On a dark and stormy night bright and sunny day….even cheery gardens harbor nightmares. 

I recently saw this beautiful vine, climbing up the fence at the rear of a small community garden.

At first, I wondered what it was. It was quite striking, with purple flowers and berries of varying shade. And then it hit me. This was poison night shade. Prolifically growing in a community garden.

While monitoring for pests, I noticed something was eating the cabbage and leaving gruesome large holes in the head. I pulled up the plant and found nine snails, huddling underneath the leaves. They were promptly punished by a preschooler with salt.

The next day I found 11 more snails on that same cabbage. The cabbage has been rescued to my fridge, and the snails have been trampled into mush.