Wish me luck!

...And the State Champion Blue Ash:

Viburnum:
I know you had a good time at Starhill because Guy and his wife are super nice people.
Now, about the person in that tree!!! Is that how the jeans got in that trash basket condition? Pretty tree, too.
Next time you have to head south, y'all.

The State Champion Blue Ash and Bur Oaks are within 100 yards of each other. Right together with them is this massive and beautiful Hackberry.

Scott

Scott:

That's what I'd call a dodge.

The very nice and esteemed lady from Metairie asked a civil question. You could at least afford the courtesy of a response, despite the fine photo of the grand Celtis occidentalis.

LivelyQuercusLass:

You are on the mark about Starhill clan, and thank you for the gracious invitation. Y'all-uns will have to notify us when conditions are appropriate to come down. I have never had the good pleasure of traveling in south Louisiana (not being partial to the heat) but I realize there is much to see and experience. And, if the events of last August taught us nothing else, it is that life can be fleeting and things do not always remain as is.

Be it plant or person: go, see, do, experience, live.

Why V V... "LivelyQuercusLass"! How does she rate for such a sweet pet nickname with all those wonderful terms of endearment you've pinned on me and others? Warming up to come in for the kill later after you test the waters and see what her threshhold is are we?

I forgot this thread was back here. Great photos!

Wondeful photo of you hugging my Viburnum whatever it was. It wants you to know it loves you back and misses you very much and wants you to come back for more hugs real soon!

Quick question for Guy- can you find out from Edie where she bought her insulated overalls please? Those look as if they could withstand multiflora rosa attacks.

Maackia, are you by any chance going to attend the Upper Midwest Gardening Forum's Round Up in June? Just curious.

Hi Voracious Vulgar,

Dodge? What dodge? If you're talking about the vehicle in the Celtis photo, that's clearly a Chevrolet.

Lousiana? That's more better! Let's go!

That's me in an Indian Trail Marker white oak.

Scott

Just got home again -- I see the Demonic Duo have been reporting! It was a terrific visit and Edie and I thoroughly enjoyed their company (and their green and chocolate gifts). Toni, Emma, Pickle, Bunny, Culprit, Butu, Punkin, and Sylvie also were thrillled with all the attention they received. But I think the supposed "adoring fans" out there in the snow actually were part of a Viburnum family reunion . . .

The trail marker tree was core dated to about 1730 and points to a riffle in the Sangamon River that would heve been a natural crossing, pre-bridge. It's one of two known trail trees that are still standing in Illinois.

Patrick, I'm not shrinking (much) -- Visceral Viper and Deodorant are just big dudes. The three of us accidently walked into the staff entrance of a fast-food joint -- the terrified little weenie standing there taking drive-up orders looked like he thought we were going to eat him for lunch. Pulled out a gun and shot Viper in the leg -- thus the gimp sticks . . . hmmmmm

Equil, Edie had just come in from her latest skirmish in The Great Honeysuckle War. (Which reminds me, before I head out myself today, I gotta mix up some more "Arby's Special Sauce" for her to use as cut-stump treatment.) The coveralls came from the local Farm & Home store in Springfield. For use with MF rose, I'd suggest getting Carhardts (spelling?) -- they're pricey, but very tough.

Now, when y'all go down to Metairie, see if you can persuade sweet little Coleen to give you the type of special escort she arranged for Edie and me. I can't tell you exactly what it was, but suffice it to say that we were able to stop traffic in the middle of the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge to take cyrpess photos! Maybe she'll elaborate for you.

Guy S.

UPDATE!!!

I have followed in the footsteps of our abominable adventurers, Visceral Vomit and Recalcitrant, to seek the lair of the feared Evilibrium the Albizinator.

I gotta tell ya, there's been some major Rhamnicide going on up there! Still, the finest specimens of that wonderful genus that have ever met my enraptured gaze can be found deep in the dark bowels of her estate. I was awed and impressed! It gave me nightmares all the way home, as I fell asleep at the wheel that night.

Guy S.

PS: You should have seen her scary look when I suggested I might like to collect some seeds!

This message was edited Feb 25, 2006 9:36 PM

I think... not positive, that I only have about 500 mature Rhamnus to go and then I can focus on the seedlings and saplings. Seedlings can be hand pulled after nice long spring rains. The saplings really do come out of the ground nicely with that light weed wrench. All in all, I am very happy with the "Rhamnicide" that has taken place so far.

You made it all the way back to the big pond. Decent time of year to get back there with the ground frozen. Pretty depressing wasn't it. Bet that will take me a good 10 years to get under control. That is why I want to get a hydro saw. So much for ever getting a greenhouse after I have to buy one of those but a very worth while purchase in the long run.

