Our side yard has become embarrassingly overgrown in the last two years. I meant to get a handle on it this summer, but other events prevented that. Now it is an eyesore and a problem, and I still can’t summon the ambition or drive to do much about it. Surveying it the other day, I noticed we had a stranglehold of bittersweet vine rambling up a pine, so robust that it had gone to seed. This invasive species is a nightmare, popping up anywhere and everywhere, soon entwining itself around whatever crosses its path. It comes with one saving grace: at this time of the year its yellow berries signal the time to cut them if you’d like a fall bouquet or decoration. The thing here is crucial – it must be cut before the berries open, or they will fall apart and to pieces inside.
Once the branches are cut and brought indoors, provided the berries haven’t yet opened, they will open up and reveal this gorgeous orange fruit, which upon closer examination lends it the look of miniature pumpkins. Nature likes to echo her pretty creations, and despite the negative aspects of this vine, this fall I’m taking the pretty and worrying about the mess outside later.
