I have American bittersweet, four plants planted along an old pasture fence -- and one volunteer which just appeared maybe 50 yards down the fence before the others were large enough to flower. My American bittersweet is not real good at twining; I need to "encourage" it. I would say I do at least 90% of the twining. On the other hand, the northernmost one really enjoys tying up the weeping cherry branches....

The second one is a weed in every place it grows. I would pull them if they were on my property. The seed is a flat oval about 1/4 inch long with 2 sharp horns on the end. These horns are barbed, so when they get into your clothes, they stay there. It is torture to wear socks with these hanging on. Sort of like wearing cactus around your ankles.

I would not till or disturb the soil. There are dormant weed and grass seeds in the soil that will sprout if you till. I would like you to realize that the best long term solution is not going to happen overnight. If you plant wildflowers, and do it correctly, it will take about two to three years before it looks like a nice wildflower patch. Patience when working with wildflowers will pay off. Before you plant anything, You will need to kill what is growing there now, so it doesn't out compete your wildflower seeds. I probably would wait until the existing stuff starts not to be dormant....and then spray it with roundup. Round up works while the plants are actively growing, so if they are dormant right now - its not going to do much .... A couple weeks after the roundup application, mow any plant residue left very very short... follow the mowing with light raking to scarify the soil, but don't disturb the soil too much. After mowing and raking, then apply a quality wildflower septic mix from a reputable native plant nursery. Do not buy a can of seeds from a big box retail or hardware store. Reputable native plant nurseries have a pre made mix specifically for septic systems. You may want to roll the seed to get good soil contact but that would be hard on the side slopes. So you can probably skip that part. I would cover the seed, especially on the side slopes with an erosion control blanket like North American Green S150. The blanket gets tacked into the soil and will degrade over time. The blanket will hold the soil on your side slopes until the time that your wildflowers get established. The blanket also acts as a mulch, preventing windborn weed seeds from getting established, and it helps moderate soil moisture and temperature which will help your seeds germinate. You may want to water it a few times. Do not expect any significant growth the first year. In fact I would probably keep it weed wacked to about six inches or so, the first growing seasons to keep anything from going to seed. It helps keep weeds from multiplying and it doesn't hurt the wildflowers. I just use a mower set real high, but it would be hard to do that on a slope. good luck.

I am here. Been kind of distracted............BUT I AM HERE NOW. I doubt I would have been any good at keeping anybody under control, I stay so out of control myself. Heheehe. That vine thingie looks YUK!...disgusting, kind of nasty...looking. I like 'unusual, exotic, different' plants, but I draw the line at things that look nasty. Did y'all get seeds for that thing? I wish I could have been with y'all. It would have been a blast! I am thinking that we need to do a trip around in the fall tho. I printed out the thread about the good nurseries in Texas, and I am going to start plotting my route. I hope to see some of y'all on the way. Next year, the MG conference is going to be in Montgomery County. Who lives in Montgomery County? The following year, it will be in Marshall, Texas. Who lives there? I only get out a few times a year, I need to start making them count! Janie