Euonymus fortunei or Wintercreeper
If and only if said garden is being continuously cared for, 24/7/365. It will escape otherwise.
As a ground cover, it is very effective at covering the ground, smothering anything else that might have wanted to come up in the area covered. And, in vine form, like ivy, it will send out rootlets into the nearest victim. Unlike ivy, though, it gets really big and will strangle a tree. http://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3024
Neither of these characteristics make it desirable to have in a harmonious food forest garden. However, the problem remains, what to do when invaded? I didn't buy or plant any, and when I discovered the patch in the first photo, I initially thought I'd solved the ground cover problem for landscaping near the house.
I discovered how dire the wintercreeper invasion could be in winter when wandering about taking photographs.It was in December, 2014, when all the leaves have come off the deciduous trees, or in the case of some oaks, remain there brown and lifeless. Even the Bush Honeysuckle, invading from Amur, has dropped most of its yellowing leaves. But there was this one tree I spotted that still had a lot of green on it. As I got closer I was completely puzzled by this new kind of vine, at least new to me.
The kind people on a Facebook group identified it for me -- that same vine as I'd been admiring as a ground cover can form six inch thick trunks and strangle anything they come across.
Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as invasive, as does InvasivePlantAtlas.org.
http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/invasive-plants/wintercreeper-control
http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2011/06/wintercreepersheet_06-30-11_0.pdf
Basically cut back to root stem and paint fresh cuts with poison. After frost and before wild flowers start to bloom.
All the trees and bushes have lost their leaves or needles, except the pines, and this one bright green I spotted over there.
When I get up closer it looks like a full sized tree, at least 30' high
Looks like a tree with a dying top
It has red berries and looks similar to the bush honeysuckle, but not quite the same arrangement of berries.
but closer in I realize this is a vine, not a tree or a bush. It's strangled this tree.
Very heavy duty vine. Perhaps heavy duty enough to make a bridge?
Another one, down closer to the lower pond. None of the heavy duty strangling vine aspect yet.
Euonymus fortunei (winter creeper)
When this ground covering vine finds a suitable tree, it will go up the tree and in less than 10 years will be well on the way to strangling the tree. I used a chain saw over several sessions and was able to dose the vine with brush killer within seconds directly on the still we cuts. Five years later the tree is fine; dead vine festoons, but is no longer a danger. Once mature, the vine gets quite thick and hairy, but still puts out little branches with leaves.
Winter creeper in grond cover mode is quite nice., but it does in everything except the poison ivy
When I made this cut, I was thinking it would cut through the strangling winter creeper vine. At first it looked like I'd simply cut into the red cedar. Closer examination shows the wood of the vine is a different color and it does now appear to be seperate. Will need to cut again.
