Garden Adversity

Thanks everyone.  I know that trees will come back; I saw this first hand after our record-breaking ice storm of December 2008, where many (most trees) were heavily damaged or destroyed.  I had a Magnolia tripetala 'Petite' (it's still a BIG one in spite of its name ;)) snap off at the base in that storm, and each year I've been selecting out what I think is the strongest sucker-sprout, and each year it would eventually break off at the heal, but finally this year I have a strong sprout and the tree is already about 10-12 feet tall (I haven't even ventured down to take a look at it after this surprise early snow). 

My fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) has been my pride and joy, planted out some 10-12 years ago as a 5-6' "whip".  Each winter it was stripped of bark at the base and girdled by rodents, but one year a sucker survived and became large enough to establish.  Carefully pruning this tree, a rather unwieldy grower but responding to pruning, it has become a beautiful specimen, and a single-trunked version (typically they're multi-stemmed). Sadly, this is one of the worst hit trees in the garden.

I'm at work (with power, still no power back at home), and here are some pics.  I wanted to do a before and after photo display, but maybe later.

Some general views of the snow... remember, just 20 days prior, I ran the Boston Half Marathon, and it broke a 45 year heat record for Boston on that date, reaching 83 F in Boston, 86 F in more inland towns, to my chagrin as it was way too hot to run a marathon yet I did... and a mere 20 days layer we get February arctic blast and early snow well before leaves drop.  No moderation whatsoever.

In this view, these are 12-18' trees under the snow, not 5' shrubs.

Approximate 14' Chionanthus virginicus compressed to a 4'-5' tall "snow muffin"

...after the snow melted off, bonsai version of Chionanthis virginicus.

Cornus kousa 'Milky Way', it was about 16'-17' tall.  It is underplanted with hybrid Epimedium plants.

Nold wrote:

This looks too much like Denver, in September, October, March, April, or May. In the March blizzard of '03, I had a 7m tall Cupressus bakeri snap right in half, an equally tall C. arizonica laid out flat on the ground, etc., etc.
The trees recovered, and so did I (sort of), but now I stay up at night knocking snow off things I don't want broken. I even set the alarm for 2 a.m. or so, and knock off the snow with a push broom, and one of those extension poles made for painting the house.

Bob

Bob, excellent idea (setting alarm, and push-broom off the snow at night), certainly worth doing.  I did this on my trees and shrubs in the monring, but then it was too late for many of them.  I'm going to do that procedure next time!

Ann, sorry to see the damage on your Magnolia, the magnolias have big leaves that catch snow/ice and have brittle wood that snaps under pressure; my pink star magnolia is a wreck, and my large M. denudata 'Forrest Pink' that got wiped out in the ice storm of Dec 2008 came back remarkable in the last three years, but suffered more damage this time around (extensive).  On the other hand, my black-leaf birch (Betula 'Black Prince'), a fastigiate tree, is incredibly flexible, the tip of the 20' tree touching the ground; I shook off the snow, and it stood back up after a day.  I should grow nothing but birch trees, they're like rubber.

Finally gave in, after 4 days of no electricity and cold in the house, my wife and I are at a hotel tonight, what luxury to have TV, lights, warmth, and internet  :)

RickR wrote:

McDonough wrote:

and each year it[Magnolia tripetala] would eventually break off at the heal, but finally this year I have a strong sprout and the tree is already about 10-12 feet tall 

Adventitious buds are never strong at the point of emergence, especially at the get-go.  It grew 10-12 ft in one season? :o  I would assume a single tall whip?

Yes Rick, the sprout grew with remarkable vigor, I think loving the heat and abundant rain.  I still don't know the outcome on this tree, after the morning after the storm I have not been home during daylight to check it out.  There is a single tall main whip, but then more suckers appeared, which i need to remove.

Thanks for your comments Panayoti, I will try to "work with" the remains to see what restorative growth might occur.

Following up on thje damage done to Chionanthus virginicus (Fringe Tree), today was bright and mild, time to do some cleanup.  Most branches were damaged, so the best pruning approach seemed to be to cut it back drastically, hoping that in a few years time with will be able to recover.

Leaving a few long willowy branches didn't make sense, so all was cut back to short solid trunks and severed branch bases.  In the right-hand photo, the red line indicates a cut I made on a large low branch that had split under the weight of snow.

