Suddenly over run with ivy, honey suckle vines, and wild violets this year.

[yardiron]

I'm not sure what happened around here but this year we seem to be completely overrun with wild violets and massive amounts of Ivy and even Honeysuckle vines. There was no sign of the Ivy or Honey suckle last year but this year its all but enveloping my yard and trying to cover my hedges, front bushes, and my shed. I've never seen such explosive growth from that stuff.
We always had small patches of the violets pop up from time to time but its already a foot thick and its everywhere.
In a week, a light green Ivy vine has completely covered my utility trailer, it grew over, around and in the trailer where there was no sign of it a week ago.

I spent 6 hours yesterday cutting it down off the front of my enclosed trailer and off the utility trailer, I mowed it down out back where I could get to it, ad spent several hours pulling down new honey suckle vines off the house and out of my yew bushes around the house.

Oddly though the grass on the lawn has yet to return, still lying dormant despite the warm temps during the day for a month.

The usual Virginia Creeper is also growing early but not nearly as aggressive as the Ivy or violets. I can see keeping it all out of the vegetable garden is going to be a challenge this year.

 

[Meadowlark]

I've observed that a lot over the years...some years some varieties of plants just explode in growth. For me this year it seems to be bindweed's year to shine. Popping up everywhere in places where it has never been.

 

[yardiron]

I spent a ton of time last spring fighting back elm tree sprouts, at least that's what we figured here that they were. They were everywhere. I cut, burned, and uprooted hundreds of them all summer long.
Last week I went around and pulled up about 600 Norway and Silver maple trees, one that was already over 6ft tall. It wasn't there last fall either. In a 110x85ft lot its hard not to miss a 6ft tree that popped up in the middle of the yard.

The ivy is different than what is usually here. we usually have ivy with equal length points on the leaves, its dark green and slow growing. This stuff has a long center point on the leaf and its growing by the foot every day. I cut it back on Monday and its spread across the driveway, back behind the shrubs by the house and across the surface of my front porch in five days. I've also got spearmint that grows by the side door, that stuff seems to have moved from the front corner of the porch to the whole side of the foundation and its trying to root in the concrete walkway too. Its popping out of all edges of the sidewalk and around the concrete steps. I just ran the weed trimmer there and knocked it all back and dripped some Triox down around the concrete to kill the roots there. Hopefully it don't kill it all off but I'm not having it damage the porch foundation.

Oddly though the entire lawn looks dead yet. Nothing but wild garlic and some sort of tall grass shoots here and there. Last year my lawn was full of clover, but that's completely gone this year. no sign of it as of yet. Last year I had already been mowing the lawn by now with most of the grass starting to grow. Several neighbors yards look the same with the exception of two that had fresh sod put down last fall.