Reports from the Front Lines

by Barbara Walvoord

First printed in Lathrop Lamp Post Nov. 11-17, 2017

This photo was taken on the east campus along Bassett Brook Road at the corner of Huckleberry Lane–a visible “front line” on our property.

Three years ago, on this corner, there was a dense hedge of burning bush (Euonymus alatus), so dangerously invasive it is now illegal to propagate or sell in Massachusetts.  At Lathrop, birds are carrying it into our woods, where it is crowding out native plants without providing as richly for our wildlife as native plants do, and costing

Liberating Lathrop’s Red Osier Dogwood

by Barbara Walvoord

(First published in the Lathrop Lamp Post, Dec. 16, 2016)

Autumn and winter are good times to remove invasive shrubs, so resident volunteers have been out with loppers and pruners.   Among the tangles of invasive multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, and shrub honeysuckle, we often find the native red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), its bright red branches twisting and leaning to find the light or to escape the smothering thicket of invasives.

It’s always a great pleasure to find, and free, this lovely, useful native plant.

Resident Eleanor Herman removing invasive shrubs and vines from the woods behind Cranberry Lane homes. November, 2016

Native Americans used red osier dogwood in many ways, peeling the bark for a tooth brush; eating the berries to treat colds, bleeding, or diarrhea; making tools, bows, arrows, baskets, and red dye; and mixing it with other plants for  smoking.