Yesterday I took on the challenge of removing bindweed (morning glory) and blackberry vines from a thimbleberry shrub.
The bindweed wraps itself around each stem, weighing it down and eventually killing it.
The thimbleberry leaves are beautiful. They have three to seven lobes and are soft and hairy.
I tried to unwind the bindweed from each thimbleberry stem carefully, but the leaves and stems are so fragile that I lost many of them in the process of trying to free them. The stems are now free from blackberry and bindweed vines but I’m going to have to get under the shrub and dig out the blackberry roots to keep it that way. We will probably have to deal with the bindweed every year.
It was fun to watch the stems straighten once they were relieved of the weight of the bindweed. The shrub still looks scraggly but it will fill in and return to the beauty it is meant to be.
The density of the bindweed made it hard to tell where the shrub began and ended. The area towards the back had a much thicker layer of bindweed.
As I started to cut it away, I realized that it wasn’t thumbleberry that was under it, it was a gigantic fern. With renewed energy, I started cutting away the bindweed. Before long, the fern was free!
I love doing this work. It is full of mystery and adventure and is so rewarding.
Living, Learning and Letting Go 
Beautiful! Liberation!
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Cool!
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Beautiful photos. Love the clarity 🙂
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Thank you.
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Celebration. A sense of great satisfaction!
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Yes it is a celebration and is satisfying. It is hard to make myself do anything else.
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Love this, Karuna! With a name like `Morning Glory` one would think they would be nice! How deceiving that name is! I have scheduled my post inspired by this one to go up about 6 hours https://cheryllynnroberts.wordpress.com/?p=11099 Not sure if you will be able to see it. Title: Compassion breeds
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I look forward to reading it. Can’t see it now though.
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It must has taken you a long time to remove the bindweed. My neighbor paid no attention to it’s grow, now the morning glory has invaded his entire slope and the huge slope of several neighbors. I have been guarding it from coming to my slope in my backyard. Didn’t go out too much in the winter and let several strands came in. I’m glad I caught it before they entangle my plants.
Anyway, have you received my posts the last couple weeks? It seems that not everyone receives it. Here is my new link and would you like to add it to your Reader –
https://theshowerofblessings.wordpress.com
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I’ve struggled it in my yard for years but it isn’t bad as long as I keep on top of it. But in the Greenbelt it is rampant. Thanks for the link!
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It seems like you are clearing the weed as much as you could and discover the nice plants under it. It takes time to keep a nice yard. Nothing is maintenance free!!
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No part of this will ever be maintenance free but is the size of many yards and has been buried under invasive plants for decades! It has been, and will continue to be, good practice in remembering to take one step at a time rather than being overwhelmed by all that needs to be done.
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I know exactly what it means. My husband is mowing the lawn and I take care of the plants including trimming the Date palms. I plan to trim one a day. But I couldn’t finish one. I didn’t want to get over exhausted.
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