The Force Is Strong In This One

[poliphilo]

Willow trees are unkillable. The one Matthew took down last year- after it broke in a storm- is sprouting all round its stump. Give it a year or two and it'll have a new trunk- or- indeed- several. Not only that, but the logs he chopped from it are sprouting too- so that the woodpile is a mass of green leaves. 

Comments

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Same way with pecans. Their tap roots are too deep to dig out. I've learned to cut them to the ground, then cover with layers of newspaper, plastic and rocks. It takes a year or two to kill them and they don't sprout.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

In this case I'm very happy to see the tree is still alive. We didn't want to have to chop it down but it was a mess and we had to.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah - willows persist... Every few years I cut back any willows that are leaning over into the ponies' field from the neighbouring stream. Any branches that aren't burnt regenerate into new willows.

Though I've seen this property of willows used to produce some lovely living bowers.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course. They built a kind of stepped pyramid out of willow in Alexandra Park about 20 years ago- and then it sprouted...

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

If you keep pruning the willow, you eventually get something shrublike. I'm planning to do that to two potted curly willows soon.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping this one will grow back into a proper tree.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

P.S. Also, the old southern black migrants who used to live in the neighborhood claimed that you could get just about anything to root in willow water -- just add a couple willow wands. I don't know if it's true, but I sure know you can get roots on a willow wand about 30 seconds after putting it in a vase.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think I might try that...

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I've just joined a gardening forum and they were talking about willow water as an aid to getting things to root. Like that rooting hormone that you can buy, but a DIY organic version.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The life force- in a bottle.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to kill some shrubs in what was once a flower bed at the front of the house but which I'm trying to make into a grassy area. After several years of cutting back any shoots as they appeared, I appear to have finally weakened the roots enough so I can dig them out. At least I have dug one stump out. There are about 6 more to go...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love it when things are tenacious of life.

Apart from having Matthew do surgery on the trees when they break we're leaving the fields alone. I'm curious to see what will happen- will they turn into woodland, or what?

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Oh, undoubtedly they will. Since the EU changed the way they pay grant to hill farmers, the number of sheep on the mountain has drastically reduced and little trees are starting to sprout.

Also, when we moved into this house 30 years ago, we could see right across the field at the back to the playing fields. It is now a wood.

If you look at this panorama taken looking out at the back our house, all the trees from the bottom of the garden to that dark conifer (towards the right hand side below the fluffy cloud) grew up on what had previously been a well-grazed (albeit swampy) field.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I admire trees enormously.

The one thing that might keep them in check here is the rabbits. We have several warrens dotted around the fields. Can the baby trees grow faster than the rabbits can chew them up? We shall see.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on how many rabbits there are per acre. Also rabbits with plenty of other foliage to eat might leave oak (bitter) and holly (prickly) in favour of grass and other plants, so it will be an interesting experiment.

Just watch that it doesn't turn into a bramble thicket though. The field at the back (rather boggy) turned into a pretty good wood. When they stopped grazing it with sheep, the tiny field across the road at the front just turned into a horrible tangle of brambles which looked like something out of Sleeping Beauty. I don't know whether trees would have grown up through the brambles if it had been left long enough, or whether they would have been smothered due to lack of light. Eventually whoever owned the field had everything cut down and put it back to grass.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think we have quite a large number of rabbits per acre. After all, no-one's shooting them.

I'll watch out for brambles. There's a clutch of them down by the stream. If they become too assertive I'll wade in with my machete.