This weekend we waged battle against alien invaders. The amur honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii, is named after the Amur River and is native to Manchuria and Korea. In Missouri, it overtakes forests, shading native saplings and wildflowers so they are unable to grow. According to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Missouri by Don Kurz, this "is probably the most aggressive exotic plant that has escaped and naturalized in urban areas....It is truly a noxious weed and should not be planted."
We're committed to keeping it out of at least the valley below the cabin. November is a good time for hunting amur honeysuckle because it's almost the only plant that is green (one of the reasons it is so invasive is because it gets leaves earlier in the spring and drops them later in the fall than our native species). In November, it's pulling sap down into the roots, so the recommended technique is to cut the plant off at the base and spray undiluted Round-Up on the cut surface.