Under The Kudzu

Kudzu is a vine that was introduced to the United States in 1876 as an ornamental plant. Later on during the Great Depression it was used to control land erosion. This vine that started out to be so beautiful as a decoration to your property and also kept the land together now is something that seems you cannot get rid of.

What a beautiful vine with wide green leaves and purple flower pods growing so fast that it can stop land erosion. It grows so fast it now covers about 7 million acres of the south. I have actually watched this vine climb a power pole, and grow along the lines across the street only to go back down the next pole and overtake more land. This vine can and will grow nearly 2 feet per day, So it doesn't take long for it to overtake a power pole and cross the street, Only to continue growing over cars, houses, trees, or any other object that hasn't been moved in a while.

I remember as a child helping Granny cut back the kudzu that was creeping into her garden, it was growing on the embankment behind her house that went up to main street and had grown down and was coming into her yard, she would cut this vine back a few feet to the bottom of the embankment only to be forced to repeat the process almost everyday. She also had a basket that held a flower pot she had gotten from a friend, this basket was made from Kudzu vine and she was proud of it until the basket started sprouting, not sure where it went but from then on the flower pot was without a basket.

When I was a teen my cousin and I went out picking blackberries and muscadines one day, a muscadine is like a wild grape that grows in the South some call them scuppernongs but this can be another post I suppose, anyway we got into a deep patch of blackberries and at the back came into a patch of kudzu, next thing we were completely covered and walking underneath the kudzu, it was unreal completely covered and in another world so to say we walked for quite a way and came upon what looked like a driveway we followed and I kid you not there was a house with what looked like a Model T Ford pickup sitting in front, this is when we made a u-turn and headed back for my car, looking back I wish we had taken a closer look but then we were too afraid of what we may have found now I wonder exactly the same thing.

Later on after I had moved away during a visit back home I passed a house down the road from my sisters, this house had a circle drive and a well sculptured yard there was a wreath on the door which is the sign of a death in the family to which my Sister confirmed, a year later I came home at the same time of year and driving down the road wondered about this family, I looked for the house that was so nice and well taken care of and didn’t see it, I mentioned missing the house and asked about it, my sister told me that the Lady had been moved away to live with her children since the death of her husband a year earlier and the house had been left vacant, I drove back down the road to look for the house and missed it again I turned around and driving slower I found the entrance of each end of the circle drive which leads to the home which is now completely covered by kudzu, sitting back you can now see the outline of the roof which is now the only indicator of the house and if you didn’t know where it was you would never see it.

Kudzu is a vine that is so beautiful a visitor to the south views the vast areas covered by it in awe, while a true southerner closes the windows at night to keep it from creeping in, whether or not you love or hate this vine one thing for sure is,

It'll grow on ya!!!