Plant poses problems for UK and arboretum

By Marjorie Kirk

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Though fragrant and beautiful in appearance, bush honeysuckle is near the top of every gardener’s blacklist, especially in Eastern Kentucky.

The UK Arboretum and Physical Plant Division has suffered numerous problems with the shrub, incurring both money and labor costs.

“Up to about ten years ago, bush honeysuckle was very prevalent in the Arboretum woods and there was a big effort to remove it,” said Molly Davis, director of the Arboretum. “We also have a problem with people who live around the Arboretum that don’t realize how problematic it is. It grows literally right next to the arboretum, so it continues to provide seed for future bush honeysuckle plants.”

According to Davis, an invasive plant is a non-native plant that essentially has no competition for resources, thus killing off the surrounding landscape and spreading quickly.

“It is a bush, and they have an upright growth. They can get pretty big if they are left alone for a long time,” said Tara Burke, an integrated plant and soil science doctoral student. “You’ll see it out in the woods sometimes. It’s usually one of the first plants to leaf out on the spring and it stays green pretty late into the fall or even winter. It competes really well with other plants because it blocks the sun for so long.”

Burke also said bush honeysuckle is thought to produce biochemicals that inhibit the growth and reproduction of other surrounding plants.

It’s hard to imagine that honeysuckle, a bush that for many residents of Kentucky provided something fun to pick as a child, could be so damaging to its surroundings.

“It’s not the honeysuckle you would remember eating when you were a kid,” Burke said. “That is Japanese honeysuckle, which is also invasive but not as focused on.”

Though the plant has been known to spread onto campus, it is constantly combated by the PPD.

“We have not planted any honeysuckle as far as I know in my 15 years here,” said George Riddle, manager of the grounds department at the PPD.  “We wouldn’t want to plant it because it is invasive and because other non-invasive plants can be used as ground cover.”

With all the trouble it has caused the arboretum and the PPD, both Davis and Riddle said that more awareness of it as a problem and how to combat it is needed.

“The way we did it, and the more common way, is to go in with a little paint can of Roundup and cut the stalks close to the ground,” Burke said.

The cost of Roundup is not the only cost Todd Rounsaville, the native plant curator of the arboretum, and PPD incur from the bush.

“I would say Todd probably spends one or two people, one day a week removing seedlings from underneath trees and shrubs,” said Jesse Dahl, the horticulturalist of the Arboretum.

With Arbor Day this Saturday, the staff at the arboretum is already being pushed to prepare for the thousands of guests they will expect. They are holding a volunteer meeting at 1 p.m. Friday at the Dorotha Smith Oatts Visitor Center for any students or community members willing to help