There are three different plants in there, but the one I'm asking about is the thick, stalky one in the foreground with the greenish, reddish coloring and no leaves. Can you see the thorns on that thing? Oy! Zorak and I look like we've taken up Olympic cat tossing.There's another one among them that has tiny, curved hooks that are sharp and hard. Possibly barbed. I suspect evil, as well. Particularly the one that reached down and nabbed me in the hollow on the back of my neck while I wrestled with the reddish ones above - ohhhh, okay. Strike that. Zorak just informed me that they're one and the same. These things get whip-like near the end. Yeouch!
And that means there are only two plants in that photo. So, then, what's this stuff, with the leaves?
If you run into it, castor oil is incredibly soothing on the injuries inflicted by these plants.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
6 comments:
OUCH! Sorry for all the scratches. Thank goodness for castor oil!!
The briars look like blackberry bushes, to me. It's difficult to say for ABSOLUTE certain without foliage, but they really do look like blackberry briars.
Some of those leaves actaully look like they belong to honeysuckle vines. Although not thorny themselves, honeysuckles will often intertwine and grow with briar patches. They can also stay green for most of the year--another sign that they're probably honeysuckle.
Thom, thanks. They are green most of the year, and I did smell honeysuckle last year - although I thought it was from the one growing up the front porch (which is pathetic, and I don't know how it stays alive - it doesn't look much like these b/c it's so puny). It's thoroughly entwined in the brambly things. And you can see in the picture of the patio, below, that it goes waaaayyy up into the tree behind. It's monstrous.
And if I've just spent three days pulling up all the blackberry plants... *sob*... but might that explain the invasion of Japanese beetles we had last year, too? Aren't they supposed to love blackberries?
Rochelle, ROFL. That's hilarious. Thanks.
Dy
Yep, I'd say blackberry brambles. You'll be able to tell the blackberry, (and possibly black rasberry) bushes soon, because they will get white flowers all over them before making berries. I don't think that they are all that attractive, EVER. But the pay off is all the berries. We all bear the markings of berry pickers every summer! LOL. I'm sure you are loaded with them on that property, I wouldn't worry about what you've removed. You will probably find a less invasive patch somewhere. Hard, hard work, that!!
Ow. I was fertilizing my roses today and now have the usual "thank you for the yummy fertilizer" scars to show for it. Aside from roses, I'd be tempted to hack down anything with that vicious thorns, but blackberries are lovely. I have my eye on a patch between our house and the cemetary. They are Not on my list of things to plant in our yard, though.
I love the picture of Zorak & the boys in the hayloft!
My money is on blackberry as well. The 'good' news is that it's darned hard to get rid of the stuff, esp. if it's anything like the himalayan blackberry which threatens to choke all lifeforms around here. Seems to me the more you hack the stuff, the more vigorously it fruits.
Love the photos of your property. You're working hard & it's looking great!
I have a rose bush that appears to have been on my property longer than my house. I hate it and every year we butcher the thing, but it always comes back. And it travels underground. So even when you think you are a safe distance and can dig without gloves, nope, ouch.
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