Category — Organic Trees and Shrubs

I haven’t been garden much over the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I planted some peas and some fava beans in my yardshare garden, but assumed they would stay underground for a while until things warmed up. Then last week I notice the crocuses coming up.

photo credit: audreyjm529

Ok, I thought, it’s pretty early, but when I lived in Ohio the crocuses lived through occasional late spring snowfall. No problem. But this week the magnolias started dropping the fuzzy shells that cover their buds. In a few days they will be in full bloom.

photo credit: emdot

The problem is that once these processes are triggered by weather changes they don’t stop. The blooms can’t stop growing once they start. The weather here in Eugene will turn cold again and it will start raining, and raining hard. If it rains or turns cold while all the fruit trees are blooming then we can look forward to a very bad year for fruit. We will have few apricots, plums, cherries, or peaches.

I don’t want to harp on climate change again, but I have to say something. One period of exceptionally cold or warm weather doesn’t mean anything, but if you are a gardener you can record these signals. Keep a garden journal and record when the crocuses come out every year. This is actually invaluable information for you in terms of keeping track of your planting dates and also for scientists to understand how climate change is impacting different areas. You can understand climate change. You can see it happen if you pay attention.

Technorati Tags: climate change, crocuses, magnolias

Below are some horrible pictures of tree torture, so sensitive readers may not want to read any further. I don’t know why people engage in tree torture, but I think it’s simple ignorance. Many people just don’t understand the basics of how trees grow and what kinds of care they need. People also don’t think about how the tree might grow and change in the future.

When this Bradford Pear was planted in the 70s (?) it had plenty of room. Now it’s almost outgrown it’s tiny square of soil, making it difficult to water. Since it’s planted next to our sloped driveway it’s basically only getting water from the soaker hose on the other side.

Frankly, it looks kind of sickly. Now maybe it’s just the fact that it’s an older Bradford Pear. Bradford Pears have some problems, such as weak branches that break easily in stormy weather. Our tree, in fact, has a broken branch hanging off of it right now. We need to figure out how to get it down without hurting ourselves or the tree or just hire an arborist.

Below is my roommate Kym, attempting doing surgery on the japanese maple in our back patio. For some reason a previous resident of Aurora house tied a piece of thick black plastic rope around the trunk of this little tree. If you look closely you can see that the tree trunk had started to grow around the rope.

I have seen trees grow to incorporate lots of foreign materials, but this situation is dangerous for the tree because if the tree trunk became completely girdled, the rope could cut the tree’s circulation systems, making it impossible for the tree to pass nutrients and water back and forth from its roots and branches. I’m hoping that by cutting off the rope we have saved this little tree, although we couldn’t fully remove the rope since the tree had already grown over most of it.

I’m not sure if the damage to it’s canopy was caused by the rope. It might be sun burn or frost damage. Most of the tree is sheltered by the walls of the house. I’m going to try to get up there and cut out the damaged areas before I leave in the fall.

Technorati Tags: gardening, japanese maple, patio, tree care, trees