hey guys, been AWOL for a few days but some interesting responses. I didn't think pokeweek died back that much in winter? I have known property owners to plant it and have seen it green and without berries in the winter. In fact I was at a property yesterday where I noticed it growing in a flowerbed. If it is a pokeweed of a weedy variety, should I kill it? It is a desirable plant for a lot of folks around here. So I have been thinking a lot about what my strategy is going to be and I think I am going to clear some places for trees to go in in the next few weeks. I was walking through the woods near my neighborhood this weekend and I walked into a large grove of white pine and I noticed that for whatever reason, these vines don't grow under them, but do grow in the surrounding areas which are made up mostly of ash, oak, and those white mullberry looking things. I think for this reason I am going to start with some white pines and plan to add to them as I am able to get control of more and more areas. Once I get a handle on how much maintenance this will take and I hopefully get some areas cleared I will add some maples and oaks and other deciduous trees. Also I've been trying to identify some good undergrowth and my shrub ID book is delayed from Amazon (shouldn't have chosen the free shipping option because I have been waiting for weeks). Anyone got any ideas on some quick growing shrubs. The links below are to the State DNR nursery and order forms. They have some low priced native plants for sale. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/nursery/ http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/treemendous/ordertrees.asp Anyway, as always, thanks for the input.

You may be stuck pulling the stuff up. Roundup is a systemic herbicide - the chemical is taken in through the leaves, and not as likely to be absorbed by a woody stem of a defoliated plant that is dormant. Something like Orthos brush-b-gone is more for woody plants, but in my experience the Ortho works better on honeysuckle than round-up. With the coralberry dormant it may be okay to use round-up as there are no leaves to absorb the chemical, however I am not familiar enough with coralberry to know how soft the stems are. Soft stems can absorb the chemical. I've got to believe, due to it's family, that they are fairly soft and new growth will stand a chance of absorbing poison. Not really worth the risk. Honeysuckle is not that bad to pull up, really, not in comparison to other invasives anyway. That's just my opinion, though, maybe because I've pulled up miles of the stuff in my life. It's still a chore and a half, probably take a couple of seasons, but coralberry is worth saving. I'm in my second season of battle with jh which has run over a bunch of natural ferns and unfortunately there is no easy way about it.

At Monticello, they claim that Jefferson planted poison ivy as an "ornamental" and that it was commonly sold by dealers as such. Here is a link that might be useful: Jefferson's Garden

Its an older stand that was here before I moved in, so we're not talking about a few vines running up a tree. There are hundreds of vines coming up all over the place like a sod. I spent around 8 hours this winter, cumulatively, working my way along the back property line pulling it by hand, and when I got to the other side it was just at another level, from the back of the property up to the street. Here's the epicenter of the vines, pic taken right before I got after some of it with a brush cutter. Now I want to spray all the runners and ground level vines. Theres also poison ivy, virginia creeper, wild grapes and who knows what else in there.