Who:
Annette Gelbrich
Greater Gwinnett Group Executive Committee, fundraising chair
Where:
Norcross, GA
The great outdoors. That's where I longed to be after a couple hours in the hectic local shopping mall.
Having grown up in a semi-rural area, spending countless hours outdoors, picking wildflowers, swinging on grapevines, fishing in the creek ("crick" as we pronounced it in West Virginia), my inner-child NEEDED to be outdoors. I was quite happy to return home and put on my outdoor "work clothes." Through presentations at the local Sierra Club group, I learned that Chinese privet and other varieties were introduced as garden plants and hedges but have escaped into the wild, forming dense thickets and out-competing native species.
So today, my Boy Scout "good turn" was to eradicate some invasive Chinese privet. Just think, August 6 in Atlanta. Summer. Heat. Humidity. It was a PERFECT day to be outside! To "exterminate the exotics", I used clippers and a saw to cut down the privet. Then, I painted the stumps with glyphosate (an herbicide that quickly breaks down in the environment) to prevent regrowth. My next step? Replace the privet with some native plants. . . . But later. Right now, I'm going to enjoy my "paradise" -- sweaty clothes, a little refreshment, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
