I visited a patch of forest I cleared of Daphne plants about 10 years ago. It was heavily infested at that time. I have kept it free of mature Daphne (plants with seeds) since the initial clearing.
This morning I went out and pulled about 70 young Daphne plants as well as one broom and a couple of young hawthorns. In the early years of this project I would have to pull several hundred plants from this area about 25 meters square. Though I think I got most of them today, I will have to go back another day to be sure.
This forest is second growth Douglas Fir with a recovering understory of Oregon Grape, both regular and Tall Mahonia and some sword fern. The Firs are about 60 cm diameter at breast height. There is also a large, old cherry tree. The land was likely initially cleared in the late 1800’s for pasture and hay. The meadow adjacent to the forest was maintained for hay into the second half of the last century. John Kirk recalls working at haymaking there as a teenager, maybe 1970? The plant community in the forest area is older than that. There are piles of stones and remains of a cedar snake fence that suggests the forest area was left unploughed and not grazed for more than the last 100 years. There is a cedar stump with springboard notches nearby.
