Attack of the Virginia Creeper

Don't ever plant Virginia Creeper...it is pure evil. It will take over your fences and send feelers into your yard and climb trees and scale the side of your house and snake into your garden and wrap everything in curly tendrils that choke the life out of plant and tree. Evil I tell you!! The creeper was planted by a former neighbor long before we showed up and it has taken over the fence lines of five houses. This spring we combined our efforts with that of our neighbors and began to fight the creeper's encroachment. Chad has been amazing in the effort. He pulled down and then piled up a heap of vines that almost reached the top of our deck...

we are getting ready to haul the vines off in this picture, so the pile is already toppled over a bit.

A look at our fence line gives you an idea of what he's been dealing with.
Chad had removed all but this last section of green, which is now gone. It will take even longer to get rid of the roots that are tangled around the fence, but we've won a major battle here and won't surrender our gains. If we can get rid of the creeper for good, I'd like to plant grape vines along one fence and blackberry bushes on the other. Those would be plants to get excited about!