Garden Adversity

[Tim Ingram]

Mark - what drama! I'm sure Lori is right; plants are always more resilient than we can imagine. We had a huge willow in our garden, partly weakened way back in the 1987 'hurricane', but which grew away strongly. Come another gale in the winter of the '90's and the whole thing came down as I was working in the nursery near by. Very dramatic. There weren't all the treasures under the tree that you have, but the end result has been a vast improvement to the garden. Mind you I cut it down myself and very slowly.

[RickR]

That's quite a blow, Mark.  A gardener's life is certainly never status quo, even without such devastation.  With that severe summer drought, the ice storm and now this, you have sure been having a run of bad luck.  At Mom and Dad's place, we would just leave a 12ft stump there for the woodpeckers.  There would be a lot less trampling of your garden ...
But seeing as how you are confined to that one basement window or indoor gardening, I guess that's out the window, too.  (And, not sure what the neighbors would think.)

[Hoy]

I am sorry to learn about all your losses, Mark; what a blow! I'm glad however you weren't under the tree trying to protect your gems!
In stead of digging up all your newly planted Jeffersonia seedlings to plant a new tree, can't you just plant a maple (or other) seedling? I sow seeds of maple (and other ornamental trees) and get small seedlings, but they grow fast enough and are easily planted without digging too much.

[Howey]

What a tragedy, Mark.  I know how you must feel.  I had two old apple trees here in the yard that, through the years we have lived here, have given us a lot of pleasure - baby squirrels hatching in spring (or whenever), birds, my son's tree "fort" (on which I used to lie with binnoculars to gaze on the antics of baby squirrels getting to know their new world).  One came down during a storm not long after my husband died and the other was down (old age and a storm I guess) on my return from a visit with the late Fred Case in Saginaw.  Like your tree, they both fell away from the house but there was considerable cleanup from kind neighbors and co-workers at the University, one of whom gave me a Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree) to plant in its stead.  This, in turn, has become very tall and spreading.  The other original apple tree was replaced for a Honey Locust I thought was a red Robinia and have been meaning to cut down but haven't - it may become a problem.  Hmm...  But these days I am very careful with trees although they are hard to resist like Pterostyrax hispida, a "small" oak, Cornus floridus and now I have a tiny seedling of a Copper Beech - and me with neighbors' birch, apple and a Norway Maple already encroaching on all sides, plus a Little Leaf Linden out front that needs constant pruning.  I'm just too old for all that sort of thing.  Anyway, take heart Mark - the Phoenix will arise from the ashes.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

[cohan]

Mark-I read in the woodlanders thread that you got most (all?) of the tree clean-up done by a sensitive arborist with minimal damage- good to hear! What about the loss of shade, will that be a problem for the remaining plants?

Fran- how big does the little leaf linden (Tilia cordata?) get for you? we have one here, and I really like it, but its not super far from the house and the last thing I want is more shade! So far (my mom doesn't remember when it was planted, maybe 15 years ago or so) and its around 15-20 feet with several trunks, but does not seem to be getting taller in any hurry.... I'd be thrilled if it stayed this size...

[McDonough]

GRRRR, gardening can be frustrating. I have 7 patches on the beautiful white Crocus malyi. Two 5-yr old patches are from inplace scratch-and-sow technique, sown as soon as seed ripens in June/July. Each had ~30 buds ready to pop, holding off the last couple sunny but cold days, today is warmer and I went out to photograph. I was so excited, because a few had blue color to bud tips, others had blue petals; I was aching to see the potential hybrids. Today, every one of approx. 60 buds was eaten, not one left. Several of the other patches of C. malyi (named forms) were about half eaten. Here's a close-up photo showing some eaten stubs, the petal "rings" visible. Notice in the upper left, the long arrow pointing to one that has a blue ring of chomped petals.

[Tim Ingram]

Do you know what is likely to have eaten them? My only patch of Crocus malyi has been decimated by rabbits over the past three or four years, and only now that the garden is fenced properly is it growing away again. But hybrids of this lovely species would be really exciting - I can understand the intense frustration.

[McDonough]

Interesting, that you had the same species decimated by rabbits.  There are a few things I noticed:

1. In the past, squirrels have shown a penchant for nibbling Crocus blooms, but they don't typically eat the whole flower, just nibbles. Often they simply snip off flowers at the base of the stems; there were a few severed blooms on C. angustifolius lying like fallen soldiers today.

2.  Squirrels invariably leave some little divots from their infuriating digging, I saw no such holes today.

3.  Many other crocus buds were in the same ready-to-bloom state; the fact they weren't touched, and based on your own experience with varmints devouring C. malyi, this Crocus species seems particularly attractive to whatever varmint is eating the blooms.  This is the first time ever that C. malyi has been eaten, and I've grown some patches outside in the garden for a decade.