A heap of limbs cut off.  On the right, the finished pruning job. Planted under this tree are many bulbous plants, such as Fritillaries and bulbous Alliums.

I gathered up all the seed, many still hanging on thje branches, like dangling olives, many others gathered up on the ground.  I will sow these. Interestingly, Chionanthus is dioecious, my tree is male, but it has the ability to produce some female flowers and depending on the year, varying quanity of seed set.

And lest we forget, here are some photos of the plant in flower, the flowers richly perfumed scenting a large part of the yard.

Never got a change to see the fall color this year, so here's a view from 2010 (center, yellow leaves), with Oxydendron arboreum (Sourwood Tree) on the right... the latter survived this snowstorm but lost the top 7-8' with 3 leaders snapped off and some other shapely branches.

Spiegel wrote:

Mark, I'm so sorry to hear about the damage to your oxydendron.  Is this the first time it has had snow damage?  I was planning to plant one in the spring.  It's one of my favorite trees.

Ann, Oxydendron arboreum is a slow growing but a strong and rugged weather-resistant tree.  It almost never requires pruning. I can't remember its age exactly, but I'm thinking it is about 16 yrs old now, and the first time any branches broke was in our disasterous December 2008 ice storm, where the single leader snapped off, and some minor breakage lower down.

It was worse this time around, the 3 new leaders that grew in since 2008 all snapped off, and some other main branches broke, leaving gaps in the outline of the tree. But having 14" wet heavy snow in October while trees still have their leaves on is not a normal situation.  The photo below is not very good, but shows the tree as of yesterday, with the broken leaders on the grown and other broken branches already removed. It will recover, damage was not that extensive.

I would advise planting this tree, it's one of the most beautiful and elegant trees.  It is also tap-rooted and very late to leaf out, so it provides an ideal plantable home to bulbs underneath.

Optimism springs eternal... if my devestated Chionanthus virginicus tree doesn't spring back from such a drastic pruning, there is always seed!  I know I sowed the seed too thickly, but if I get a few trees out of it, then I can rejuvenate my affair with the beautiful Fringe Tree.  Actually, this past spring 2011, 3 self-sown seedlings appeared; I can pot these up next spring and consider planting them out or offering up at a seedling sale. 

I wonder... my Fringe Tree is male, but evidently it sometimes produces female flowers and I do occassional get some of the dark blue olive-like "fruits" (very hard seed with a thin-layer blue pulp and skin on the outside), I wonder what percentage of male/female seedling trees one will end up with.  May never know, I don't have that much space to grow them on.

Garden Adversity - Squirrels

While I have great admiration for oaks (mostly red oaks in my area, Quercus rubra), a major downside to oaks in New England are armies of gray squirrels that spend every living moment of daylight burying acorns in my garden; they're particularly attracted to soft freshly planted beds, so everyday beds of hybrid Epimedium seedlings look like a meteor-riddled lunar surface, with collateral damage of seedlings uprooted and languishing about. Of course in spring, the squirrels are at it again, incessantly digging little potholes EVERYWHERE in search of their beloved acorns, digging millions of holes with failed attempts. For the rest of the growing season I pull out oak seedlings by the hundreds if not thousands... until autumn returns and the cycle repeats.  

Oak seedlings are strongly tap-rooted and difficult to pull out, even in the early stages of emergence. I often find the seedlings popping up in pots, seed flats and even in troughs (I now cover all seed flats with wire mesh).  As I write this message on a laptop and staring out my dining room window, several squirrels are jumping about madly digging and buying acorns in a new hybrid Epimedium bed that I made this summer, each planted acorn ritualistically patted down these infernal rats with fuzzy tails ;) >:(

I haven't even begun to rant about chipmunks yet!

I've always wondered about cactus gardens in suburban areas, whether small animals, or even dogs, get stuck.  Now I know ;D  These days I don't have much compassion for squirrels and chipmunks, although I too would feel bad about one stuck in such a prickly situation, thanks for showing this example.

