Concrete Jungle

The other day, a colleague and I went to grab lunch at Terra Breads cafe, which is in an industrial area close to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Village. I typically go there for lunch once a week, but it had been a while since my last visit. Usually I park out front, but this time we parked a couple of blocks away. As we were walking, I noticed that a number of the businesses have planted some shrubs and plants in front of their offices and shops—a nice touch in this concrete jungle. Then I saw that morning glory (also known as hedge bindweed) was wrapping itself around some of this greenery.

I remarked to my colleague, Tristan, that the morning glory was really taking over. He commented that its large white trumpet flowers are really pretty - it's true, they are quite attractive. Then I explained that this is the stuff I've been battling in my back garden - it winds itself around other plants and it's fiddly to remove it from its victims, especially ferns. Also, it's difficult to get rid of it entirely - new plants are constantly popping up. "This stuff is invasive," I said. With every step, we saw more and more of it. In fact, it had crept into the green spaces in front of every business we passed. On the way back to the car, we couldn't help but notice a carpet of it that stretched the entire length of a building. When we lifted the leaves, we saw that there was no dirt underneath - the multiple thick, ropey twine of vines were resting on the concrete below! This stuff is invincible, I thought.

Just a week earlier, my friend told me that morning had completely taken over a tree on her parent's farm. Walking and driving around the city, I have started to notice it everywhere: ambling up the fence by Mountain View Cemetery, taking hold of shrubs in the boulevard near Superstore SE Marine Drive, climbing shrubs in people's front yards, dotting the hillside across from my office.

According to BC Forests, hedge bindweed can twine, trail or climb to 3 metres. It is part of the Convolvulaceae family of plants, which always twine from right to left, opposite the course of the sun. The Greater Vancouver Invasive Plant Council considers hedge bindweed an established invasive, meaning that is widespread and abundant throughout this region. Management is focused on reducing the impact of morning glory and controlling its spread because successful eradication is unlikely.

In my own garden, I have seen how bindweed can quickly grip and begin smothering plants in a really short period of time. Since encountering the jungle of morning glory in the industrial area down on West 5th Avenue, I’m even more compelled to chop it down to the ground as soon as I see it. Check out a video on how to eliminate morning glory from Steve Whysall, garden columnist at the Vancouver Sun.

Behind a pretty face

We moved into our first house at the beginning of April 2010. One of the selling features was its mature perennial garden. At the open house, I noticed the backyard had no lawn, which was fine with me – I’m allergic to grass and maintenance can take a toll on the environment. The front had a beautiful, petite magnolia tree. Other than that, I didn't really notice the garden, and since we were buying in Vancouver when there was hardly a house for sale, there was no opportunity for a second look before making an offer.

We learned the previous owner had recorded a seasonal diary of the garden through the years. She kindly offered to stop by and give a guided garden tour. Over 30-plus years, she’d assembled an amazing collection of perennial plants, trees, and shrubs. A number of them came from other people’s gardens she said—a quilt in nature I thought. I should have taken notes. There were so many different and unfamiliar plants. Living in apartments and condos until now, I was limited to container gardening with herbs and annuals.

One of the first things I wanted to do was create a veggie patch in the backyard. How rewarding it would be to enjoy fresh greens, young beets, and sweet ripe tomatoes throughout the summer! There was a patch back there but it looked unloved. So I purchased organic soil mix that I worked into the existing earth. Three old tires lay in the patch and I was told they are great for growing squash because they get really hot in the sun. Marvelous, I thought, I’ve never grown squash but I love eating it, so why not? I poured some fresh soil into the tire holes and mixed it around.

I was planning to plant the veggie patch the first weekend of May, but we were having a house warming party on the Saturday. I foolishly thought I could squeeze planting in on Friday night, but we got busy with party preparation. It turned out to be a blessing—I happened to leaf through the local free paper (the one that’s mostly flyers) that night and stumbled on article advising against using old tires in your veggie patch. When the rubber in the tires starts breaking down, toxins may be released into the soil, contaminating your crop. Bummer. I’d have to get rid of the tires before planting anything.

The garden looked pretty good for the party although I hadn’t done much except work on the veggie patch. The tulips and hyacinths were putting on a wonderful show in the front yard. I was lucky that some guests at our party were gardeners. They were quick to notice the wonderful trees and shrubs in the back, including rhododendrons, azaleas, pear trees, mock orange. But they also pointed out that our garden is home to several invasive plants and noxious weeds. Nightshade. St. John’s-Wort. Creeping Buttercup. Periwinkle. Plus comfrey which is quite toxic.

I took in all the advice and thoughts. First though, I needed to get rid of the tires. It was tough to remove them because they were full of earth and plenty of old roots were tangled inside. I think one came from a truck or tractor it was so large. All was going well until under the second tire I uncovered an ant colony. It was difficult to pick them out initially, but as I peered closer, I could see the earth moving.

What should have been an extra day to get rid of the tires turned into a multi-day effort to eliminate the ants naturally since I’d be growing veggies right over them. Pouring boiling water on the area seem the best option. Ideally I would find the queen and pour the water on her. However, digging below the crawling surface wasn’t easy since there was a tangle of roots and runners down there, I suspected from the raspberry bushes and the creeping vines concealing the worn out wooden fence beside the veggie patch. After two days of pouring boiling water, coffee laced with cinnamon, and ground up organic orange peels on the pesky ants, I was throwing in the towel. If they crawled all over my zucchini plants, so be it. Besides, I was going to plant some mint close by—I read ants hate it.

Meanwhile, I had started Googling invasive plants to learn more and find photos. I took pictures of the plants in our garden to compare and help with identification. Although not considered an invasive, comfrey was high on my “going” list—it is furry and unattractive.

Then I noticed that the plant suspected to be nightshade was starting to wrap itself around a large garlic plant near the veggie patch. This didn’t sound like nightshade. The creeping didn’t seem too bad at first, but after a couple of days, it looked like it was downright strangling the innocent stalk, trying to pin its outside leaves to the ground like a wrestler. After looking more closely at other areas of the back garden, much to my dismay, I discovered the strangler plant was everywhere, including attacking the rhododendrons! So much for eliminating the comfrey, I needed to save rhodos and ferns from the strangler. I believe it is bindweed, a relative of morning glory. Bindweed sounded difficult to get rid of, and the jungle-y backyard would no doubt add to the complexity.

While all this was going on, the neighbours commented on the beautiful show the tulips were putting on in the front yard. If only they knew what was happening behind that pretty façade.