Getting Rid of Old Mistakes

About five years ago, I had one concept for the side garden that including growing trumpet creeper up my Norway spruce.  All the books said not to plant it in a small yard, but I was planting it in a very difficult place to grow up a forty year old tree. The vine grew but did not flourish, did not climb, and did not bloom. Sadly, the spruce died a couple of years later, and I had it and its companion tree removed.

For another two years I thought about what to do with that suddenly sunny side yard, during which time the trumpet creeper started to thrive, but never to bloom.  I had a substantial tuteur for it to climb on, and I was pretty good at keeping it cut back and not allowing it to sucker at all.

The vine and a banana tree in October 2008 - a much more innocent time.

Finally the concept for the side grew clear in my mind. It does not include a massive non-flowering vine. I have planted several small trees along there, the kind that would be overwhelmed by this vine. I dug down and got a lot of the roots of the vine out, but I knew I did not have it all. All last summer, the vine continued to sprout, and I continued to dig down and pull out pieces of the roots. Big pieces, a couple of inches in diameter, found a foot or more down. I knew I was barely holding my own against this plant that wants to be big.

I noticed its first sprouts yesterday.  Today I got out the roundup.  I ruthlessly sprayed its tender shoots, just two inches tall. My hope is the poison travels back to the root and kills it dead, making it unnecessary for me to continue digging it out.  If the roundup will ever work, now is the time while the shoots are tender and the plant is relying on the food built up in the roots.  Wish me luck.