At any given time, there are a dozen+ gray squirrels on or close-by my property, dozens more all around nearby, there are red squirrels too. When I'm inspired to temporarily reduce the population, I use two Havahart (non-lethal) traps, a larger one for gray squirrels, and a smaller one for chipmunks and red squirrels. They're easy to catch with either peanuts or peanut butter as bait.  I release the catch about a mile away.  One has to be discreet about relocating these rodents, as I've heard you can get fined for doing this (although ironically it's perfectly okay to kill them if one is so inclined, but I don't kill them).  This gets tedious, but after a couple weeks of trapping and relocating 10-20 varmints, I can be relatively squirrel/chipmunk free for a couple weeks, but soon new ones move in.

James wrote:

In the end, this cat ended up in some animal rescue cat barn in the country.  A cat that attacks people is not exactly the adoptable type.

James

There are 3 roaming neighborhood cats in my yard all the time (every day), and they're hunting.  So far, I have only found evidence of moles (rare) and mourning doves being killed (mourning doves love to sit on the ground to sun themselves, thus easy prey).  The squirrel/chipmunk/vole/mole population doesn't seem the slightest bit deterred.  Personally, I think having a cat to do the job is a red herring.  In fact, I'm irritated by cats who come into the yard and spray (stinks) or those who use rock-garden sandy soil as their toilet, either digging up plants in one's sandy beds, or worse yet, burying their turds in the soil and then the gardener "discovering" the foul turd squeezed within their hand while planting or cultivating an area.

I suspect chipmunk and squirrel populations is not strictly even or averaged situations, there might be influencing factors, with areas of population at much greater density than others.  In my area, mature red oaks are a dominant feature of the deciduous woods, as are black walnut trees, probably supporting much greater populations of these varmints.  The oaks produce incredible profusion of acorns; intended on taking a photo this autumn where it would be easy to gather up wheelbarrows full of acorns in minutes... I thought it would make for a funny photo op, never took the photo though.  Judging from the squirrel diggings this fall, it was a big year for black walnuts too... just went out to toss some vegetable matter in a compost heap, and noticed that even with the ground frozen, there were several fresh large "potholes" in my Epimedium seedling beds... with heavy-thick shells of black walnuts in evidence, several Epimedium seedlings dug up as collateral damage and lying there bare-rooted and frozen...grrrrr!

When I first moved to my current town, my wife and I saw three homes that we liked, one was in a more wooded population, and I remember to this day one thing that struck me most; dozens upon dozens of gray squirrels frolicking about, everywhere one looked... the woods were almost entirely red oak.  Instead, I chose my current location, with a whole acre of sun and some distance from nearby woodlands, the flanking woodlands having lots of sugar maples.  Even so, chipmunks, plus red and gray squirrels are plentiful. In my more ambitious chipmunk removal periods, I could catch as many as 10-12 a day.  Each live critter was put into a large trash barrel with leaves at the bottom, and at the end of the day, I would drive them several miles away to be released.  With the squirrels, I need a new regime and will resort to more drastic measures, trapping them and then...  :o

Charles, after 24 years in my current location, only recently have woodchucks and rabbits moved in (the last 2 years), the woodchucks being particularly destructive.  I think it's very possible for pests that have not been an issue whatsoever for many years, suddenly become a problem by moving in, and with subsequent broods of young ones, they keep coming back.

Ever since I've been here, I've been battling mole damage... It never gets any better, no relief.  here are a couple photos last winter / early spring, after a thick mantle of 12-18" of snow receded, the tunneling damage in lawn and garden areas can be extensive (even when I winter baited).  One doesn't see the damage until spring.  Regarding Alliums, it's somewhat of a myth that Alliums keep the critters away, they do not, and I have lost large patches of Allium due to tunneling. At times, I feel like Bill Murray in CaddyShack too, going to war with rats with fluffy twitchy tails, and various tunneling vermin.

Sometimes garden adversity happens in small and memorable ways.

I had excellent germination of Aquilegia saximontana from Jane Hendricks seed.  Then one day I noticed a disturbance in the flat, and lo and behold, it was a toad.  Now, I understand the benefits of toads in the garden, invariably I get one or two that'll scoop out a seed pot (they like round ones best) and half bury themselves in their cozy nest,  But why is it they always seem to target the best thing one's growing?  :(

I gently scooted the little fellow out of the flat, replanted the disturbed seedlings as well as I could, then covered the flat with wire mesh (my new seed sowing standard, otherwise chipmunks, squirrels, and occassional toads, will surely dig in each and every pot).

externmed wrote:

Sometimes smoke bombs will work for woodchucks in their holes, usually takes serveral tries.

