One Poke Here, Another Poke There, Then Poke Everywhere

Two years ago, I let a poke plant grow near the big birdbath. When the berries ripened, the cardinals and titmice and chickadees clung to the branches and ate them all.

Last year, I let that poke grow again. It turned into an even bigger plant with tons of berries. I also let several poke plants grow out front where they came up volunteer. We'll have bluebirds all over the front yard, I anticipated, eating poke berries. The berries ripened last fall but no one showed up to eat them. The berries dried and fell to the ground. When the leaves turned, I cut the plants back to the ground. This spring, every one of those poke berries is sprouting, undeterred by a layer of pine bark. I'm pulling up little poke plants everywhere. I am also digging up some of the roots of mature plants, sadly, because it's just too much poke plant out front. They can grow as much as they like in the woods, and they are filling in where we cleared invasives. Better to have native poke plants than invasive ardisia and sword fern back there.

The original poke plant I dug up in the fall when it turned brown. There was a buckthorn tree growing up next to it, and I wanted it to have plenty of light and nutrients. As it turns out, the buckthorn berries are more popular than poke berries with a wider variety of birds.