Poison Ivy

After doing yard-work in our "back 40" several weeks ago, I noticed bumps on my forearm that itched like a [rhyming expletive deleted]. The culprit...Poison Ivy!!!

After doing some Google research I was pretty sure I knew the source, but guess who confirmed it? Our 7 year old next door neighbor who is the same one who gave me a bouquet of front yard flowers last year.

Last night before dinner he came over for a short visit with his little sister (after getting permission from his parents which is in itself a blog worthy post.) We walked out to the pond and then he wandered out to the suspect area. I told him to be very careful because I thought we had some Poison Ivy. Before I even pointed it out he said, "Oh, there it is. It's there, there and there." I was impressed.

I asked where he learned how to spot the plant and he said, "My mom taught me ~ three leaves, let it be." So for the next 10 minutes he was on guard to spot the stuff. Turns out, though, his identification needs a little refining. Pretty soon he identified 3 other potential culprits but I'm pretty sure they are false positives. Or at least I'm hoping so. :)

P.S. One of our tasks this afternoon...use Mike McGrath's technique from You Bet Your Garden to remove the stuff. I'm not looking forward to this.