The Ranting Gardener: The Inaugural Rant
I used to love silk trees- their cheery pink tufts remind me of Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears a Who!" I used to want one when I owned a home, and when we moved here I was happy that my next door neighbor had one right near the fence... great! I didn't have buy a silk tree, but had one close by to enjoy.
Oh. If I only knew...
These fern-leaved fuckers spread like a goddamn flu. The pink tufts get carried by the wind and suddenly you have little sprouts EVERYwhere... all over my backyard, even to the other side of my wide property and to the front yard. And you have to pluck these bastards out pronto while they're easy to pull out of the ground. They grow SO damn quick and if they're just 2-3 inches tall, the root system is already well established and you need tools to extract them. God help you if they're a foot tall when you try to get rid of them.... sometimes even Round-up won't work. ROUND-UP, which I've seen kill a full-grown tree before.
My annoyed opinion may be fueled by the property next door which is home to the silk tree, and it also has other trees which dump leaves, seeds, flowers, pods, EVERYTHING onto my garden area. ALL of the trees have limbs that grow several feet over my property line... hell, the silk tree is growing well into the power lines. AND it's a rental property, where the renters don't give a shit about tree maintenance because they don't own the property, and the landlord doesn't give a shit because he doesn't live there. RAAWWRRR!
Oh. If I only knew...
These fern-leaved fuckers spread like a goddamn flu. The pink tufts get carried by the wind and suddenly you have little sprouts EVERYwhere... all over my backyard, even to the other side of my wide property and to the front yard. And you have to pluck these bastards out pronto while they're easy to pull out of the ground. They grow SO damn quick and if they're just 2-3 inches tall, the root system is already well established and you need tools to extract them. God help you if they're a foot tall when you try to get rid of them.... sometimes even Round-up won't work. ROUND-UP, which I've seen kill a full-grown tree before.
My annoyed opinion may be fueled by the property next door which is home to the silk tree, and it also has other trees which dump leaves, seeds, flowers, pods, EVERYTHING onto my garden area. ALL of the trees have limbs that grow several feet over my property line... hell, the silk tree is growing well into the power lines. AND it's a rental property, where the renters don't give a shit about tree maintenance because they don't own the property, and the landlord doesn't give a shit because he doesn't live there. RAAWWRRR!