The subject of my frequent raves about plants from other parts of the world that are brought to this country will all good intentions, is the subject of this article. The Mulberry Tree, enmeshed so fully into the memory of children who grew up singing All around the Mulberry Bush, has become the subject of one of my recent raves. Since I began city gardening in Springfield, the first city I have gardened in since the early 70's, I have discovered the menace that this tree can be, popping up in flower beds, along fence lines and well, anywhere you don't want them. (That, by the way, is the definition of a weed) Add this one to the list with Silver maples, and Siberian elms, whose seeds do not even have to be layered (wintered over) to sprout and produce thousands of seedlings yearly, shortly after their seeds drop in the spring. If these seedlings are pulled by hand from flower beds and fence line when they are still young they won't survive to menace you with a large seed producing tree and the continue the cycle. If they slip by unnoticed they yearly become more and more difficult to remove.

Interestingly, Mulberrys were introduced to this country from Russia about the time of WW II in hopes of developing a market for silk produced by worms who thrive on the Chinese Mulberry. Chinese Silkworms didn't adapt to the Russian Mulberry, but the tree adapted did with a vengeance. Birds seem to like them though, I find them not so good for cooking with their bland, nonacetic, mildly sweet,taste. These berries are shown up by so many other berries ripening in the summer in my estimation. I did make wine from this berry in my wine making days and came up with something not unlike Mogen David, though not as sweet.

The native homes to most of these invasive, weedy plants usually have natural predators (insects and/or diseases) to keep them from becoming pests. One example of an exotic invasive plant was reported on NPR's Morning Edition recently. Hog Weed grows by such leaps and bounds that it is difficult to control and soon takes over. The point made by the reporter is that avid gardener's have a natural sense of curiosity about any "new" plant. That, combined with a feeling of omnipotence about keeping the plant in control has made Hog Weed move to the top of the exotic invasive list. This list was recently headed by Kudzu, the scourge of the south that, like killer bees is heading north. In defense of gardeners I must say that frequently these "new" plants are marketed and planted before their invasive nature is really understood.

One such invasive plant that has taken its stand in the hated exotic invasive category is the multiflora rose, touted by state and county planners through the auspices of the Illinois extension offices in the 60s as the "best shrub for roadside planting." It didn't take long to see that with the help of the birds, this roadside wonder soon began to pop up on crop land, forest floor, sunny waterways, and private homeowners property with equal vengeance. Wild birds have helped to spread this plant because of their fondness for the flavorful rose hips that the plant produces. This plant is so difficult to eradicate that farmers and homeowners must resort to the most potent herbicides to be rid of it. Once, as an experiment when cleaning out the brine tank for my water softener, I put the salty slurry on a rapidly growing multiflora by my back door to see what results I would get. Though this plant was relatively small by my account, a couple of 5 gallon buckets of salt failed to kill it completely. The following summer I finished it off by digging and burning a considerable root ball. Though I must have looked like a maniac to the casual observer that summer, I still feel a grand sense of accomplishment to having defeated this menace. Now to the rest of the property.