Invasive plants can be a real headache for any homeowner to deal with — and doubly so when the main plant belongs to your neighbor and insists on spreading everywhere. That's exactly the situation one Michigan homeowner found themselves in, and ended up posting to the r/invasivespecies subreddit to complain about it.
"My neighbor's out of control oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) in Michigan," the poster wrote. "I've been pulling out the saplings that end up in my yard. My eyes can spot this s*** anywhere now. I was in the middle of a trail run and spotted some on the ground and pulled it out. It might be my worst enemy."
Round-leaved bittersweet, commonly referred to as Oriental bittersweet, is a type of vine native to Eastern Asia that was intentionally introduced to North America as an ornamental sometime around 1860.
Outside of its native environment, the plant is known to wrap itself around trees and other plants, smothering them and even uprooting them with its weight.
It is possible to remove the invasive species, but it takes a whole lot of work, and there's always the chance that it will come back.
The other members of the invasive species-focused subreddit were full of helpful advice.
"Kill it," wrote one commenter.
Another commenter guessed the vines pictured in the post were around 25-30 years old, meaning they could have been installed by whoever owned the neighbor's home prior to the neighbor — a good reminder that invasive plant species really don't just go away without someone making a concerted effort.
Whenever you're planting something new in your home garden, it is always advisable to make sure you're going with a native species, which will already be adapted to live in harmony with other species in your local ecosystem. Taking that step will help support local pollinators, and will not require excess watering or maintenance, saving you money and lots of headaches down the road.
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