kudzu
It was a dreary fall day not too many years ago, with intermittent light rain but as per usual, I didn't take the time to feel gloomy. Leaves were falling from the tall trees looking like miniature helicopters or tiny hang gliders. They covered the ground in a multi-colored blanket of yellows and browns.
The trees in this area are about mid-process of being denuded of leaves, to show we are deep into the fall season. Then I noticed something disturbing to me - - a patch of kudzu, about an acre in size, was still green and growing.
If this vine is vegetation of which you are unaware, I hope that this will always be the case. In the other parts of my area of travel and work, this vining plant has been killed back by the cold and all leaves are brown.
Could this kudzu be a mutant form that just shrugs off the cold and continues to grow on through the winter? If so this could be very bad news for this area and even the whole world. During the normal growing season, kudzu will grow about a foot per day and if left unchecked, will grow around, over or through any obstacle, changing the color of the entire landscape to bright green.
Very little, even harsh chemical plant killers, can control kudzu, except the cold. Now the alarming possibilities of a resistant variety of mutant ninja kudzu rears its ugly head. Growth rates could be phenomenal - 6 or 7 or more feet per day - able to cover a house in a night and a town in a week.
In my imagination I can see that our efforts at controlling it's growth might even be humorous to the plant, even though I don't know how it would express this humor, since maleficent vocal laughter wouldn't be possible.
Not desiring to be the least bit offensive to the plant - lest it follow me home and grow all through my house - I walked over and gently stroked it's leaves with the back of my hand, allowing it to record my scent and to be on better terms if it ever came to my neighborhood.
Communication is usually the way for people (and things?) to get along - - - if I could only speak (or sign?) kudzu - - - maybe it's on the internet - - - mreddie
The trees in this area are about mid-process of being denuded of leaves, to show we are deep into the fall season. Then I noticed something disturbing to me - - a patch of kudzu, about an acre in size, was still green and growing.
If this vine is vegetation of which you are unaware, I hope that this will always be the case. In the other parts of my area of travel and work, this vining plant has been killed back by the cold and all leaves are brown.
Could this kudzu be a mutant form that just shrugs off the cold and continues to grow on through the winter? If so this could be very bad news for this area and even the whole world. During the normal growing season, kudzu will grow about a foot per day and if left unchecked, will grow around, over or through any obstacle, changing the color of the entire landscape to bright green.
Very little, even harsh chemical plant killers, can control kudzu, except the cold. Now the alarming possibilities of a resistant variety of mutant ninja kudzu rears its ugly head. Growth rates could be phenomenal - 6 or 7 or more feet per day - able to cover a house in a night and a town in a week.
In my imagination I can see that our efforts at controlling it's growth might even be humorous to the plant, even though I don't know how it would express this humor, since maleficent vocal laughter wouldn't be possible.
Not desiring to be the least bit offensive to the plant - lest it follow me home and grow all through my house - I walked over and gently stroked it's leaves with the back of my hand, allowing it to record my scent and to be on better terms if it ever came to my neighborhood.
Communication is usually the way for people (and things?) to get along - - - if I could only speak (or sign?) kudzu - - - maybe it's on the internet - - - mreddie
posted by mreddie | 9:15 AM
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