Kudzu

Ripped from the headlines (as they say) in this morning's paper: Even as city leaders are touting greener practices for residents and city services, one woman's fight to grow a water-friendly, no-mow meadow rather than a lawn is landing her in court in violation of the city's "overgrowth" code. It seems the city code says that grass and ground cover growth cannot exceed 10". Except for kudzu.

(Note: Just in case you don't know about kudzu, it was introduced to the US in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia at the Japanese garden. It was used for ornamental plants. In the 1920s, it was discovered that animals would eat the plant, so it was promoted for forage. During the Depression, it was promoted for erosion control. Now, of course, we know that it grows at a rate of one foot/day, covers anything in its path, and is all but indestructible. The trees covered in today's photo will die because of lack of sunlight.)

A neighbor complained about the woman's "overgrown and unsightly" yard. The woman's yard is a hillside, so she has reseeded half of it with native grasses and wildflowers. The other half is kudzu, coming from a neighboring yard and a city easement. She was cited by the city, and was told that she had to raze the meadow, seed it with lawn grass, and keep it mowed. But to try to get rid of the kudzu would cause an erosion problem. So, she cannot have a wildflower garden or a forest - only kudzu or grass. Sometimes the laws of unintended consequences run rampant. To say nothing about bureaucratic idiocy!
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What sad news about Tim Russert! Such a young man. I don't watch the news interview programs, but I do know that he was one of the few who actually cared about the story, and not about pushing his own agenda. He wanted to hear what the person with him had to say, and didn't just shout and froth at the mouth. Russert was something that is more and more rare these days - a journalist - a news reporter. He'll be missed.