heavenly invasive

Memorial Day weekend saw us tackling 2 projects, one inside the house and the other outside. I am so happy with how much we accomplished!

First up – the outside project.

In the spirit of using what I have for now, I started installing a brick edging along this front bed. When I got down to the birch tree, I realized it would be best to remove the bushes at the bottom of the bed now instead of later. These bushes are simply that, bushes. No amazing flowers, no colorful leaves. They would be perfect for a hedge, but not as stand-alone shrubs at the front of the house.

My husband and I removed the 6 bushes which wasn’t too hard. We had the hardest time with the bushes nestled in the base of the river birch. I’m glad we removed the bushes now because we discovered a reason for the water erosion on that side of the yard.

The downspouts go into an underground drainage system which deposits the water away from the house. Unfortunately, the black plastic pipes are not buried very far in the ground. At some point, a pipe was exposed under the bushes and damaged. This led to the water exiting farther up the hill instead of down by the street. My husband is going to dig up the area and replace the broken pipe with a new one.

After removing the bushes, we decided to tackle the heavenly bamboo under the office window. Let’s just say it wasn’t so heavenly to remove! According to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden located in Richmond, heavenly bamboo is also known as nandina, a poisonous, invasive shrub. It’s not on the invasive plant list for Virginia, yet, though it is in other states. Nandina cannot be composted due to potential spreading issues or the berries poisoning local birds. I need to bag up what we dug up and take it to the dump this week. I have another nandina I planted last year which I’m also going to remove and take to the dump.

Removing the heavenly bamboo highlighted another issue. While the shrub held the top of the bed in place, much of the lower soil has eroded. We’re going to add compost to the back and lower part of the bed to raise the level of the soil and make it a better-growing medium for new plants. I’d like to plant native evergreen shrubs along the back of the bed; winterberry holly and yaupon holly are 2 possibilities.

This week, I’m going to do one more sifting of the bed where the heavenly bamboo used to be. I want to be sure we removed all the roots. No roots left behind!