Invasive Bittersweet Baskets
Sat, May 03
|Messalonskee High School
Learn to identify, gather/remove and make a round, twined basket using invasive bittersweet vines.


Time & Location
May 03, 2025, 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Messalonskee High School, 131 Messalonskee High Drive, Oakland, ME 04963, USA
About the event
So-called "Oriental" or round-leafed bittersweet is a creeping vine with inedible berries that is considered invasive in North America. Frustrating to gardeners and arborists, and not readily favored by birds, bittersweet is a largely useless bane on wild land. We can use traditional harvesting techniques to tend Asian bittersweet in the wild: harvesting material for baskets while controlling and suppressing future damaging growth.
Learn to make a beautiful basket of invasive round-leafed bittersweet! We'll cover identification, responsible collection, materials processing and storage, and creation, including the basics of stake-and-strand twining and weaving. We'll plan for a basket about 8" wide and 6" deep, or as big and great as your skills and time will allow.
Space in this class is limited. Preregistration, along with a paid deposit, is required to reserve a spot in the class. Deposits may be fully refunded in the event of a cancellation a week or…