Fence Row Work

I’m continuing the work of clearing in the fence rows.   This is the line that runs away from the former rose thicket and bounds the field I mowed a few weeks ago.  It’s finally getting to the point where conditions resemble a row more than a wide band of brush.

Some sections are relatively easy to work in now that I’ve spent a couple of years removing the larger invasive specimens.  My primary targets are Autumn Olive and Multiflora Rose. 

I did some work in this section last year and successfully eliminated many invasive plants.  The red flags marking invasives are in areas that were not treated last year.

My clearing efforts have taken me up to the area of the original fence itself.  I’ll have to trace the route of the old fence wire and clean up some random junk before I take the mower into that area.

Some people have expressed displeasure with the lack of color in my winter posts.  Since I only post current photos, I’m limited to what nature and my activities have to offer.  I present these red flags as a color offering to those in need.  I cleared some large Autumn Olives from here last year.  The flags mark the smaller Autumn Olive sprouts that remained.  I’ll be dealing with new sprouts for a couple more years, but their numbers will rapidly decrease.

In some cases the fence row has narrowed to the point of almost connecting the neighboring fields.  It won’t take much more work to create a connecting corridor at this site.  The greenery showing in the shrubs is from Japanese Honeysuckle.  The honeysuckle has stayed green and vigorous all winter.  Fortunately, it’s growing on an Autumn Olive so I’ll remove two invasives with one cutting.

This medium sized Autumn Olive is growing right on the fence wire.  It’s taken a couple of years to fight my way into this point, but it looks like the end is in sight.  I’m looking forward to the day that the remnants of the fence row contain only native species.