You have to hydrate first and bring a big jug of ice water with you, wear a hat, sunglasses & gloves and the lightest clothes that can get grubby. Then you go out and sweat up a storm, even in the early part of the day, and you work in the shade. I live in what was an old growth oak forest and we have tons of stickery vines that just take over. They grow up around the roots of trees and the old ones are impossible to get out because they have a "corn" that the roots grow out of that gets really really deep and the plant isn't all the way dead until this is removed. Now we have stupid kudzu that showed up a few years ago and requires constant battling or it just covers everything up. So, since I love flowers, I am outside doing the above a lot. Lucky, when we moved back 30 years ago, my mom and sister gave me plants from their years so I have tons of elephant ears, ginger & variegated ginger, 4 O'Clocks (did have red and yellow but am down to just yellow now), calla lilies, and large azaleas patches. We've filled in with ferns, split leaf philodendrons, caladiums & hydrangeas. These are all native to this area and grow great here. They die back some during th winter but always come back. We've added some hibiscus, crotons and a poinsettia, but those are more tender and we have to cover them up occasionally since it does freeze some during the winter, but not nearly as much as it used to since global warming is taking over. It pays off when I drive up and see my pretty yard and when I sit on the back deck in the evening and look at our beautiful oaks trees & all the flowers and feel at peace.
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