The big blue truck eases through the graveled county road. Recent rains have beaten down the dust and when you’re traveling a back road that means you can leave the windows down. The sweet scent of roses carries well in the humid air however this time its not one of the Native pink roses that I’ve come to know and love. It’s the invasive multiflora rose that was brought to North America in the 1880s.
At the dawn of the computer age someone stated in a humorous alteration of Newton’s third law that “For every action there’s an equal and opposite malfunction.” The sentiment definitely holds true for the multiflora rose. Because they have an aggressive root system the multiflora rose was brought in as grafting stock. Native roses are self limiting and prior to the introduction of multiflora rose this kept the ecosystem in balance. The number of wild roses were kept in check because it needed just the right conditions to flourish. But this also resulted in a challenge for those who wanted to cultivate the native roses for its larger fruit. Of for avian habit. In Victorian years roses were also a food crop as well as flower. The leaves and petals were made into various teas and beauty treatments and the fruit made into jams and teas. They were never a staple crop but there was large niche market. So the idea was to graft the native roses onto the more aggressive roots of the multiflora roses. The multiflora roses escaped from the captive conditions of the nursery and began to dominate the landscape. Because they grow so aggressively and produce more seeds than native roses they began to push out the native population. In fact I only know of a couple of places where the native roses have held their grounds locally.
Government officials didn’t help much either. They encouraged us plant the alien roses as a form of erosion control and wildlife habitat. This only made things harder on the native roses. In fact even into the mid 90s Government handbooks on soil conservation still listed multiflora rose as an endorsed species that was beneficial.
Aside from the mass produced chemicals that are effective against the spread of multiflora roses one thing that can be done to help get rid of them is to plant trees from the Juglanddacae family. These are the Walnut, Pecan and Hickory trees that exclude a substance from their roots that can kill other plants and especially roses. Of course we don’t want to do this around our ornamental roses or anywhere that we we have desired flowers but in places like forest edges and such when makes sense these trees can help fight the spread of multiflora roses and other undesirable species.
Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.
Announcement 2.0
For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.
We also have the Lloyd’s Lens Photography Discussion Group on MeWe that is set up as a fully functional community. There you’ll not only be able to see and connect with me but you can also make your own posts and interact with each other.
I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/lloydslensphotographydiscussiongroup
Click the link below to jump to the Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe.https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/guide-to-mewe/embed/#?secret=GJGnIQEVHc
Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!
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Have you checked out the Zazzle Store?
I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply use the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.
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