Little shop of horrors

OK..... I know that Kudzu is an invasive plant but it has it's beauty too. Took this photo in my litte town of Mooresville last summer.

I fail to see the beauty. Thankfully I don't have any of the stuff 'cause I have plenty of asian honeysuckle and poison ivey to deal with.

I think it is the look of the lush greenery that you like and I agree that is is pretty. I do hate kudzu though.

It does have pretty flowers that smell nice. A former co-worker of mine in the mountains (a real mountain man so bear with this-LOL),said he had met a woman from Florida who was visiting NC for the first time. She had stopped to admire those "beautiful flowers"----on his kudzu he was trying to kill off. She asked him if he would mind if she took some cuttings of the vine, to take back home to Florida with her.

He said, "Oh, help yourself, get a couple for your friends"

How generous!

:-)))))

It does make nice baskets and I am told they are looking to it's medicinal properties.

It's be funny if it turned out to be the next penicillin or something!
It only we could run our cars on it. After all, there does seem to be a never-ending supply. Good bye OPEC! :)
Deb

You can make gravy from the roots-I've seen the powder at health food stores-never tried it.

My next door neighbor has a patch that gets bigger each year--I may have to go knock on his door if it threatens to come in my yard!

Here are some interesting facts about Kudzu.....
http://www.alabamatv.org/kudzu/

Just a little add-on ... http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/ohio/science/art7077.html ... It's even in Ohio. Recently I heard that it is. I guess that means that it overwinters ... after all!!!!

Karin ... a NC wan-a bee

We moved to SC from CT last September, and I'll never forget our first drive down here, seeing the kudzu taking over everything along the road sides! It IS pretty awesome in a monstrous way! It looks sometimes like sloppy topiary. I used to buy the powdered root at the health food store, for cooking; it was very expensive, and now that I see how quickly it grows and thoroughly takes over, I'm thinking it should be pretty cheap to buy!

Oh oh, we're in trouble now.

The "oh oh we're in trouble"... was in referenc to it growing in Ohio.

You can make some good Kudzu jelly from all that.LOL

Lavina

Lavina,

And run Smuckers right out of business!!

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~