Houses Covered in Gold: When Kudzu Attacks
April 22, 2008 · Print This Article
Earlier this week, we told you about kudzu, the ‘scourge of the South’, a vine that spreads like crazy and has now been found to have quite a few promising uses. It’s being looked to as a possible source of renewable energy, plus it has the ability to leach chemicals out of contaminated soils and has additional food and medicinal uses.
Well, that would mean that these folks are sitting on (or, rather, under - if anyone can even get in the house) a veritable gold mine. This is the sort of thing I see often driving from North Carolina down to my home state of Florida: structures totally taken over by kudzu.
Photographer Jack Anthony has some amazing photos of what he calls ‘natural sculptures’, including an awesome series showing the progression of the kudzu growth over four seasons. No doubt, the owners of this land were unhappy when the kudzu invasion started, but maybe they feel better after the recent kudzu-loving news. Before they know it, they might be standing outside their fences protecting this stuff with shotguns against would-be poachers!
Link [JJAnthony] via [Neatorama]
Photo credit: Jack Anthony
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I wonder how much damage (aside from obvious moisture and weight) the stuff does to its victim buildings. If you planned for it in your construction, could be a cheap way to keep cool in the summer, being both shade and water vapor.
Of course, where I live, the humidity allows for that kind of thing. I suppose if you’re already looking at 90+%, not so good.