Pyracantha is a problem

Pyracantha or Firethorn was one of the first things I noticed when we were buying this house. I didn't know anything about its invasive tendencies or its horrible "fire" laced thorns...I just thought the berries were pretty. All the wildlife seems to enjoy this plant immensely too, so upon move in, my worries were non existent.(Upon further reading, I have learned it is an invasive plant that should be avoided at all costs, and builders haven't used them in probably twenty years or so for that reason. Awesome.)

Flash forward just a couple of months. We realize the fence along the sidewalk is falling down...what we didn't know initially is that the entire fence is being supported by the pyracantha. That's right, they're all tied together with ropes. Being the diligent hard working woman I am, I was undaunted by this. "What's twenty foot tall firethorn tied to the fence gonna do to me?" And I set out to prune/hack/cut that firethorn away from the fence. It's quite difficult to cut once the base is the size of a small tree, as mine is. Plus not letting any part of it touch you for fear of horrific thorns is challenging. I ended up with a pretty bad stick from a thorn about an hour into cutting, and it wound up hurting for two whole days!

Ever since it drew blood from me, I have been trimming it on a need-only basis. It does tend to hit people in the face when they walk down the sidewalk, so I do my part...when I get around to it. But this brings me to my biggest and baddest pyracantha task to date: REMOVING ABSOLUTELY ALL OF IT so we can put up a new fence. Every last bit of it. There are 5-6 mature plants with a ton of filler in between that. ALL of it has thorns. I have learned that trimming it and letting it die completely does take the sting out of the thorns. They feel more like pricks from a rose bush when they're dry.

Since last fall's trim, the new growth is nearly unstoppable. I say nearly cuz a chainsaw can stop just about anything. Between that and a sawsall, look out fence line! I hope to have it all nice and clear, pending termite inspections, soon. Come on new privacy fence...you know I need you!!