I’m here to help those of you who want early blooms to tide you over while your massive patch of kudzu is dormant. Plant partnering, if you haven’t tried it, is a pretty version of companion planting.
The premise is growing complimentary plants together — either due to color schemes, textural interest, or seasonal successions. Now that I’ve drifted away from my roots as an ornamental gardener I tend to partner mache under the skirts of eggplants, fennel with tomatoes, or edible calendulas hugging rainbow chard.
But back to ornamentals… today I discovered the perfect sister plant to kudzu, possibly the only thing that can even survive under its blanketing girth!
Photo Caption: I saw this in northern Greenville County, SC on my drive home this morning.
Yes that’s right, daffodils! I know that kudzu provides ample seasonal interest reminiscent of a wren’s nest the size of an Olympic swimming pool… it should be enough. But around March and April that tangled look gets old.
Photo Caption: I'm charmed that these daffodils survived even after the house succumbed.
Spruce up the spring with some naturalized daffodils. They’re the only living thing that can compete with a resource hog like kudzu and you won’t even have to decide when to mow the strappy leaves after they bloom. Your kudzu will take care of hiding their browning foliage like a champ!
Yeah, okay. I’m joking. I’ll write something serious very soon but it’s SPRING. Who wants to be inside?
I’m so glad we don’t have Kudzu here…I’ll try not to whine too much about our ‘invasive’ plants again. Good grief, that Kudzu looks like it could be responsible for a missing person or two! Pretty funny though, it would certainly hide that browning daffodil foliage!
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Twitter: appalachianfeet
Sometimes I think about what this landscape might look like without kudzu. It’s hard to imagine…
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I’m so glad you weren’t serious. I was about to have a heart attack if you were promoting planting kudzu.
Daffodils really are astonishingly hardy. When I bought my farm, it hadn’t been touched in decades and the area around the house was shoulder high in blackberries and Japanese honeysuckle. Then, in the spring, amid this mass of brambles, thousands of daffodils came up and bloomed! I was stunned.
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Twitter: appalachianfeet
Haha, other than goat fodder I can’t think of many good uses for kudzu.
Awesome about your daffodils!
.-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Find Edible Morel Mushrooms (With Recipes) =-.
Those daffodils certainly are troopers!
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Twitter: appalachianfeet
Yeah! I bet they will still be there when the foundation of the house has completely disintegrated.
.-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Find Edible Morel Mushrooms (With Recipes) =-.
All kidding aside. Kudzu patches are excellent environments for spring ephemerals. I have seen terrific patches of bloodroot and trillium blooming amongst the tangle of vines. Since kudzu is so late putting on leaves and new growth, these plants have ample sunlight to complete their lifecycle, plus a nearly unlimited supply of nitrogen from the brutish legume.
Twitter: appalachianfeet
Clemson Extension Cory?
I hadn’t thought of them being symbiotic with native ephemerals but that makes sense!
.-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Find Edible Morel Mushrooms (With Recipes) =-.
And to think we’ve been working for a few years to irradicate the kudzu on our property!
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Twitter: appalachianfeet
You need some goats!
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[...] for being so serious on April Fools Day. You can retroactively read about kudzu companion planting if you are disappointed). April 1st, 2010 | Tags: cafeteria, farm to school, junk food, laws, [...]
Amazing. I’d never imagined anything could survive the sustained onslaught. Although as Cory points out, I am noting some lovely wee wildflowers in the huge patch near our neighborhood, where the vines are still bare. Good to know something native benefits from this horror!
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Ohhh! My!!! God!!! what an amazing picture is this – I can’t take my eyes away…
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