Southern Weeds = Northern Treasures

We just spent a pleasant week in Kentucky, for various reasons, and the vegetation was definitely a feast for the eyes.   Outside our first motel was this shrub bed, one of the few that was not well-weeded.  Its centrepiece was a Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).  I have one here at home I am trying to nurse along in a big pot.  But, what were the weeds in this bed?  Some of the very plants I call exotic, and am trying to grow here in Nova Scotia.  

   Notice, on the lower left, above, a vigorous Redbud (Cercis canadensis) seedling.  And see, below, at the base of a rosebush, a Sassafras (S. albidum) growing.  Both of these were everywhere I looked in the countryside - in the woods, the fence-rows, and, yes, as a weed in the flowerbeds.  

Here is mine, below, at the cottage, growing very well this summer, after dying to the ground over winter.  I was thrilled to find this at a local nursery last summer.  It is a rarity here in Eastern Canada.

A real weed in the South is Paulownia tomentosa, Royal Paulownia.  Here is one getting a foothold in Mammoth Cave National Park...

it has been quite invasive in parts of the US, having been imported from the orient decades ago.  Here at home, I am struggling to get my seedling to flourish.  I started this from seed about five years ago.  It's growing slowly, and was half winter-killed before this past season. 

Next are a couple shots of other wild things in Kentucky and Tennessee that for me at home are special plants, receiving some attention and nurture at the Cottage.  I have not taken pictures of my plants; these are shots from the South.

Above, Rattlesnake Master, Eryngium yuccifolium, and below, Paw Paw, Asimina triloba.  Paw Paws were everywhere as an under-story shrub, but the developing fruits were hard to find.  My plant is a mere two inches tall!

And, finally, some photos from home.  These plants I'm growing I got to see in their native sphere, mature and flourishing...

Above is one of my Osage Oranges, or Bodark trees, Maclura pomifera.  Started these from seed in the spring of 2012. 

     Below is a real "weed" in many cities and southern places, Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima.  This is the species of the classic US novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," by Betty Smith (1943).  It is also the plant nurtured in Canada by "Dave" in Stewart McLean's story, "Tree of Heaven" (2004). Dave finds a seedling growing in the dirt in on the floor of his car, and goes to extraordinary measures to keep it alive.  I'm so glad mine is flourishing, after mowing the three-inch stem off first thing this spring!  It's a foot and a half tall now.

Finally, I saw a few honeylocusts (Gleditsia triacanthos) in the wild, including seedlings, in the South.  Here at home, the one I purchased as a small seedling in Ontario years ago is finally taking off, and even bloomed, as it's four seed-pods can attest.

So, remember... some of your treasured specimens are weeds somewhere else on the globe; and some of your own weeds are highly valued by gardeners elsewhere.

Whipper Snipper: Anonymous Attack!

So, for a few years I've been saying (lamenting) that the person who invented the whipper-snipper should be taken out each week and whipper-snipped around the ankles.  Oops, did that sound harsh?  If you don't mind a little rant, read on...

     The Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) above, and below, I bought and planted several years ago.  Discovered this week it had been "kindly" mowed and trimmed around, by whoever was doing the mowing for the neighbour at the cottage next door.  How kind (grumble, grumble).

Then I found that most every little tree and shrub that borders the next property was also harshly treated.  And I have quite a few young specimens along the property line. 

  Now, I must say, the owners of the neighbouring cottage next door are wonderful, cooperative, and accommodating.  I like them a lot; I like what they do.   It's just that whatever team of young ones doing the mowing and trimming got quite a bit too ambitious.  I wish they would not be so generous to mow into my lawn.  

  Above and below are photos of a thriving little Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense).  About four years ago, when it was quite tiny, it had the bark whipped off at the base, and finally now the bark has sealed over the holes and healed.  

    Well, it's back to square one.  

 On the happier side (gotta inject some sunshine into this lament), I found a nest in this little tree, with what looks to be thee hatchlings and two eggs.  Did not linger long enough to discover what kind of bird.  

Nearby, admittedly in some tall, weedy grass, a little Bristly Acacia (Robinia hispida) was trimmed down to a bare, black twig.  It was, so I hoped, protected with a wire tomato cage, but the anonymous snipper was thorough.

In another locale on my property, far from the wandering whipper-snipper, is a mature locust shrub, coming into bloom for the second time this season.  It's a great little thing, found 'wild' in Nova Scotia on an old dump site in Wolfville.  (That's where I collected this, a decade ago.)

Well, the litany of scarring becomes a stanza of decapitation.  Below you see what remains of a Hydrangea 'Blue Billow.'  One branch with leaves, the rest - gone.  Sigh....

Amid some tall grass I have some things planted in a temporary spot, including this Clematis recta 'purpurea.'  The second photo shows the work of the avid mower of lawns, except that 60% of this plant was not cut off.

I have been nursing a yellow-flowered currant (Ribes aureum) to health, even propping it up (and thinking I was well protecting it) with a tomato cage and a small stake.  Note how the neighbours employee kindly skinned the bark off this little shrub.  

Should I go on much longer?  The local weed-whacker did! Here is my cliché shrub, Dappled Willow (Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki).  Planted everywhere, yet I could not resist getting one.  Not too much damage here.  

The final victims were several Burning Bushes (Euonymus alatus).  These came as seedlings some years ago from a gardening friend in Parrsboro.  Now in their permanent locations, I've been hoping they would get healthy and fill out, branching up from the base.  And they started to do that very thing, last year.  

 Well, they just got a trim.  See the nice, green-barked twigs, now short and de-leafed?

Not to mention the bark.  

     OK, I've ranted, I've shared my pain; I think I got this out of my system. :-) I've got to end on a happy note.  So I'm changing the subject completely.  Here, simply, is a shot of the Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum), in the prime of their first blooming season.

If you suffer the unintentional destruction of some of your garden specimens, I hope it's not the end of the world for you.  Carry on.  Most plants have such will to live; most will survive to thrive another day.   I reigned myself years ago to the fact that there will always be some casualties due to human error.  Hey, I even mowed over one of my small tree seedlings myself, this spring, a Tree Heaven (Ailanthus altissima).  It has grown back with a vengeance.  

    But... don't forget risk management, and send those local whipper-snippers to the dump!