what is this stuff?

[Kathyp]

http://picasaweb.google.com/pearce.km/WhatIsThisStuff



this stuff has always grown here.  it grows with the blackberries, but also is starting to invade the pastures.  i usually mow it down, but this year wanted to let the hairy vetch bloom, so have not mowed.  crossbow keeps it in check, but i have not sprayed since last year.  between this and the blackberries, my place is in danger of being over run. 

it has a pinkish flower that seems to attract bumble bees and to a lesser extent, honey bees.  it blooms round July, as i recall.

more pics at link.

[poka-bee]

Hmm, dunno on that one, I'm gonna look around my place as our locations are sort of alike..does it get any berries?  Is it like a shrub or just ground cover like clumps? Are al lthe leaves spotted like that one pic?  It's hard to tell how high it is, how big are the leaves? love a mystery!  Jody

[Kathyp]

i think the spots on the leaves are just dew.  the leaves do get a little silvery later in the year.  i think it gets small berries, but i wouldn't swear to it.  it's not really a bush, but it's bushy the way it grows.  most of it will be about knee high, but it can get to 3  feet or so, tall.  it seems to grow well with the blackberries, and on the afternoon sun side of the bushes.  the horses don't eat it.

[JP]

Perhaps some type of privet??


...JP

[Kathyp]

http://www.malag.aes.oregonstate.edu/wildflowers/species.php/id-74

i believe i have found it.  guess i'll leave it for now and mow it down later in the summer......

[JP]

Hey Kathy are the berries edible?


...JP

[reinbeau]

I thought it looked like a honeysuckle, but I'm not familiar with the west coast varieties.  Some of the Lonicera berries are edible, but according to this page, the Snowberries are poisonous to humans, but they're a great food source for wildlife.

[Kathyp]

i don't think you can eat them.  seems i also read that this plant is in the same family as honeysuckle.  it's kind of woody.  not viney.  i wanted to id it before i undertook a full scale eradication program.  now i find that it is a good plant for critters and some insects.  i have noticed that the honeybees use it when there is nothing else.

guess i'll just mow it down again after it does it's thing.

[poka-bee]

I thought it might be that, hence the berries question.  I looked & do have some here.   I have noticed that there are berries still on them later in the winter/fall so the birds prefer other stuff 1st.  It is kind of a pretty plant, my goat doesn't eat them either!  I'm looking out my window into the back pasture, it's that golden time of day w/ the sun going down, everything is glowing, I can see the bees as they come home, light shining thru wings, goat is being good for a change!  The grass is sooooo green!  I love all the colors of green in the spring, all the bushes, trees, plants are different greens from the deepest pine to the silvery sage & everything inbetween!   Jody

[Brian D. Bray]

Hey Kathy are the berries edible?


...JP

No, definitely not.  Snowberry is native to the PNW and found adjacent to forests and swampy areas.  The Cascade Mountains are full of them.

[Cindi]

I'm looking out my window into the back pasture, it's that golden time of day w/ the sun going down, everything is glowing, I can see the bees as they come home, light shining thru wings, goat is being good for a change!  The grass is sooooo green!  I love all the colors of green in the spring, all the bushes, trees, plants are different greens from the deepest pine to the silvery sage & everything inbetween!   Jody

Jody, what a beautiful picture in my mind's eye. I love to look at my bees from that angle in the evening sky, my hives are too far from my house to see this sun shinin' through their wings, but when I am near the apiary I see this golden light.  Beautiful and most wonderful day, lovin' this life we live.  Cindi

[JP]

I'm looking out my window into the back pasture, it's that golden time of day w/ the sun going down, everything is glowing, I can see the bees as they come home, light shining thru wings, goat is being good for a change!  The grass is sooooo green!  I love all the colors of green in the spring, all the bushes, trees, plants are different greens from the deepest pine to the silvery sage & everything inbetween!   Jody

Jody, what a beautiful picture in my mind's eye. I love to look at my bees from that angle in the evening sky, my hives are too far from my house to see this sun shinin' through their wings, but when I am near the apiary I see this golden light.  Beautiful and most wonderful day, lovin' this life we live.  Cindi

The speaker bees are literally right outside my back door, you can watch them through the window. They have been adding numbers, will have to transfer them soon.


...JP

[Cindi]

JP, so then, you are a lucky man!!!  Beautiful, most wonderful day, Cindi

[KONASDAD]

I have tons of honeysuckle vine. but i also have a little tree like honey suckle too. Same flowers as vine, but coming from hard branches instead of vines. bee like it too. i wasn't aware there were varities of honey suckle.

[poka-bee]

I didn't realize the snowberry was related to honeysuckle, but thinking about it, the leaves are like the wild honeysuckle around here duh.. . It's a woody climbing vine w/narrow orange flowers, leaves are bigger but the same shape & placement.  Not much smell compared to the garden type but hummers like it & best of all HARDY!!!  Jody

[Brian D. Bray]

I didn't realize the snowberry was related to honeysuckle, but thinking about it, the leaves are like the wild honeysuckle around here duh.. . It's a woody climbing vine w/narrow orange flowers, leaves are bigger but the same shape & placement.  Not much smell compared to the garden type but hummers like it & best of all HARDY!!!  Jody

Hardy, what kind of hardy?  Weed hardy, noxious weed hardy, or invasive weed hardy?

[poka-bee]

Yup Yup & YUp!  The kind of hardy I don't have to fiddle with!  8-)  My wild stuff doesn't take over at all, actually I have to look for it, stays more in the shady parts of the property.