MOLES, THE FURRY KIND
A Nice, Springy Lawn
One year my lawn felt particularly soft and springy. It felt pleasant at first, then that feeling gave way to panic once I looked down and saw tunnels pushing up just beneath the surface. A mole invasion!
Before contemplating turning a herd of these velvety, furred creatures into a mole fur garment, I consider why they were there and just what they were doing.
First of all, the “they” probably was an “it.” Moles are very territorial animals, so even if a lawn or garden is riddled with tunnels, it may be the work of just a single interloper.
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A MAYAPPLE IN SEPTEMBER
An Eerie Plant
September does not seem a likely time for seeking out things called “mayapples,” but this when they are ripe. Obviously, mayapple is no ordinary apple. In fact, it’s not an apple at all. But you can eat it, I guess.
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is a native plant that blankets forest floors throughout eastern North America. Each spring, as soon as winter chill is out of the air, the perennial rootstocks send up new stalks. Each stalk grows about 18 inches high, then is capped by just one or two leaves. The leaves are like large shields, deeply lobed and held parallel to the ground.
The perennial rootstock spreads underground, so plants grow in ever expanding colonies. These colonies add another layer to the forest, one of green shields hovering above the earthen floor. Contrasting growth habits and leaf shapes make mayapple a nice companion to ferns in a woodland garden. Contain the wandering roots — in a bottomless pot, for example — if your woodland garden is small. Read more
BRUTAL BUT HAS ITS BENEFITS
Root Pruning
“Root pruning” sounds like such a brutal way to treat a plant. Yet it’s a periodic necessity once any potted plant has grown as large as you want it to. Potted plants — like other plants — grow, and while a fifty foot tall weeping fig (Ficus benjamina) is a glorious sight on a Carribean island, my living room ceiling won’t allow such growth. Root pruning slows stem growth as well as makes room for new soil and new roots.
Root pruning — and stem and leaf pruning — of my own weeping fig “tree” has kept it, after 15 years of growth, only a few inches high! This bonsai gets its roots, stems, and leaves pruned twice a year, one of those times this week.
Weeping figs, Puerto Rico and windowsill
How often to root prune any potted plant depends on how fast the particular plant grows, or tries to, and any quirks it has about being root pruned. Read more
