I was presented with several surprises this week.
In the good category, we got rain! It wasn't much, just 0.09/inch in total, but it was enough to wash the dust from leaves, freshen the air, and fill my 50-gallon rain tank. I picked up another 35 gallons of rainwater in my mid-sized tank and probably something similar in my 265-gallon tank, which is more difficult to measure.
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| The clouds teased us for a long time Monday afternoon before the rumbling of thunder announced that the storm was moving closer |
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| Lightning and thunder was followed by big fat raindrops but it didn't last long. This is a view of the harbor late Monday afternoon after the rain stopped. However, we were treated to a light show later that evening with intra-cloud lightning (aka sheet lighting) that lasted a couple of hours, followed by more rain. |
The bad surprise was my discovery of another mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) seedling. I noticed it entirely by accident through a small gap in the hedge that lines the backyard border. It was sitting along the property line on the back slope behind a peach tree, where it'd probably have remained invisible to me until the peach tree lost its leaves this winter had I not gotten that unexpected glimpse. Worse yet, like the last one, this seedling had also sprung from one of the original tree's roots. In the interest of preventing my nightmare of waking up to a slope covered in a forest of mimosa trees, I've ordered a product designed to kill underground roots like these.
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| I didn't measure it but I'd estimate that it was at least 4 feet tall. The neighbors recently had a gardener in to clean up their side of the slope and the removal of the weeds made the tree seedling more visible. My husband removed it and a portion of the tree root it sprang from but the slope is relatively steep there so he didn't get a lot of the root out. He missed the smaller seedling to the left of the big one. I didn't notice it until I reviewed this photo either...Ugh! |
The other surprises are plant oddities.
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| This is one of the blooms produced by the Dahlia 'Cafe au Lait' I purchased in July as a full-grown plant from a local garden center. All the flowers have been funky but the ones like this with only half a flower are the weirdest. I read here that this and other distortions may be caused by a pest called the tarnished plant bug. |
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| Hybrid Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' is supposed to produce multiple branches to form a clump of sunflowers (as shown here). I cut the first sunflowers just above a leaf and it did this. Subsequent flowers formed along the main stem next to a branching leaf but the branches themselves didn't produce flowers. All the plants did this, although some flowers along the stem didn't open as fully as those in this photo. |
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All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
I'm impressed with the amount of rain you were able to collect. Is it mostly roof runoff?
ReplyDeleteI like the way your sunflower developed. It's very unusual, and probably will not work too well in a vase, but it fun to look at. I wonder, if you collected seeds, could you have more of those next year. A mimosa forest... if only it wasn't your back slope...
All 3 of my rain collection tanks are filled by rain running off the roof. Unfortunately, my largest tank is connected to the smallest roof surface, our garage, solely because it was the only place we could find for a tank that large without impairing views within the garden.
DeleteAs all the 'Lemon Queen' sunflowers behaved in the same fashion, I'm guessing that the pattern of their flower formation had to do with when I cut them back. Maybe next time I'll experiment with cutting stems at different stages of growth. Then again, maybe I'll just try a different variety of branching sunflower.
Your battle with the mimosa is scaring me! I've begun flirting with the idea of removing mine. Sounds like I may be doing it over and over and over again.
ReplyDeleteBased on what I read online, it sounds as though a single application of the trunk/vine killer won't prevent seedlings from popping up elsewhere along the root so this may become a regular activity, especially given how far the mimosa's underground roots extend. The latest seedling appeared even further away from the original tree trunk than the previous one. Maybe you could transplant your mimosa in a large pot to prevent wandering roots?
DeleteFascinating stuff! The sunflower is beautiful no matter what form it takes. I'm glad you got some rain; I hope more will head your way. We will get some tonight and tomorrow: Yay!
ReplyDeleteWe may get more rain on Friday, Beth. Fingers crossed! Unfortunately, the long-range forecast isn't all that positive. This is supposed to be a "La Nina" year, which generally means below average rainfall for SoCal (although, interestingly, "La Nina" has the opposite impact on Australia).
DeleteGlad you got some rain at last! May it continue.
ReplyDeleteWeird forms of flowers... I wonder if the drought was a factor?
Bummer about the mimosa seedlings... I'd be reaching for the Round-Up!
Roundup scares me. Hopefully, the stump/vine killer will be effective but I realize I need to keep an eagle eye out to catch the mimosa seedlings for the indefinite future.
DeleteHurray for a good load of water in your tanks! I hear you on the mimosa tree - around here, it's buckthorn which is a noxious invasive. It seems to go from seedling to 4' sapling overnight. That is definitely a strange looking dahlia. I also have a few odd dahlias, but mine are colour variations where a chunk of the bloom is light pink and the rest if burgundy (they "should" be deep purple only).
ReplyDeleteI'm becoming more and more convinced that weather conditions can alter the color of dahlia blooms, Margaret. I think the distorted blooms of 'Cafe' were due to a bug of some kind. I tried spot spraying the buds with insecticidal soap but that wasn't effective :(
DeleteIf the mimosa's trunk was not ground out, you can drill holes deep into it and pour stump killer into the holes. This always works for me. If you ground out the stump, I think you are out of luck, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteMost of the stump was removed by my husband after-the-fact. We also raised the soil level in the area formerly occupied by the mimosa in order to plant the tree's replacement, a Ginkgo. I think we're hosed, Sue.
DeleteSo pleased you received rain, Kris, and it seems you managed quite a good amount in your collection tanks. I was quite surprised at how much it was. Strange things often seem to happen to plants with no proper explanation, don’t they. I remember when my echeverias grew in a very distorted way one year. I never did find out why, and they haven’t done it again.
ReplyDeleteI believe the 'Cafe au Lait' dahlia was damaged by some kind of insect at the cellular level, Jane. There's another bloom developing now and it already appears distorted. Purchasing that dahlia as a plant instead of growing it myself from a tuber was definitely a poor investment :(
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