Also too, you and I were discussing Phragmites australis. This might be of interest to you-
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/2004/040114/delphragmites.html
Hence the 18' tall monocultures you saw back there of European Phragmites on my property. The USDA Plants DataBase is not yet acknowledging the naturalization/existence of the European strain. Mine was DNA tested... as if I didn't know it was European. Lucky me.
http://plants.usda.gov/index.html

On a side note, I know exactly which stumps of buckthorn you want for wood working projects and hubby will gladly get them out of the ground for you as soon as it thaws around here. My chainsaw can't do anything that massive.

Oops, here's the entry for Phragmites australis-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch?keywordquery=phragmites+australis&mode=sciname

Oh my gosh, almost forgot-
Here's the Narrow-Leaf cattail we were discussing that I have-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch

Here's the T. latifolia entry-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TYLA

I'm gonna get all the Narrow-Leaf Cattail too ;) Then I'm going to plant back some nice wetland woodies as well as more appropriate sedges and grasses.

This message was edited Feb 27, 2006 4:03 PM

Yup, I put a dent in the poor little helpless buckthorn population. Hopefully it will be all gone bye bye like the Garlic Mustard within two years and I can slide into maintenance mode on that. I put a pretty good dent in the Japanese Honeysuckles too.

Mohlenbrock considers T. latifolia native but he considers T. angustifolia introduced. I don't know why the link is not working for angustifolia but if you go back to the entry for latifolia and scroll down a little bit to Related Taxa and place your cursor over the sentence that states "4 species in Typha" then double left click, you will be able to view the species in the genera in Typhaceae. The angustifolia will show up there and when you click on the binomial to angustifolia underneath the map of the US showing the gray areas where it has naturalized, the entry for it will appear showing the U.S. Nativity as being introduced. T. angustifolia is native to Europe and is allelopathic. It's American cousin is not allelopathic to the best of my knowledge. T. angustifolia is tolerant of saline environments whereas T. latifolia is not. Narrow-Leaf cattail is also tolerant of periods of drought as well as deep flooding whereas Common Cattail is not. Both reproduce by seed and rhizomes. Enter the scene... T. x glauca. An extremely invasive allelopathic hybrid of the two. It was bound to happen.

Based on my personal observations, it would be T, angustifolia that is capable of growing in deeper waters. I've found that in water that was at least 3' deep if not deeper but that could have been a direct result of fluctuating water levels.

I am going to try to hang on to some of the Common Cattails but I may end up having to eradicate both.

Thanks for the update -- I was relying upon his 1986 book.
Apparently he's had a change of heart!

Guy S.

I think we all know so much more than what we did back 20 years ago so pretty much everybody has been having changes of heart left and right. The availability of genetics testing has truly advanced our knowledge base. Predicting the hybrid vigor in the F1 generation which resulted in the emergence of the "super race" Typha x glauca would have been virtually impossible back then. All in all, I enjoy reading about genetics, not that I understand but a fraction of what the Mohlenbrocks of the world have to share but I get the gist of some of their writings. Shall I collect some seed for you or would you like some whole plants of x glauca before I start slashing and shearing it all? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

I was thinking how getting some seeds from those gorgeous buckthorns would be way cool . . .

Since this thread has turned down a different alley, how about I send each of you some of these? I have extra.

That would be lovely -- but I think Evilibrium the Albizinator might moonlight as the Ailanthinator. Better keep them for yourself!

Guy S.

Oh my gosh, I missed your lovely offer VV. Why thank you, thank you so very much. Yes please do send some my way. I know exactly what to do with it.

Backing up to that darn Phragmites a little bit, I've been poking around trying to figure out a game plan over here and I ran across several interesting sites that spell out some of the issues with the darn stuff-
http://www.invasiveplants.net/japim.htm
"The terrestrial habitats surrounding many wetlands are under considerable pressure from invasive, nonnative plants like purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), nonnative races of the common reed (Phragmites australis), and Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica). These aggressive species can rapidly exclude diverse native plant communities, creating near monocultures of the invasive plant (Blossey 1999). These plants are generally unpalatable to herbivorous insects. These plants also decompose differently than the native plants they displace, so they can also have an effect on the availability of detritivorous insects. For example, nonnative Phragmites remains standing and non-decomposed longer than the native Phragmites, and Japanese knotweed stalks form thick layers that decompose very slowly (see related links). Because they can significantly alter the distribution and abundance of invertebrates in habitats critical to frog foraging, nonnative plant invasions of terrestrial habitats surrounding wetlands may pose a significant threat to amphibian population viability."

http://www.njaudubon.org/Conservation/opinions/05-012.html
Very interesting read and short.

And here's where those interested can have their Phragmites tested for free-
http://www.invasiveplants.net/diagnostic/diagnostic.asp
I paid to have mine tested so this link was of particular interest to me. Wish I would have found it several years ago.