor. Herbal uses for the plant include reducing blood pressure and blood cholesterol, if ingested on a regular basis.

Crow Garlic (allium vineale)

In a lot of respects, visiting in early April was beneficial – the flower of the bloodroot plant does not last that long – it blooms from March until May, so I caught it pretty much in the middle of its blooming period. The flower petals are shed within a couple of days of pollination by bees and flies so I was fortunate indeed to find a small number of the beautiful flowers.

Despite the fact that the plant was used as an herbal remedy by the Native Americans, caution is advised in its use. Bloodroot contains sanguinarine, which kills animal cells. In 2005, the “folk healer” Dan Raber, of Rochelle, GA, was arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license after patients he was treating for cancer were severely disfigured after using a paste that he had given them that contained extracts of bloodroot. A licensed M.D., Lois March, surrendered her medical license to settle charges that she aided Raber by prescribing opiates to relieve the pain caused by the bloodroot extract treatment. The Quackwatch website has more information. Bloodroot extract is used in the mole remover Dermatend and also in some toothpastes as an anti-bacterial and anti-plaque agent. Perhaps it is safe for removing moles and skin tags, but I think I’d consult with a physician before using it.

Bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis)

There is a large colony of this plant on my neighbor’s property and since it grows in a rather damp location, I didn’t expect to find it on my property. But here it is! I took this picture, on my neighbor’s property, back in May of 2008.

Here is the picture that I took on this trip – I didn’t recognize the plant because it had not yet flowered.

The Latin name has recently changed from senecio aureus to packera aurea.

The Native Americans used a tea of the plant for heart trouble and to prevent pregnancy while the early settlers used it to treat lung diseases, aid childbirth, and to regulate menstrual periods. Scientists have studied the toxic alkaloid that the plant contains, pyrrolizidine, and don’t recommend that it be ingested, however. Pyrrolizidine is thought to be carcinogenic and to cause liver damage.

This has been such a wonderful learning experience! I never would have known that the plants that I found on my property had so many uses. The one featured in this post, Catchweed Bedstraw, is regarded by many as a terrible weed, suitable only for being yanked out of the ground. However, the plant was used by the Native Americans as a relief for the rashes caused by poison ivy and stinging nettle. The young leaves can be steamed with butter and eaten and the roasted seeds make a good coffee substitute. Because it has hairs on the leaves and stems, the plant was formerly used as a sieve for straining milk. As an herbal remedy, it is said to be a diuretic, antispasmodic and was used for the treatment of psoriasis and eczema. I also read a story about a woman who had rescued a dog that had been hit by a car. After the dog had recovered from surgery enough to walk, it went out in the yard and munched on catchweed bedstraw for months. So the plant must have useful healing properties, also. Before you dismiss a plant as a “weed”, do a bit of research. You just never know!

Catchweed Bedstraw (galium aparine)

I didn’t find many common blue violets, a native North American wildflower, on my property, most likely because April marks the beginning of the blooming season for the plant – it blooms until June. According to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service website, it is a common plant throughout the eastern two-thirds of the United States. It doesn’t grow in South Florida, though. If I ever establish a flower garden on my property, I think this would be a plant to consider. The Illinois Wildflower website has a great deal of information about the plant.

Common Blue Violet (viola sororia sororia)

I spent a fair amount of time, head down and camera in hand, searching the ground for interesting-looking plants. I was intrigued with the narrow leaves of this plant but the flower hadn’t opened yet. Still, I thought it was pretty. It is a Spring Beauty plant, much loved by Native Americans because the tuber has a chestnut-like flavor. Another name for the plant is the “fairy spud”. It is native to eastern North America but in some states it is becoming rare, due to over-harvesting. In Massachusetts, it is listed as an endangered plant. Since it is easy to grow, this should not be the case. A good place to obtain native wildflower plants, including Spring Beauty, is from Gardens of the Blue Ridge, in Pineola, NC.

The All Creatures website has a lot of very detailed pictures of the Spring Beauty flower.

Spring Beauty (claytonia virginica)

The Putty Root is a terrestrial orchid – it is also called the Adam & Eve plant. This is because there are a pair of corms in the ground – Adam and Eve. One way to propagate the plant is to cut the corms apart and plant the older one. But the plant produces a corm every year, so this shouldn’t be necessary. After a number of years, you will have a cluster of the plants. The other common name, Putty Root, is derived from the fact that a mucilaginous substance can be obtained from the crushed corm. This sticky substance was used by the Native Americans to repair broken pottery. A solitary leaf (shown below) arises in late summer or autumn and remains over the winter. In the spring, the flower stalk springs up next to the leaf.

Putty Root (aplectrum hyemale)

Since this plant doesn’t have a flower stalk yet, I’ve gone to the Mountain Wildflowers website and borrowed one of their pictures. I’ll have to visit in early May next year to take a photograph of the flower stalk. That is, if I can remember where the plant is!