October 27 , 2016
Don’t Kill Your Trees + Drought-Pretty Design
It ’s the Great CTG Pumpkin , Charlie Brown ! Actually , our annual pumpkin is the handiwork of ever ingenious director Ed Fuentes . What a treat to be on the road again , taping stories about our creative neighbors . Last calendar week in Dale / Lytton Springs , we meet up withAlicia and Joe Thornton , who escaped Houston for 20 peaceful acres . Combining engineering and figure skills ( and Alicia ’s setting in antiques ) , they can re - imagine a discarded object in a flash . Along with artful destinations , they styled up a chicken cage that ’s as wizard as their rescued chickens , ducks , and geese . But two days of flashing drought on the heels of trice flood has been no treat for plants , include our trees . Daphne come home one day to find her 5 - year - old Monterrey oak tip over from the beginning . She jeopardize it for 9 month , and now it ’s straight again , but the roots have a long means to go before the tree is sincerely static .
Then , at theTravis County Extension Office demonstration bed , a Texas mountain Stan Laurel crashed for good , despite effort to save it when one side snapped off at the al-Qaeda . What ’s go on here ? Daphne severalize us : “ Years of drought have kept tree from grow a healthy , widely - dispersed root organisation , so even though they ’re most likely branch and putting on top ontogeny , they are n’t capable to develop and hold up much root mass to substantiate that development . Then , more lately , we ’ve had an overabundance of rain , leading to wet , unstable filth . ”Get her complete answer about toppling Tree . flashgun flood and drought contributed to former foliage drop this class , too . This week , Paul Johnson from theTexas A&M Forest Serviceexplains more about other foliage drop and out - of - time of year fruiting , and how to avoid common pitfalls when imbed new Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . He also keys us into the latest insect to keep on our microwave radar : the destructive emerald ash stone drill . We asked him , “ What about planting around tree ? ” That ’s one thing that fell the Travis Extension mountain laurel : too much vegetation near the base . Paul tells us : “ One of the challenges with place plants around the groundwork of the tree , is you have to irrigate those industrial plant , and so we ’re often concentrating water mightily around the luggage compartment of the tree , which is n’t the honest place to irrigate a tree , you’re able to increase some fungal disease progeny if you keep that ascendent crown too wet . ”Get his everlasting solution mighty now !
At theTexas A&M Forest Service site , learn more about planting and care for trees , along with a by - the - part tree planting guide and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree identification , which I ’ve used a LOT !
And do n’t pretermit Paul ’s Trees Are Key podcasts to answer all your questions and look for him on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram for constant update .
Since Texas Arbor Day is November 4th , Daphne piece native possumhaw holly ( Ilex decidua ) as CTG ’s flora of the Week . This one ’s a real treat for birds in winter , when berries ornament the blank branches . Grow this multi - trunked Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in sun to easy shade in just about any ground . At maturity , it can be about 15- 20 ’ improbable and just as wide , so give it some elbow room . ( In fact , Paul Johnson prompt us to check matured size before found any Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to nullify problem later on).Find out more about possumhaw holly . One chore on my lengthy lean is to shovel into my compost mountain and disseminate the wealth all around . Whether leave expend early on or late , I run down them onto beds and summate to the compost nap . Over the years , I ’ve turned rock and roll - hard soil into industrial plant bread and butter . So , on our road to zero wastefulness , Trisha prompt uswhat we can include in the compost pileand how to accelerate things up .
On spell , we repeat our visit to Linda Peterson ’s contemporary pee - wise garden and out-of-door living courtyard , project to protect heritage oak . Read my original post here . And watch mightily now !
Thanks for stopping by ! Join us next week for alternatives to cut Christmas trees . See you then ! Linda
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