JARS v64n2 - Regional Musings: Notes from the Pacific Northwest

Regional Musings: Notes from the Pacific Northwest

2010 versus 2009 In the Pacific Northwest
Randy Jones
Bellevue, Washington
Reprinted from the Cascade Chapter February 2010 newsletter

What a difference a year can make! In 2009 the months of January and February were awful with the cold and snow. I was out in the garden this morning and I noticed how mild the winter has been so far. Then I spied that one of my favorite plants was fully budded and beginning to bloom. There it was, one of the surest signs that winter's austere grip is loosening - the warm purple glow of Rhododendron 'Olive'. This morning the cool winter sun rays penetrating the shrubs, there shines 'Olive'. What a welcome sight, an indication of approaching spring. 'Olive' appears regal with frost clutching its branches and a few of the glowing purple trusses wearing a crown of fresh snow. Every year I look forward this wonderful plant blooming, it is truly one of my favorite plants. The rest of the year it is a humble somewhat upright leggy plant with an open habit that blends into the garden.

When February arrives she becomes royalty; it blooms magnificently for almost three weeks, when only a few early crocuses dare poke up from the frigid earth. 'Olive' is hardy due to the parentage a R. moupinense x R. dauricum cross, hardy to -26° C (-15° F). The plant has an open, upright leggy habit reaching 1.2 m (4') at ten years. The leaves are elliptic, about 2.5 cm (1") long, and dark green, with no fragrance when crushed. The flowers have no fragrance and are broadly funnel-shaped, about 3.5 cm (1.5") across, a vivid pinkish - light purple with darker spots scattered over the base of the upper lobe. Truss has one to two flowers. This is a wonderful plant that I would recommend to anyone; I consider this to be my personal harbinger of spring.

A Dabbler Out of Her Depth
Ginny Fearing
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
Reprinted from 'The Yak' January 2010 Fraser South newsletter

She's a dabbler, content to sample and enjoy this and that without delving deeply into much of anything. Her mate, on the other hand, is definitely a diver who is by nature a researcher. Shopping with him is an experience in well-researched decision-making. Shopping with her is an experience in intuitive decision-making. Somehow they have made this dabble/dive combination work to their combined advantage. However, sometimes even their combined efforts don't get results.

Here is the story: They have HIS and HER gardens. His garden is carefully labeled, artfully arranged, often weeded, and meticulously documented. Her garden is mostly heltery-skeltery with this and that planted wherever. His garden blooms from February to July and then is elegantly green. Her garden blooms from March to October and then is full of weeds. Which brings me to my point. Her garden has developed a terrible case of horsetail ( Equisetum ). This affliction began with an outbreak under the sprinkler at the top of the hill, and while she was away for a while, it migrated very, very rapidly. She got on her hands and knees and weeded the horsetail...once, twice, three times… Clearly weeding wasn't working and to make matters worse, time spent on this affliction meant much less time spent weeding the rest of the garden, which responded by sprouting a magnificent crop of tall grass.

She began to complain to her friends and to gather advice. The advice ranged from: "Ha, Ha, nothing to be done now" to recommendations to douse the stuff with deadly spray. "Put on a rubber glove," she was told, "then a cotton glove and dip your hand into concentrated Roundup and then run your hand up each stalk of horse tail." "Take a paintbrush," she was told, "dip it in Roundup and paint each stalk of horsetail." (Hand paint 4 million stalks? Wait, it's now 8 million stalks!) Treat with Casoron®. Spray with Later's Creeping Buttercup Killer mixed with Amitrol-T. Spray with vinegar. Lime it. It was clearly time to mimic the diver.

The diver, of course, does research: consulting the internet to learn more about horsetail and then to find out how toxic the recommended sprays are. Did you know that horsetail is native to North America and is a survivor from the dinosaur era. It is a perennial with a spreading rhizomatous system that can go 1.8 m (six feet) deep. Horsetail produces two kinds of stems. In early spring a fertile stem appears to spread spores widely and then die back. Then the sterile, vegetative stems emerge to grow, and spread, until the first freeze. Horsetail, of which there are over 15 varieties in B.C., often grows in moist, disturbed sites but can be found in sand and other inhospitable sites.

The University of Wisconsin gives a reference to the Weed Control Manual, which lists only three herbicides: Casoron® for non-crop, small fruit and deciduous tree fruits; and Telar® and Oust® for only non-crop areas. They report that no references were found in the Weed Control manual on the long-term effects of these herbicides on horsetail. The BC Government recommends improving drainage and encouraging growth of a healthy grass cover. "Porous landscape fabrics or black plastic mulch effectively prevent horsetail growth".

Clearly the solution is to pounce on that first horsetail that emerges and murder it before it can spread. Sadly, it is too late for that advice for her garden. Since she takes pride in avoiding toxic chemicals on both her veggies and her heltery-skeltery garden, she is loathe to use chemicals. She thought she might make an exception, until she read the side effects of the chemicals and saw how toxic they are. The combined dabble/dive efforts generated several experiments. Lime the area, enrich it, lay newspapers covered with mulch over it, but all to no avail. Next they will withdraw water to the area, which is sad news to the roses and lilies. She was shocked to learn that people are buying container plants of horsetail as ornamentals, as she would gladly give hers away!