4.  I'm inclined to believe it is a rabbit, or a groundhog.  In the past several years, there is a single (or maybe two) rabbits that I see regularly, they mostly wiped out Viola pedata and a couple other viola species, decimated Vernonia lettermanii last year (several times).  Then for the past 4-5 years, I've been battling a family of groundhogs (we call them woodchucks here), that all but decimated any Aster species, and a favorite native plant Porteranthus trifoliatus (syn: Gillenia trifoliata).  They have burroughed under one of my garden sheds, making it extremely difficult to get rid of, and making the shed smell strongly of animal urine.  Last year I finally had them leave by dusting the shed perimeter with pepper (many animal repellents are pepper-based), although I was never able to discourage the rabbit.  I only have Hav-a-Hart traps sizes for chipmuncks and squirrels, may need to get a larger one for rabbits and groundhogs.

5.  Today I dusted my crocus with black and red cayenne pepper as a deterrent, I hope that works (has no effect on squirrels, hopefully does deter rabbits and/or groundhogs).

I posted this to facebook as well, someone suggested that I should be looking for an animal pooping little red arrows

[externmed]

Good luck,Mark.
Woodchucks are difficult to trap (and rabbits probably more so) and effective traps are outlawed.  My variety of woodchuck will go for Campanula x Elizabeth for "bait" in a have-a-heart type trap.  I have also, over the years, caught 2 woodchucks and one rabbit that just couldn't resist going into empty traps.  Last year house finches or some other bird developed a taste for crocus anthers and wrecked the lot.  Will deploy a mist net if that happens again. Nature's natural gardens are quite astonishing, considering how much predation there is out there.  I'm developing a great fondness for Aconitum, Colchicum, and Melanthiaceae.  Slugs seem to be immune, though.
Charles Swanson
Massachusetts USA Z6a

[Lori S.]

Errr, a mist net?  That's a very fine net in which birds feet and claws get tangled, normally used for banding (for that obvious reason).  It would take constant observation to ensure that birds aren't being caught and possibly dying from apoplexy, injuries, lack of food and water, etc..  Perhaps a normal, coarse net or a chickenwire/hardware cloth cover would serve the same purpose without risking fatality to predating and non-predating songbirds?  Just a thought...

[McDonough]

Next year I plan on using lightweight "hardware fabric" or rectangular wire mesh, which is easily cut and bent to form heightened wire covers for plants.  I could make these in sections, then re-use them in subsequent years..  The 1/4" screening is not exorbitantly expensive, and has become a regular defense in my "gardening toolkit" in the last two years to prevent infuriating squirrel and chipmunk digging into seed pots left to the weather outdoors.

Charles, I'm encouraged by your successful attempts to humanely trap at least a couple rabbits and woodchucks over the years, I might buy a larger have-a-hart trap and give it a try.  With chipmunks, they are easily trapped, often minutes after setting the traps; I once caught 12 in one day, put them in a large barrel with leaves, kept in shade during the day, then released to a new lovely woodsy spot miles away.

[RickR]

I've use a cut apple slice as bate for rabbits in a live trap sized for raccoons.

  Incidentally, raccoons love marshmallows.

[IMYoung]

Then for the past 4-5 years, I've been battling a family of hedgehogs (we call them woodchucks here............. They have burroughed under one of my garden sheds, making it extremely difficult to get rid of, and making the shed smell strongly of animal urine.  Last year I finally had them leave by dusting the shed perimeter with pepper (many animal repellents are pepper-based), although I was never able to discourage the rabbit. 

 Hedgehogs, Mark, in the USA?   I thought those spiny little critters were absent from the Americas? They don't eat plants here - they are  helpful devourers of slugs and snails.
I think of Woodchuck  as being  another  name for a Groundhog - that  burrowing rodent , Marmota monax ?
 

[McDonough]

Then for the past 4-5 years, I've been battling a family of hedgehogs (we call them woodchucks here............. They have burroughed under one of my garden sheds, making it extremely difficult to get rid of, and making the shed smell strongly of animal urine.  Last year I finally had them leave by dusting the shed perimeter with pepper (many animal repellents are pepper-based), although I was never able to discourage the rabbit.

 Hedgehogs, Mark, in the USA?   I thought those spiny little critters were absent from the Americas? They don't eat plants here - they are  helpful devourers of slugs and snails.
I think of Woodchuck  as being  another  name for a Groundhog - that  burrowing rodent , Marmota monax ?
 

Yes Maggi, no hedgehogs in the USA (and I do know what these creatures look like, cute lil buggers); I did say groundhog 3 other times in the same post, but somehow introduced a mental slip and said "hedgehog" once.  Thanks for the correction and keeping me on my toes, I might not have caught the blunder otherwise. By the way, do they still play croquet with hedgehogs and flamingos in the UK these days? 

As fans of the many versions of Alice in Wonderland, when my wife and I and our two daughters would play croquet, the girls would imagine the croquet balls were indeed hedgehogs.

[IMYoung]

Thanks Mark, I thought it might just be a slip but I wondered if there was some new beastie out there that I didn't know about.

I believe the habit of playing croquet with hedgehogs and flamingoes has died out everywhere now

Not as many hedgehogs round the place here last year as there usually are - hope this year will see greater numbers again.