Cut the vine

This from Chris McCue –

7/28/2014 11:40AM
Community needs to cut the vine!
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Hi Pete,

Conservation Commission member George Darrell and I live just several houses away on Curve St. and we recently discovered that we’re
both concerned about the rate that invasive plants are taking over Medfield, and we’re joining forces to educate residents and town
organizations about how they can help control them. We welcome anyone else who wants to help (not a big time commitment – probably
seasonal based on particular problem at hand).

Right now we’re focused on the Black Swallow-wort vine that is particularly invasive in Medfield since it’ll be going to seed in
about 1-2 weeks. See Patch article:

http://patch.com/massachusetts/medfield/92e97ee6-0c24-47ce-be1e-88b18367e720#.U9ZmcPldWSo

If you can help get the word out via your blog and encourage people to cut any vines back on their property before the seed pods
open – and encourage them to dispose of the vines in the trash (not yard waste or Transfer Station) — that would be a big help.
Pulling the vines out is a big task, but cutting off vines that have seed pods can be done relatively easily with a “weed whacker”
or hedge trimmer. The vines will come back and need to be cut again, but at least the seeds have been removed in the short term.

We need the town’s help too. Next time you’re at Town Hall, check out the area along the upper west side of the building – along the
fence and in the shrub area adjacent to Starbucks (the photo in the Patch article only shows a small section of the problem). That
swath of land is covered in this vine that now has countless numbers of seed pods. The vines have already started to spread in the
bed along the ground floor of the building near the back entrance, and they’re covering a rhododendron alongside the upper area of
the building. Cutting those vines will help prevent the spread of the vine elsewhere in town, but it has to happen ASAP. (The
library is also getting this vine again after George’s efforts in the past to eradicate it.)

At the very least, any chance you or someone else can get the DPW folks to cut all of the vines around Town Hall back before the
pods open?  Another troublesome spot is alongside Curve St. on the embankment that leads down to the tennis courts, and George or I
will reach out to Jim Snyder at Parks & Rec to see how we might tackle that site. Unfortunately, there are many other sites around
town (public & private) where the vine has taken over, so we’ll need a coordinated approach between the town organizations and
residents to help with the problem.

Anything you can do to spread the word, and persuade our various town organizations to help with this problem, would be much
appreciated.

As always, thanks!

Chris