They Just Keep Growing

   Hurricanes and tropical storms "donate" a lot of things to us.  The tidal surges reach well into the yard (sometimes as far as inside of the Little Bayou House) and deposit anything that happened to get caught up in the water.  Once the surge reaches our shore, whatever was south of us stays.  It is not a fun cleanup, by any means.  The trash, lumber, downed trees, boats, pieces of houses, furniture...just about anything imaginable gets all tumbled together with marsh, vines and other debris.  This has to be sorted and then disposed of properly.  A very tiresome task that has to be dealt with before the next storm rolls into the area.  

  What does NOT get separated and discarded is the seeds and other minute plant material that soon take root and grow rampantly in our rich soil.  There are far too many invasive plants that come to visit and never leave.  I try to eliminate as many as I possibly can but it is a daunting chore.  I am not about to traipse out into the middle of an alligator and cottonmouth infested marsh to pull up some stupid plant that came from parts unknown.  For instance, we are now being inundated with Sesbania, also known as rattlebox tree.  This small tree started after Hurricane Katrina dumped a few pods but then Hurricane Zeta upped the ante by spewing thousands of seeds everywhere!  At first, I thought "A couple of those won't be bad.  They are pretty things and surely I can keep them under control."  WRONG!!!  While I am able to do a pretty good job of thinning the ones on dry land, those in the marsh just keep multiplying.    Each of those "rattlebox" seed pods can hold up to twenty seeds that scatter everywhere when the pods burst.  It is just my observation but I think every last seed must be viable.  

  Am I to just embrace the beauty of the tree and its blooms or do I try to eradicate these along with the dreaded cogon grass that Katrina gave us?  If I am to attempt this, how???  Like I said...I'm smart enough to stay out of the reach of the gators and moccasins but how do I reach those trees?  Wonder if there is a market for these things?  Hmmm?  The bajillion seeds could be potted and sold.  I would be rich!  Anyone want to buy an invasive tree? 

On the tip of my tongue!

  Have you ever drawn a blank on something you should fully know?  The name of a certain tree has fully slipped my mind and it is aggravating the stew out of me.  I know this tree.  I have seen this tree almost every day of my life.  It grows wild near or in the marshes of the Bayou and since Hurricane Katrina, we have them popping up all over the hillside.  I am not complaining about this as it is a positive side of a very devastating storm but the fact that I cannot remember the name is driving me nuts!

  The trees here stay on the smallish side and are nondescript most of the time.  Their true beauty comes out when they bloom.  Some of the trees have orangish blooms while others are yellow.  The flowers are in small clusters and droop much like wisteria.  In fact, someone mentioned that the orange ones are scarlet wisterias but, somehow, that does not seem correct.  

  The quandary will frustrate me until I have a chance to research the blooms for a true identity.  In the meantime, I will simply enjoy the loveliness that dots the hillside!

Update!  A friend just informed me that this is rattlebox (Sesbania)!  The seed pods do indeed rattle.  It is sort of an invasive plant if allowed to go unchecked but since I mow this area, it should be fine.  Why could I not think of that quite obvious name???