What IS this thing?

[amcros]

To preface, I am very much a gardening beginner, so forgive me if this is something very common I should be able to recognize.

My husband and I are renting a house with a small backyard. There are signs that the yard was once, clearly a long time ago, loved by someone, and we're trying to put some work in now to make it our own. While cleaning up the beds today, we came across this curious looking little guy and have been trying to figure it out ever since. As some extra information, there's another, larger "clump", for lack of a better word, of this down the hill behind the house (the "hill" is basically a steep drop that leads to a retaining wall and an uninhabited small grove of trees). Interestingly, it looks like there's a thick, leafless vine leading from the clump down the hill to the one in the bed. Is this invasive? Is it several plants tangled in one spot? How, and can we, safely get rid of it?

Thanks for your help!

 

[oneeye]

Welcome, Yes its an invasive vine that will cause problems to the Yellow Spot Euonymus shrub you have growing. The best way to deal with invasive vines, is to snip the vine at the ground and let it die before removing it, so you don't damage your euonymus. If you don't let if die before trying to pull it out, it will damage your shrub. Snip the vine wait two weeks then pull it out and every new vine you see do the same.

 

[cpp gardener]

You can dab a little Roundup on the freshly cut stem to kill it faster and more completely. I have no idea what it is though.