Mid-Day

It's the middle of the day when the sky takes on an unrelenting glare, and the Pettus Bridge appears to sink like a hammock between these two trees and atop the kudzu of Grumbles Alley.

Field of Kudzu

Kudzu is alive, well and growing rapidly like the vine it is. Soon, kudzu will blossom with wisteria like flowers that smell like grapes.

Kudzu: The New Nutrient?

If an extract from kudzu root turns out to be as promising in humans as it in rats, then Selma and vicinity could become the Camelot of Kudzu!

Much of the Southeast is literally overrun with this vine, which most people view as a nuisance. But, scientists in Alabama and Iowa have reported its medicinal properties. Kudzu extract may help control metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects some 50 million people in the United States. (If you have a big belly that is not due to overeating or consumption of beer, then you might have metabolic syndrome!)

After just two months of receiving kudzu extract, rats showed lower levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure, conditions that contribute to cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.

View Down the Fence Line

Here's the view down the ornamental fence line toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The fence is in an area known as Lafayette park, just off Grumbles Alley and near the rear of the St. James Hotel and The Restaurant on Grumbles Alley.

Notice how the kudzu has been cut back from the fence. Last summer, the kudzu was allowed to roam all the way to the ironwork.

Covered in Kudzu

Here's KUDZU, the stuff that strangles forests, traps vehicles and stalls military tanks.

And NO, I'm not kidding!

This vine grows a foot or more a day in the southern U.S. and elsewhere around the world. Here, it covers the riverbank behind the St. James Hotel. If you dare to brave this abode of copperhead snakes, be sure to collect its wysteria-like blossoms in August, and make jelly!

The Sweet Side of Kudzu

The other day when I posted a photo of kudzu about to overtake a downtown fence, a commenter gave some links to the better side of kudzu. While kudzu is notorious for choking forests, bogging down U.S. Army tanks, sneaking up on vehicles and providing shelter for copperhead snakes, this vine that "eats the South" really does have a nicer, sweeter reputation of sorts.
Many people have begun kudzu enterprises...weaving the vine into baskets, producing bales of kudzu hay, deep-frying the edible leaves, using the root to treat alcoholism and even making kudzu blossom jelly!
Here is a photo of the hands of a lady who lives nearby, and she is holding kudzu blossoms, the main ingredient of her kudzu blossom jelly. She gathers the blossoms from vines that drape the roadsides near her home.
The blooms resemble miniature wisteria and smell a lot like grapes. Kudzu usually doesn't bloom until August in these parts, so this is a photo I took several years ago for an article about her Central Alabama Fair prize-winning kudzu jelly. She recommends serving the jelly with homemade biscuits, and a kudzu website recommends melting it and pouring over waffles or ice cream.
Sorry, I can't share her prize recipe, but here is a link to one on the Internet.

Tomorrow: August Theme Day: What's for Breakfast?
I promise it won't be deep-fried kudzu leaves!

Creeping Kudzu

I don't know if this iron fence is wrought or not, but it looks a bit rusty as well as close to getting wrapped in kudzu. The fence and kudzu are down by the river just off Water Avenue. Notice the trees that are also covered in the prolific vine.

Beware the Kudzu Strangler!

Crawlin’, crawlin’ like a spider,

Kudzu weaves its web of green.

Creepin’, sneakin’ ever wider,

Trappin’ trees in each ravine.

Reachin’, reachin’ towards the blacktop

Stalkin' all the cars that pass.

Can’t the guv’ment make it stop

‘Fore it strangles us en masse?

Kudzu grows everywhere, and here it is right in downtown Selma...on the river bank, through the fence and heading for the pavement.

Often called "the vine that ate the South," kudzu is not native to America. The government imported it from the Far East in the 1930s for erosion control. But the fast-growing plant took over like a tyrant...swallowing trees, gripping power poles, threatening ecosystems. It is very difficult to kill, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially declared it to be a weed in 1972.