I always stop by big patches when kudzu is blooming. It smells just like the grape bubblegum I used to get as a kid. I’m seen jelly made from the blooms at the farmers market. I’ve never tried it myself.
But! are the days of kudzu numbered? The feds brought kudzu here for erosion control in the 1930's (dust bowl years). Some now claim in 2009 they brought a bug here to eat it. Others claim it hitched a ride on an airplane and landed at Hartsfield in Atlanta.
Only the bug is now eating everything, causing severe crop damage and ravaging small gardens everywhere.
The North Carolina extension people have a pretty good article about it.
The kudzu bug (Megacopta cribraria) was introduced to the U.S. in 2009 and is now found in most North Carolina counties. A true bug roughly the size of a lady beetle, it uses its piercing sucking mouthparts to rob plants of water and nutrients and can cause significant yield loss.
Read more at:
Kudzu Bug
Kudzu Bug