Garden Plants Information

Have you noticed the rampant spread of horsetail (Equisetum) into gardens and public landscapes during the past few years? It’s the subject of ever-increasing numbers of queries directed toward professional gardeners all across the country. Where does this stuff come from and how did it get into those landscapes? Is it controllable? How? And the most telling question of all: Why doesn’t this [insert popular herbicide name here] kill it?

Listen to this recent urgent plea from a desperate gardener:

“Help! I am dreading the return of horsetail this year! I have a beautiful mulched slope in my front yard that is landscaped with evergreens, rhododendrons, azaleas, bulbs and a couple of pretty flowering crab trees. This area slopes to a culvert which is a wetland and has swamp irises in it - really a potentially fun project. But coming up through the mulch is horsetail! We just moved into the house last year, and tried, via gallons of RoundUp, to get rid of this invasive wild vine, but it still took over and is not a bit attractive. We would appreciate any and all suggestions that you can give us. “

I hear similar scenarios from garden visitors and emailers several times each season. Sources of this garden invader usually alternate between “nearby wetlands” and “We had a load of mulch brought in last year and. . ..” It’s often seen in professionally maintained landscapes near mid- to up-scale businesses and in shopping center parking lot plantings. Occasionally, a new outbreak appears near the base of recently installed trees and shrubs, or next to a plant dug from a roadside or moist wilderness meadow. While the most common home garden source is a nearby wetland, an inescapable conclusion is that a great many new infestations emerge from delivered loads of landscape bark mulch and, sadly, containerized or “balled-and-burlapped” plants. Nursery stock and shredded bark have long been a source of highly-invasive weeds and aggressive grasses, particularly stock imported from questionable sources, both on- and off-shore. All of which points up the need to choose your mulch or plant sources carefully. Buy only from reliable and, if humanly possible, local sources. Reject any containerized plant that is either choked with weeds or is displayed on weedy groundespecially if those weeds have seed heads showing.

Horsetail (Equisetum) is easily among the most tenacious and pernicious “weeds” of all time…having endured millions of years evolving beyond most of the trifling defenses that inventive and desperate modern gardeners have thrown in its inexorable path. Giving the impression of being diminutive, long-needled, single-stemmed pine seedlings ranging in height from a few inches to as much as one-and-a-half feet, horsetail’s thin black roots typically travel underground several feet during a single season before emerging as a new plant. Pulling it up at that point serves only to force the undamaged underground structure to strike out in new (or several new) directions, exacerbating an already nearly unmanageable situation. But there is some good news to go along with all the bad.

First, the good: Virtually every creature (us included) canand often doesuse horsetail for food. Tender growing tips, for example, stir-fried in extra-virgin olive oil with other veggies, greens, and diced chicken breast, add a pleasant taste and texture. There may even be some nutritive value of which I’m not aware.

Now, I fear, the bad news: it can be unbelievably difficult to control. . .even more difficult to destroy utterly. There are four approaches to dealing with horsetail…not all of them, you’ll no doubt agree, entirely acceptable.

1. As the emailer above tried, you can spray repeatedly with RoundUp during early, active growth. Every time it gets three or four inches tall, hit it again! Don’t waste time spraying tough, old granddaddies…whack them down and wait until re-growth has reached the optimum height for treatment. (See note, below.)

2. Horsetail cannot abide cultivationtotal, deep, disrupting, chopping, ripping, tearing, removal and destructionwhich, considering they had already tried RoundUp, may be their most viable option. Oddly enough, I have a similar situation in part of our gardens. Highly-improved soil in a daylily display bed next to a low, wet spot. Horsetail discovered the enriched soil and literally exploded into it with a vengeance! The only recourse: rescue and totally bareroot the daylilies to remove all traces of the pest, then go after that healthy crop of horsetail with every weapon in the arsenal: shovel, wheelbarrow, cultivator, and sprayplus considerable time and several pairs of really soiled jeans so far. It’ll take the entire season of growth-kill, growth-kill. Sadly, of course, the adjoining wet spot is still there and I’m sure the horsetail will be back. A perennial battle.

An added thought: unless you elect option #3, never allow any tenant or bordering horsetail to mature its seed heads. Snap off and destroy any that you see. While they don’t really need seeds to spread (horsetail does that very well underground), they’ll be much easier to evict from landscaped gardens if the soil isn’t infiltrated by quantities of both seeds and root-runners. Seeds, cultivated below the soil surface, can remain dormantand fully viablefor years waiting to be re-cultivated back to the surface.

3. Rescue your desirable plants, meticulously clean them up, plant them somewhere else, cut your losses, and run. Abandon. Perhaps not an acceptable option.

4. One final option remains: horsetail will have little effect on established shrubs and trees beyond absorbing their share of water and nutrition, and is actually not all that unattractive in a mass-planting…sort of like a rich, green carpet. You’d want to rescue the bulbs and other small specimens…but a population of Siberian Irises of different colors, heights and bloom-times, for example, in a sea of green, occasionally-manicured horsetail, might make an attractive display. Just a thought. On second thought, naw!

Whatever you decide, neither you nor our email friends will probably never completely be rid of this wretched wetland pest…and controlling it will be a lifelong battle. My inclination is to somehow learn to live with itand suffer far less wear and tear on the back, jeans, heart, and soul. Besides, even though manufacturers claim that certain herbicides are completely safe, I continue to harbor reservations about any yet-unrevealed possible long-term consequences of repeated use on ‘Ol Mother Earth and around the homes of Her inhabitants.

