Cutting down east Asian invasives along persimmon Run in se

A few shots of my cutting down ugly, icky invasive plants in Downingtown, PA, along what I call Persimmon Run because of some wild persimmons along part of the watercourse. First photo shows a section in early December 2015. Second is some Amur honeysuckle I have cut back so at least they are not all along the ground. Third is a young Tree-of-Heaven with a Japanese Honeysuckle vine growing on it and some other such trees to the right. The forth are the logs and cut branches of the Tree-of-Heavens I cut down. The fifth is one of the Tree-of-Heaven stumps I axed to cut away bark and split deep into the base. I enjoy cutting down and digging invasives, so the natives can come back. I enjoy it as much as any gardening. So far, Spicebush, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Skunk Cabbage are showing up more, along with persimmons.

Good for you! It must be so rewarding to see native plants re-emerge.

I enjoy it too. You've got a battle still ahead, I expect.

I didn't realize some big trees in our back corner were Ailanthus ("Tree of Heaven," my aunt fanny!) until an arborist ID'd them for me... I only knew what the seedlings and young trees looked like; the mature trees look different. Hoping to have fewer seedlings to contend with from now on! I will have to stay vigilant about cutting and spraying root sprouts... had a few already by the end of summer.

On a happier note, I'm also seeing root sprouts from some of the sassafrass that were cut down when the construction project did its damage... soon my little "sassafrass grove" will be more than a single line of trees. Some are even coming up in the right spots to displace amur honeysuckles. :-)

I had them leave some of the trunk pieces so I could put them along the edges of my "woodland path." Ailanthus wood is heavy! That's quite a project you are tackling.

I hope the Sassafras come back well; they can. Tree-of Heaven just a dead logs is alright. It can sprout back easily too.

Sassafras will sprout from the roots a lot.