u/HickettyPicketty

Great Black Wasp on Mountain Mint

I think it’s my favorite native plant. Even when it flops over like it has onto my echinacea, I feel like it adds something to every space. Probably even better planted en masse.

I am in eastern MA.

I am looking for advice on removing a large forsythia and knock-out rose to expand my native plant garden.

I dug one out with a pick axe earlier this year to expand a vegetable garden and it was miserable because I have asthma and get winded easily - I am also a weakling. So, I guess my question is, if I cut the forsythia to the ground and paint on an herbicide, is that such a horrible thing to do from 1) an ecological perspective & 2) considering I have a vegetable garden on the other side of my small house, is this dangerous? 3) will this method work?

Picture of native plant garden I hope to expand where the forsythia and rose bush currently is.