Poke Sallet, Weed,Berry,Bush,Root......................

This is a very interesting plant.  It is called by many names and is native to North America, South America, East Asia and New Zealand.

That said, it is also a horrendously difficult bush to dig out. The ones in my yard grow  HUGE. The ground is sandy and this made it relatively easy to dig dirt away from the root.  Problem?  The root goes to China!! It also has roots other than the tap root that resembles tree roots, only softer.
We dug down at least a foot and no end in sight. We cut the roots of all I could find, at least that deep.  I will be curious to see if the plant comes back. I am betting it does.

This May, I kept this one for the birds. It will be 7 feet tall in the fall and winter loaded with purple berries in clusters like grapes. It is 4' fall now. The brown things are just a few of the roots we dug out.

These tiny white clusters will be 6 to 7 inches long and deep purple

The larger, gnarled root  is upside down, the white is root,  it is 4" across

We have a 6' stockade fence and the bush draped over the top and into the yard.  It nearly covered the rain water tote. Birds love the berries. Between the bird's purple droppings on the ground and on my bench and purple berries falling to the ground, we were always tracking purple in the house.  I make an effort to always take my shoes off before walking on the carpet.

I will keep watch (in the early morning,thank you very much) for greenery in the areas of what we dug out all summer.  I am reasonably sure the bushes will come back.  I have no desire to let these things get a head start and none at all to be whacking away at anything in the heat!

Speaking of heat, we had a lovely, heavy down pour Sunday and now morning temps are in 80's and highs in 90's and no more rain for this week anyway.  We can only pray there will be more when summer is really hot.