If I really have to get one, Campanula "Elizabeth" in a sufficiently large have-a-heart seems to work 80%+.  About $7.00 for the plant and nothing left once it's spent several hours in a trap with a woodchuck.

Charles MA USA

Charles, I have tried the smoke bombs before... one needs to know the entrances to their burrow (if there is more than one), to seal all but one ahead of time, make sure the critter is inside, and light the bomb and cover with some heavy chunks of sod to contain the smoke.  Unfortunately they nest in an area with brush piles that is not easy to access or contain, and of recent, they burrow under my garden shed without any good way of getting at the varmints.  It is yet another project, to excavate around my shed circumferance, and install heavy wire mesh, and backfill.  Maybe I should try your large Havahart trap idea, with the sacrificial Elizabeth Campanula.
http://woodchuck-x.com/smokebomb.htm

Just visited the Havahart website, has anyone tried the Critter Ridder animal repellent?
http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/3146
http://www.havahart.com/

This is my new standard seed sowing procedure; all flats or pots must be covered with some sort of protection from digging varmints. This "hardware cloth" is not terribly expensive at a hardware store, it is easily snipped with a pair of wire snips, and easily bent over the flats to hold them in place.  The one thing to look out for is the germinating seedlings popping through the wire mesh and making it difficult to remove the mesh without damaging seedlings.  Typically I watch for germination, and when it occurs, loosen the wire mesh piece and create a sort of teepee or arched "hoop house" effect over the flat... still keeps the squirrels out yet allows the seedlings to grow without getting tangled in the mesh.

Jan, I feel your pain, the slug issue in the Pacific Northwest is not to be underestimated; it was a huge eye-opener when I lived in the Seattle, Washington area.  And yes, banana slugs ate plants like there was no tomorrow.

TStuart wrote:

The active ingredients of Critter Ridder come from black pepper and chili peppers. Seems like one can test it without visiting the garden center.

A very good repellent for many animals is castor oil. The EPA lists it as effective with dogs, cats, moles, deer, rabbits, and squirrels. This info sheet lists other plant oil repellents, most of them for insects:
http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_plant-oils.htm

In commercial formulations castor oil is encapsulated in dry granules. One product is MoleMax. Their claims extend to voles, gophers, armadillos and skunks. Anyone suffering from armadillo invasions?

Hello Tom, good to see you on NARGS Forum!  Very interesting information and link, I'll need to explore options more.  Regarding Critter Ridder being derived from black pepper & chili pepper, then I have already tried similar treatment.  With my Epimedium seedling beds currently very attractive to squirrel digging, I tried generous sprinkling with black and hot red pepper. Then I would observe from my dining room window while working on my laptop, and watched as multiple squirrels were busy, busy, busy digging their infernal holes everywhere, completely undeterred by the pepper; in fact, they seemed to enjoy the extra seasoning in their bland diet ;)  I did similar treatment around my garden shed that had a family of woodchucks (gophers) living under it, and the heavy dousing of hot red pepper seemed to do the trick, they didn't like it, and after repeated reapplications of pepper, they seemed to have moved away from that exact location, although I would still spot them in the yard and garden, so they didn't go far.

The problem with the pepper, particularly red pepper, it is extremely expensive (on a per pound basis) if bought at a grocery store.  I would have to find a source for buying it in bulk.  The other problem is that the effectiveness of pepper is quickly diminished when exposed to rain for any lengthy period.

I hadn't heard of MoleMax, but looked it up.  Reading the user reviews of the products on Amazon.com can be revealing... besides the typical spectrum of feedback from complainers to "happy campers", some respondants gave substantive reports of using the product over a number of years, giving credible body of evidence that in the long run this particular product was not effective for them, and it became very expensive, to a point where they decided not to use the product anymore.

But I value these leads and tips, and will explore options in much greater detail, as ammunition in vermin warfare in 2012.  Meanwhile, back to squirrels, I plan on trying a new tactic, and that is to trap them in winter when perhaps they are more vulnerable.  The squirrels remain active all winter (unlike chipmunks), and will probably be easy to trap with some enticing morsels of food.  If I could deplete the local squirrels population in my immediate area well before spring, maybe there would be less breeding going on, thus fewer squirrels to contend with next spring.