The roadside edge of our property is plagued with invasive weeds--in particular, trees of heaven and autumn olives. While the neighbors have successfully eradicated these "weed" shrubs and trees with multiple applications of herbicides, we have allowed them to grow and thrive on our lot.
Autumn olive growing along the road at the front of our property
More autumn olive shrubs and trees of heaven on the east of the driveway
In all honesty, we allowed them to stay, in part, due to a general lack of caring. We had been prioritizing other jobs on the property, especially the garden (which we either move or add onto every year) and just hadn't had much time to worry about the plants growing along the road. Now that we are adding a farm stand along the driveway, though, we decided we should clear away some shrubs to open visibility to the stand. We quickly identified the "problem" shrubs as Elaeagnus umbellate (autumn olive) and the trees as Ailanthus altissima, or tree of heaven.
Both of these species are excellent in permaculture settings, especially as biomass accumulators. They will grow back vigorously after being cut back. We could use the "chop and drop" method, just lopping off the top of the plants and dropping the branches on the ground to leave as a natural ground cover and edge for native species, or we could keep the wood to use for firewood, trellises, mulch, or hugelkultur.
For some reason I have always really liked the trees of heaven. They are quite beautiful and have a tropical-type appearance, and since we really don't have any other trees on the property yet, we have been very hesitant to cut them down. We also learned that the roots, leaves, and bark of the tree of heaven have been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even modern pharmaceutical companies are researching the trunk and root of this tree as a potential drug. We may experiment making a simple tincture using the root-bark. Outside of gathering a bit of root bark and lopping off the top of the trees, we are allowing the trees of heaven to stay put.
Both of these species are excellent in permaculture settings, especially as biomass accumulators. They will grow back vigorously after being cut back. We could use the "chop and drop" method, just lopping off the top of the plants and dropping the branches on the ground to leave as a natural ground cover and edge for native species, or we could keep the wood to use for firewood, trellises, mulch, or hugelkultur.
For some reason I have always really liked the trees of heaven. They are quite beautiful and have a tropical-type appearance, and since we really don't have any other trees on the property yet, we have been very hesitant to cut them down. We also learned that the roots, leaves, and bark of the tree of heaven have been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even modern pharmaceutical companies are researching the trunk and root of this tree as a potential drug. We may experiment making a simple tincture using the root-bark. Outside of gathering a bit of root bark and lopping off the top of the trees, we are allowing the trees of heaven to stay put.
Even more valuable, arguably, are the autumn olives; however, we decided to cut them back anyway, simply because they were completely blocking visibility of our driveway. Luckily, they will grow back thicker than ever and we can continue to harvest their fruit, and chop and drop.
At one time, autumn olives were widely planted by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service for purposes of attracting wildlife and serving as a windbreak. Plants can start bearing fruit in their third year, and just one mature plant may produce several pounds of edible fruit. The ripe, red fruits, which are extremely high in lycopene (15 times higher than tomatoes) are especially favored by birds, who readily scatter seeds. Some farms are even planting autumn olive as a cash crop.
Need more reasons not to hate autumn olives? They are also great nitrogen fixers and nectar producers. We are considering including autumn olives in the fruit tree guilds of our soon-to-be planted food forest. Get more info on the value of autumn olives as a cash crop here.
Since both of these plants are considered to be invasive and threatening to native species, we would not likely order in autumn olives or trees of heaven and introduce them to our property. But fortunately for us, they are already here.
If you can't beat them, join them!
- Diana
At one time, autumn olives were widely planted by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service for purposes of attracting wildlife and serving as a windbreak. Plants can start bearing fruit in their third year, and just one mature plant may produce several pounds of edible fruit. The ripe, red fruits, which are extremely high in lycopene (15 times higher than tomatoes) are especially favored by birds, who readily scatter seeds. Some farms are even planting autumn olive as a cash crop.
Need more reasons not to hate autumn olives? They are also great nitrogen fixers and nectar producers. We are considering including autumn olives in the fruit tree guilds of our soon-to-be planted food forest. Get more info on the value of autumn olives as a cash crop here.
Since both of these plants are considered to be invasive and threatening to native species, we would not likely order in autumn olives or trees of heaven and introduce them to our property. But fortunately for us, they are already here.
If you can't beat them, join them!
- Diana
An unexpected surprise revealed itself when we cut back the autumn olive shrubs: three wild raspberry plants! One wild raspberry is shown in the middle of this picture.
Tiger Eye Sunflowers are another plant that has been readily propagated by birds on our property. The seedlings are popping up everywhere and we couldn't be more thrilled! These seedlings will be relocated to the back gardens, though, so they don't choke out the tulips and each other.