Note: Considering the emailer’s use of the word “gallons,” I suspect they applied the seemingly-less-expensive, pre-mixed, “hobby-gardener” version of RoundUp with the convenient little built-in trigger-sprayer instead a conventional cap. In my opinion, that would be a perfectly acceptable choice to knock down a few dandelions, chickweed, or plantain, but when it comes to these rugged ancient dwellers of the primeval swamp and prehistoric wetlands that have investedeons developing toughnessa resounding “I don’t think so!” Go for the concentrate. It may appear to be more expensive at first glance but, when you figure the gallons and gallons you’ll get from concentrate, and compare that with the price of all those gallons of as-yet-ineffective pre-mixed solution, there’s a significant savings in both money and end result. Apply at the rate of 1-1/2 to 2 ounces per gallon of water, and apply a coarse spray on a very calm day, early in the morning. I strongly recommend you work together with an assistant who will carry a large piece of cardboard or poly sheeting to protect valued plants from drift and misadventure. Be very careful about where you walk after you’ve sprayedyou’ll almost surely get some of the material on the bottoms of your shoes that may result in a trail of thoroughly-dead footprints across an adjoining lawn. Wash your hands and clothes immediately after spraying to prevent accidental transfer of residues to houseplants, and to avoid any unforeseen potential complications.

Visit Fred’s website to view photos of Horsetail: http://www.HillGardens.com/horsetail_photos.htm

Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/, where you’ll find answers to your gardening questions and many more articles like this one.

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Preparing your garden for winter will minimize cold damage and ensure much healthier plants in the spring. The following guidelines will help you in preparing your landscape for the cold winter months.

Tropical potted plants need to be brought indoors before the first frost. Place them near a window with strong sunlight - preferably on the south side of your home. Hardier potted plants need some winter protection, especially in colder climates. It is a good idea to place them in a protected area like a garage and bring them out into shaded areas on warm days. Another alternative is to place the plants on the south side of your home against a wall. For best results mulch heavily around the containers. The sunlight will last longer on this side of your home, heating the wall which will radiate heat out through the night. It will also give the plants protection from northerly winds.

After the first frost, when your perennials are starting to turn brown and die back, is the best time for mulching. You will want to cover the perennials with a 2″-4″ layer of mulch, straw or evergreen boughs. This will help protect the plant through their winter dormancy. In very cold climates you can mulch up to a 6″ layer of protection. When spring arrives be sure to remove mulch and clip off the dead foliage. New growth should start appearing shortly as the ground continues to warm.

Some plants, like roses, need to be protected in the colder climates. A heavy mulching is called for, and if in doubt, mulch!

If you live in area that receives less than 1-inch on rain per week, your trees and shrubs will need to be watered throughout the winter. For individuals who live in areas where the ground actually freezes you will want to do one good deep watering before the ground freezes. This should provide enough moisture for the deep roots below the frozen soil. Apply a good 2″-4″ layer of mulch on top of your landscape fabric around your trees and shrubs. This will help hold in the soils warmth and moisture throughout the winter. In very cold climates you can mulch up to 6″ layer of protection and even higher around the trunks of trees and shrubs. It is a good idea to use landscape fabrics in the flower beds in your landscape. Landscape fabrics are designed to help prevent weeds from growing and hold moisture in the soil.

By following these few simple guidelines, you can help your plants, trees, and shrubs survive the harsh winter conditions.

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Cocoa trees can grow as tall as fifty feet although they are usually kept pruned and kept much shorter to make it easier to harvest the cocoa bean pods.

The trees reach their maximum productivity when they are thirty to forty years old. A cocoa tree will live approximately sixty years.

The bean pods grow directly off the trunk and thicker main branches of the tree, not off the leaves as many people think. This is because the pods are heavy. The fragile leaf systems of the tree couldn’t support the weight of the pods.

A cocoa tree can have up to one hundred thousand baby-pink and white blossoms every year. The blossoms have no scent. The leaves of the tree vary in color. Young leaves can be pale green, lavender, or purple in color. Mature leaves are dark green. The pods start out green but turn yellow or red when ripe, depending on what type of cocoa tree it is.

There are two main types of cocoa trees. There is the native Central American cocoa tree called the Criollo, and a type called Forastero which is grown mostly in West Africa and Brazil. The Forastero trees produces approximately ninety percent of the world’s crop of cocoa beans. The beans from the Criollo are more expensive and are used in high quality chocolate.

Cocoa trees like shade so other tropical trees such as banana trees are planted right next to the cocoa trees. These larger trees that provide shade for the cocoa trees are often called “cocoa mother trees.”

The cocoa trees start producing cocoa bean pods after three or four years and continue producing pods for approximately another thirty five years. In most areas, harvesting of the cocoa pods is done twice a year. Ripe pods are approximately eight inches long and three to four inches in diameter. The ripe pods are cut by hand in order to protect the younger pods that are still ripening.

After the pods are cut from the tree they are taken to a fermenting area. There the pods are split open to reveal the pulp and cocoa beans. There are up to forty cocoa beans in every pod. The pulp and beans are scooped out of the pod, placed on banana leaves that are usually laid on the ground (fermenting is also done in baskets and also in large sloping boxes), and then covered with more banana leaves. The pods are left to ferment for several days.

As the beans ferment they lose some of their bitterness and change from a lavender or white color to brown. The fermenting process is important because that is when the beans take on the chocolate taste we are accustomed to. During the fermenting process the beans lose some of their moisture. By the time the beans are ready to be packed in bags for shipping, the moisture content in them is somewhere around five to seven percent.

Dorrie Ruplinger is the publisher of http://www.chocolateistheanswer.com which provides information and resources about Door County Wisconsin parks.

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