Himalayan Blackberry

Last Sunday (Sept 25), Jim, Gordon and I again headed out to the Arboretum side to work on morning glory in the Arboretum Annex. Gary joined us after each of us had picked out spots to work on.

For whatever reason, after pulling out a few vines, I wound up tackling blackberry instead. I eventually settled on the blackberry growing on a little knoll:

I used just my trusty Felco #6 since the guys had the lopper and mattox--probably not that efficient. Since I had to stick my arm into the thicket, I got scratched. Below is the after photo:

On our walk back to the Meridian side, we walked on the west side of the soccer field, passing by more blackberry. Gary couldn't resist and did a little clipping. 

Fall Is Here!

Jim cancelled last Sunday's work party when it rained on Saturday and there were indications for more in the morning. Ironically, it was was a nice morning. Oh, well. We had mostly pleasant weather all this week. Here's photo from Wednesday looking toward the Arboretum.

Arboretum Side

Last Sunday (Sept 11), we worked on the Arboretum side for the first time in a long time. I suppose, technically, we worked in the area that John called the Arboretum Annex--south of the Arboretum and basically near the corner of Corliss and N. 150th Street (but can't get to the area from that corner). We still met on the Meridian side and Jim, Gordon and I set off for the Arboretum side with a wheelbarrow and tools. Jim brought one of his garbage cans. Later, Gary joined us.

Yikes! The morning glory was awful. I worked in this one area:

It looked a bit better later:

                                    

Similarly, here are the before and after photos of the area that the guys worked on:

On the bright side, there was a lovely patch of piggyback plant along the trail, beneath a vine maple:

On the other hand, I walked in the opposite direction and looked out beyond the Garry Oak. The knotweed was thriving by the wetland.

So, that was this past Sunday!

Today was Labor Day. Yesterday, Jim, Gordon and I worked on the trail to the Southern Forest. We were later joined by Gary.

We basically tackled the morning glory and blackberry right off the trail. Jim and Gordon wound up focusing on one area, near a pine, and uncovered a healthy snowberry in bloom. Jim ended the session with couple loads of mulch.