Winged Euonymus, home

While the local backcountry still exists—I fear the eventual result of the recent sale of nearly 70 beautiful acres of forest not far behind our own meager land holdings—I'm taking advantage of the walking opportunities. Besides, it's a nice way to avoid having to trek past the "revoltin' development" that destroyed my one-time hiking grounds last year. For me, developers have come to mean rot from outside, but as I walked, I noticed that there was plenty of rot from within—in the form of invasive plant species. In the sunnier areas of this doomed area, Multiflora Rose has formed nasty thickets that are hard to break through, but fortunately the local deer, a species with their own problems, have kept a trail open. Once I got into the heart of the woods, I encountered equally dense stands of Burning Bush, a.k.a. Winged Euonymus, another public botanical enemy with invasive tendencies. Euonymus alata is a very pretty non-native garden plant that turns a beautiful shade of red in the autumn. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay in the garden, including, mea culpa, my own. My mother gave us one as a present. I know I should get rid of it, but it's one of the only tangible things we have left of her time on this earth. I guess I'll have to remain part of the ecological problem for a while longer.