The Deadly Beauty....

I have always just let wild plants grow where they may here on the Bayou.  It seemed to be the law of nature  "survival of the fittest" should reign but now I am beginning to have second thoughts.  That pesky old thing called the "invasive species" group appears to have reared its ugly head and has come back to plague the Bayou and surrounding areas.  Sesbania has never presented a problem other than being a nuisance to Mark as he walked on the pier.  There is a nice size bush that took up residence right on the edge of the pier and the branches overswept the walkway.  He would get quite aggravated each time the branches would block his way and he would always threaten to "chop it down".  I would insist that the bush was beautiful and not hurting a thing.  I knew it really was in the way and always promised to trim it back a bit but never completely removed it.  Now, I am paying the cost of allowing this thing to grow!  This past year, it bloomed profusely and I admired the bright orange blossoms!  The bush appeared to be literally dripping with blooms!  Gorgeous!

Not so lovely is the fact that each of those blooms produced a very fertile seed pod!  Those seed pods scattered everywhere and now a humongous crop of Sesbania has laid siege to the hillside.  I should have listened back when Mark made his request!  That bush should have never been allowed to reproduce!  There are actually three types of the bush on the hillside..one blooms in buttery yellow, one is orange while the other is more of a variegated version with orange and yellow.  Each bush made hundreds of squarish seed pods that contained five to seven seeds. These pods are called Rattle Boxes since when they are dried, the wind causes them to make a clattering noise. It is those seed pods that have created all my problems!  I can fully understand why this is referred to as an invasive species!  My three bushes that were wild to start with have now multiplied into thousands just because of one good growing season.  Thousands of tiny bushes that will either need to be removed or allowed to multiply into millions!

One word of warning about these bushes, as lovely as the blooms are....ALL PARTS ARE POISONOUS!  Those seeds are especially toxic and just a few can kill an animal or human! Supposedly, the foul taste would be enough to spook any critter from sampling more than one seed but as few as six can kill and usually within twenty-four hours.  I worry now with the puppy, Sunny, since she wants to eat any and everything!  With that said, I do believe I will listen to my husband and take the ax and shovel after the bush near the pier. The lawnmower will make short work of those sprouting in the lawn and I can pull out any that might come up in the flower gardens.  Those that are in the marsh will just have to stay as I would not like to tangle with any of the cottonmouth moccasins that inhabit that area!