Author: Alan Jones

“Relating to, or characterized by military aggression” is the Merriam-Webster definition of the word “invasive,” and one that fits Asian bittersweet, the most rampant four-star invading plant in the Robbins Town Gardens. The aggressor has no enemies except humans. Volunteers from the Arlington Garden Club, Massachusetts Master Gardeners and Friends of the Robbins Town Gardens work to keep the vine under control; and, for the most part, succeed. They have pulled down enormous strangling masses that have festooned trees; they have dug up—as much as possible—the tenacious carrot-orange roots; they have refused to be seduced by the red and gold berries; they pass the word: never plant Asian bittersweet! Like marauding Asian bittersweet, other unwanted, persistent plants in the Gardens, such as Japanese barberry and Multiflora rose, were first imported…