Weather: We’re into the monsoon phase when there’s enough moisture on high to create thunder and clouds in the afternoon, but rarely enough to actually reach the ground. Probably the changing sun angles have as much to do with the high afternoon temperatures coming down to 91 as the clouds.
Last useful rain: 8/2. Week’s low: 53 degrees F. Week’s high: 91 degrees F in the shade.
What’s blooming in the area: Yellow potentilla, trumpet creeper, bird of paradise, silver lace vine, red-tipped yuccas, Russian sage, rose of Sharon, bouncing Bess, datura, sweet pea, annual four o’clocks, alfalfa, farmer’s sunflowers, coreopsis, corn
What’s blooming in my yard: Miniature roses, caryopteris, golden spur columbine, large-flowered soapwort, David phlox, catmints, lady bells, sidalcea, winecup mallow, hollyhocks, lead plant, pink evening primroses, white-flowered spurge, sea lavender, perennial four o’clock, calamintha, larkspur, white and Coronation Gold yarrow, chocolate flowers, blanket flowers, Mönch aster, purple cone flowers, bachelor buttons, zinnias
What’s blooming outside the walls and fences: Apache plume, tamarix, trees of heaven, purple mat flower, stick leaf, velvetweed, bindweed, silver leaf nightshade, greenleaf five eyes, leather leaf globemallow, yellow mullein, scurf pea, white sweet clover, Queen Anne’s lace, goat’s head, prostate knotweed, toothed spurge, purslane, Hopi tea, fleabane, horseweed, wild lettuce, common and native dandelions, goat’s beard, plain’s paper flower, áñil del muerto, native sunflowers, goldenrod, golden hairy asters, Tahoka daisy; cattails in town ditches
Bedding plants: Pansies, sweet alyssum; local petunias
Tasks: More than two weeks ago I sprayed some Siberian elms, dandelions, and Tahoka daisies with a herbicide. A week later, they showed some brown on their leaves. I resprayed the elms and dandelions this week, and all the leaves finally are brown.
It didn’t matter that it took a while to work on the elms. After all, they’re trees. My plan is to bend the tops into gravel or dirt and weight them with bricks so I can spray the leaves safely. After they’re dead, I’ll cut the stems. I’ve learned it’s futile to just cut the sprouts. They return, usually in smaller clusters that are harder to see and control.
Still, it would be nice if the herbicide acted as quickly as it claims on its label. While the dandelions were slowly dying, they were still putting out flowers, which meant I got re-exposed to the herbicide when I pick them before they turn to seeds. The Tahokas remain tall in the crown of the driveway, and are still a hazard even when they turn brown.
Animal sightings: Cat, small brown birds, small and large geckos, sidewalk and large black ants, hummingbird moths of all sizes, cabbage butterfly, bumble and small bees, hornets, other small flying insects, grasshoppers; heard crickets
Weekly update: The term failure usually is used by nurserymen to describe grafts that don’t take when they’re made. The assumption seems to be that once the graft is formed, it survives unless a winter is particularly severe. This overlooks the fact that trees create new growth rings every year, and the graft has to be recreated every season.
Presumably, the professionals pick root stocks that aren’t just compatible the first year, but produce new growth the same way as the scions. I’m not sure they pay as much attention to the inherent greediness of the base, since the roots’ ability to grow in many conditions is why they’re chosen in the first place. If the scions don’t provide enough food, the roots become proactive.
All of which means I have constant problems with suckers and sprouts. I wasn’t aware of the problems when I planted my first trees, and in every case the root stock took over. I’m not sure if it was simply a desire to get more nutrition, or if the unions failed in some places.
Usually, they just sprouted from the base, or started to put up suckers a few feet away. The Lapins was more cleaver. It simply kept growing, shouldering the scion aside.
I had the apples cut down because the root stock rarely bloomed, and never produced any fruit. I had the sour cherry removed because it got taller than the house, and the suckers were coming up everywhere. I’ll probably have the Lapins taken down this winter because I suspect the pollen is sterile or incompatible with everything else, and so prevents the other trees from producing.
The replacement cherries have been in the ground for several years and are producing new growth from the joints. So far, they haven’t started to sucker as well.
The weeping cherry is a different problem. As I mentioned in the post for 19 June 2016, it was created with two grafts, one from the roots to the trunk, and one from the trunk to the horizontal top. It has suckers from the base I know are a problem, and new growth from the upper joint that looks like the desirable Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula.’ I’m not quite sure how it’s supposed to grow, so am learning by watching. Besides, it’s been such a difficult year, I’ve left the unwanted growth to make sure the roots stay alive. I can always cut them in the winter when they are dormant.
Notes on photographs:
All taken in my yard on 3 August 2018.
1. Upper graft on weeping cherry with growth from the middle of the joint.
2. Trunk of Lapins sweet cherry (Prunus avium) with Geissin 148-2 root stock the large trunk, and the Lapins scion the part at the right.
3. Growth from the graft on a supposed Bing sweet cherry coming from a sprout that has been cut before.
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