invasive

Phragmites: invasive but so beautiful in the autumn light

Lawn King Glen Hall surveys theirs and mine.

It is the time of year when my thoughts turn to brush. As in poison ivy, pokeweed, blackberries, rosa rugosa, grass, bayberry, Virginia creeper, bittersweet, Russian olive and phragmites. Like the deer, many of these plants were introduced to the island and have gone wild. And I mean that. (Why on earth do deer prefer my hydrangeas to pokeweed?)
  Glen Hall came over to help me out. He mows most of the lawns on Block Island—and will be doing mine next year, now that Dada has opted out. I met Glen's sister Georgia at Vassar years ago. It was the first time I ever heard of Block Island, and the family has been here since forever. There are seven siblings, and all have G names—GayAnn, Gloria, Gail, Gregory, Geoff.
  Glen confessed that an aunt Liz was responsible for introducing Japanese knotweed to the island and that hereabouts it is known as "Lizzy's bush." Edie once admitted to me that her sister introduced Rosa multiflora. I would like to murder both of them, but it is too late now.
   As for my yard, which is more of a sculpture than a lawn and relies heavily on these invasives for privacy, Glen professed himself ready to go.
   "It's not like my neighbors' suburban style," I warned.
   "People now like it that way," he said.
   "Well I like it rough."
   "I understand."