Recent photo of entrance to Roosevelt Center, through the Underpass Garden.
Invasives and other unwanted plants 99 percent gone
Two years ago I wrote “Let’s get the English ivy of our trees” about my local garden club’s work removing English ivy from trees in our historic town center. While other volunteers were working in our target area, I moseyed over to where other ivy-covered trees caught my eye – around a pedestrian underpass leading to Roosevelt Center (shown above). It’s an underpass that’s almost unique to this New Deal-designed and -built town, a rare American example of the garden city movement popular in Europe.
Here’s the utter mess I was drawn to, with not just English ivy growing up into trees but an assortment of other invasives and unwanted plants. To the surprise of no one who knows me, I became obsessed with the clearing of all of them, driving there almost every morning to work on it. I can happily report that after two full years, those plants are 99 percent gone. And it is sooo satisfying!
One of the obstacles was a large patch of poison ivy that I was hesitating to tackle, after two bouts of PI already. But a I complained about this to a friend, she declared her immunity to poison ivy and went right to work removing it.
Weirdly, the masses of invasives were only on one side of the underpass garden. One side was pristine – no weeds, just mulch – while the other side was a total mess. The city crew just gave up on the messy half at some point.
Pruning
Oakleaf hydrangeas in May, 2025.
The garden is dominated by 50+ full-size and gorgeous oakleaf hydrangeas that have been growing there with no maintenance at all, for decades. They have enough space to grow full size, so all they needed from me was to remove all dead bits. Carloads of dead branches. (They’re native to the Carolinas and southward, but not here in Maryland. I guess I should call them a near-native?)
After a long season of bloom, their real glory is in the fall, which is why I recently wrote about them on a local blog, hoping more people would notice their beauty and also hoping to drum up support for the garden. That’s when I named it, with a name I hope will stick – the “Roosevelt Underpass Garden.”
Another woody plant in the garden is a large viburnum shrub that had been smothered by a shrub honeysuckle and grape ivy and other vines. It’ll take years, but eventually this old viburnum may have a nice natural shape again. Anyway, I love a pruning challenge!
Planting spring-blooming perennials
Last month the garden club held another work event to plant the 50 Packera aurea (a/k/a golden ragwort) that the club donated for this spot. Two club volunteers are shown here doing the planting.
To show my town how these new perennials will look next spring, I included this image of Packera aurea blooming in my back garden. The mostly evergreen perennial is native to this region, can take full shade, and spreads profusely. It’s my favorite native perennial.
In addition to planting the Packera, we moved a whole slew of Solomon’s seal that had spread too much and moved them to the bare spots in the garden.
Next, the underpass needs some love!
As I wrote in the blog post for residents, “All those beautiful plants AND our beautiful and historic public square are at the end of this very ugly underpass. But on the bright side, its historic importance and prominence make it an exciting spot for public art! I like to imagine all that concrete covered by an exciting mural that welcomes walkers into the heart of Historic Roosevelt Center (and includes the Roosevelts somehow).”
I’ve been talking up murals for our two historic underpasses (both in poor repair and decidedly ugly) ever since I moved here 14 years ago, with little to show for it – yet. But blogging about this prominent city garden and slipping in some mural advocacy at the very end – that’s part of my campaign. I also use the more direct approach of lobbying city leaders for murals and other improvements to the underpasses. Part of my pitch now is that the town’s garden club had done its bit; now let’s call in the artists!
Another example of how gardening can build community pride and even honor a town’s history. Hell yeah.
You goooooo!!!!!!
So smart to get rid of the ivy. Sometimes ivy looks pretty climbing up a tree, but I understand it can girdle the tree and can eventually kill it. Murals sound like a great idea, but what about taggers? I’m actually surprised there is no graffiti there now.
The technology is so much better now, it prevents graffiti.
Very satisfying work, I’m sure! Good for you-bloom where you are planted!
Pleased for you. I do wonder though why we use the term invasive rather than non-native. It’s not the plants fault they were brought here deliberately, or that they have found success. Reminds me of what is going on with humans here. I know this will be controversial but many, many so called invasives have valuable medicinal properties, like your hated ivy which has been used in Europe for a thousand years to treat coughs and respiratory problems. I am personally grateful for its existence as I am allergic to the carrier in asthma inhalers and steroids have destroyed my bones, so ivy is all I have to treat an autoimmune lung condition. Just food for thought.
I would never use the term non-native to label a plant as needing to be removed. Too many people think already think all nonnatives are invasive.
I think Rebecca McMacklin has the answer – though right now I forget the more benign term that she suggests using instead, because of all the xenophobic implications in the “invasion” rhetoric.
And I can believe english ivy has uses because Brits are pretty vocal in defending it. So interesting – wrong plant/wrong place.
Looks like gardening to me. I don’t see a need to call the plants invasive or non-native.
This looks like a garden that needed some basic maintenance. Without maintenance, both native and non-native plants are capable of dominating. Here in California, native coyote brush is considered invasive. People don’t call it invasive only because it is native.
Pulling ivy off of tree trunks in my neighborhood public park in San Francisco was my first experience as a garden volunteer. We were instructed to pull off the trunks of redwood trees. My husband and I also pulled off the trunks of non-native eucalyptus trees. We were asked to quit pulling ivy off the eucalyptus because they aren’t native. (Actually, redwoods aren’t native to San Francisco either.)
Gardening is maintenance. Both native and non-native plants need maintenance.
We have several underpasses along a local bikeway. High School art programs, in particular, have been instrumental in producing murals for them. I’m sure tagging occurs but the community is invested in repair and upkeep.
What an inspiring transformation and an even more inspiring effort behind it! It’s amazing to see how much care, persistence, and community spirit can revive a forgotten space. The contrast between the pristine side and the overgrown jungle really highlights how much your work — and the garden club’s — is accomplishing. The oakleaf hydrangeas, the restored viburnum, and the new native plantings all show such deep respect for the landscape’s history and potential.
This makes me think of the beautiful Ed Griffiths Pedestrian Underpass/Tunnel in Ashland, Wisconsin on Lake Superior. The downtown area with shops and restaurants is on one side of the highway and the lakefront is on the other. Dangerous to cross the road to get to the waterfront. So they built this pedestrian tunnel and got the community involved in decorating it. A mural was painted telling a story of the history/nature of the local area. Local groups were enlisted to create mosaics of the various wildlife critters and flowers that were then cemented into their spots on the mural. There is a scavenger hunt for kids (or adults!) to find various animals within the mural. It is really a must-see destination in this art loving town. There are also mosaics and murals throughout the town. Even the trash cans have art on them!
Do a google search for Ed Griffiths Pedestrian Tunnel Ashland Wisconsin to get some ammo for your pitch for your tunnel’s glow-up!
That is SO cool! I found it online and I’ll certainly be showing it around my town. Thanks!