I've wanted a Redring Milkweed (Asclepias variegata) in my yard ever since I first saw one in the wild.
I've tried to start some from seed but haven't had any success. Some say these seeds have a low germination rate, and my guess is that because I didn't know what I was doing, I probably didn't cold/moist stratify them properly. I thought I would give it another go, but "winter sow" the seeds in a milk jug this time. I thought I had a good understanding of how to get them started. All I needed were some seeds.
The plants in The Barber field didn't set any seeds again this summer (maybe too hot and dry? maybe they didn't get pollinated?) and I never even saw the plants that used to grow in the woods at the top of that field. I thought I'd try to see if the patch I had photographed back in 2014/2015 in The Carey woods had any.
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| The Redring Milkweed patch in The Carey woods. Notice the two little cedar branches sticking up behind the plants, and the persimmon tree in the background. Those were "markers" that I used to find the spot where the milkweed grew. |
I hadn't gone walking much at all in the past few years, and I expected things to be as I remembered. But when I walked down into the woods to look for the milkweed, it was like I had walked into a place I had never been. I didn't recognize anything anymore.
When I started walking with my camera a few years ago, I remember being annoyed by the Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and what is probably Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) growing in the woods down by the creek. My annoyance at the time was selfishness - those two plants were everywhere and that meant that I wasn't seeing any new and interesting plants!
But as my understanding has grown and my relationship with nature has evolved, I've come to understand that the reason for my annoyance - that those two plants were everywhere - is the very thing that makes them so devastating to our native plants and insects. Where there is a privet shrub, there is no room/light for the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) seed to sprout and grow. Where there is Japanese honeysuckle, the Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium) is dragged down and smothered out by the vine's aggressive growth.
Simply put, because these plants evolved in another part of the world, there's nothing here that has co-evolved with them to keep them in check. They're like misbehaving children turned loose in a candy store.
In spring of 2019, a severe thunderstorm tore through The Carey woods, taking down a big swath of trees. Many more came down in storms that rolled through the next summer. And when the tree canopy was gone, the population of these invasives and the aggressive natives in The Carey woods exploded.
Back to my search for the milkweed...between the tangled mess of tree limbs blown down by the storm, the privet that had been growing unchecked ever since then and the tangle of Saw Greenbrier (Smilax bona-nox) and Japanese Honeysuckle strangling the trees, I didn't even know where to look anymore. I used to come into the woods on the east side, walk up the hill along the downed pine tree, and go straight to the little opening between the limbs of a dead cedar tree and find that little patch of milkweed every time, no matter what time of year it was. But not anymore.
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| Parts of The Carey woods are completely overtaken by privet, honeysuckle, brier and rose. This is bad, but it's nothing compared to other areas. |
I went back several times, wandering up and down the hillside, trying to find the little curved cedar branches and the persimmon tree that was in the background of the photos I had taken. I even tried coming in on the east side like I used to, but I couldn't even find the dead pine log that used to lead me up the hill to the milkweed. There is Chinese privet, Japanese honeysuckle, green brier and Supplejack (Berchemia scandens) everywhere.
I want the woods to be as I remember them before the storms came through.
My motivations were again selfish. I wanted to be able to find the milkweed plants -- if they hadn't been smothered by a fallen tree. I started researching ways to control Chinese privet, and all I can say is what I've learned has been disheartening and really quite scary. I knew the problem was bad, but I really had no idea just how bad.
Dr. Don Steinkraus, professor with the University of Arkansas Entomology department, gave this sobering assessment of the problem to the Wild Ones - Ozark Chapter.
He closed his presentation with these words.
The war is on. The battles are everywhere. No place is safe, not even the Buffalo National River.
The warriors/workers are few. Most people are blissfully asleep, unaware.
Our native plants, butterflies, moths, birds, bees, are depending on us.
Our tools: our labor, chainsaws, scythes, hands and knees, burns, education, herbicides.
Herbicides. As much as I hate the thought of using them, given the limited time I have, I'm not sure there's a way to get fight this battle without them. And it is a battle I'm going to fight.
I bought a pint of Killzall glyphosate concentrate from Amazon and a foam dispenser and dye from Green Shoots. The dispenser and dye came in the mail today.
My war on these invasives has started.