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View from the Driver's Seat
Apr. 6th, 2006 09:48 amOnly one admonition today: When passing an eighteen-wheeler, and pulling out into the other lane in front of traffic that is moving at the speed limit, it is considered unadvisable to suddenly slow down to 20 mph *below* the speed limit. My brakes thank you for your time and effort in correcting this behavior.
Still too early to tell if the cold that came with the snow caused any problem for the saucer magnolias - I've read that they tend to run a yearly race with the last frost, and either flower gloriously or become freeze-dried and die. These are becoming one of my favorite trees - which is kind of surprising as I'm not a big fan of bloom. Foliage and branching structure always held more interest for me - although these aren't too shabby on the former, and are extremely intricate and interesting on the latter, so there's hope yet.
On the subject of blooming trees, I am surprised there aren't a ton of redbuds all along my commute - maybe one, if that. They are allegedly native - if at the northernmost part of their range - here, and I remember that they looked beautiful along the roadside in Virginia and North Carolina. More people should plant them, yep, yep, yep.
On a related tangent, some pruning tips for the commonly planted forsythia: 1) Don't leave the top wider than the bottom. You'll shade the base of the shrub, which could eventually kill it. Not good. 2) Don't sheer them. They don't like it. 3) If you have to tweak and trim them at all, do so immediately after they flower. Otherwise, you won't get flowers in that section next year. Not good.
And on yet another related tangent, some advice on topping trees: Don't. If you think you need to top your trees, first try cutting your own limbs down to the nearest joint. If you really feel topping is still a good idea, take that last final cut right above the eyes - just a little off the top... Sure, trees do heal *better* than we do, but they don't like it either. It opens them for disease, it weakens their ability to gather food, and it replaces sturdy branching with weak shoots that are more likely to be damaged in storms. Best to plant the right tree in the first place, not one that you have to hack at every year or so to keep it down to size.
In unrelated, and more pleasant, news, a biplane was sighted, flying through the gap, about a hundred or so feet over the road, right over my head.
Still too early to tell if the cold that came with the snow caused any problem for the saucer magnolias - I've read that they tend to run a yearly race with the last frost, and either flower gloriously or become freeze-dried and die. These are becoming one of my favorite trees - which is kind of surprising as I'm not a big fan of bloom. Foliage and branching structure always held more interest for me - although these aren't too shabby on the former, and are extremely intricate and interesting on the latter, so there's hope yet.
On the subject of blooming trees, I am surprised there aren't a ton of redbuds all along my commute - maybe one, if that. They are allegedly native - if at the northernmost part of their range - here, and I remember that they looked beautiful along the roadside in Virginia and North Carolina. More people should plant them, yep, yep, yep.
On a related tangent, some pruning tips for the commonly planted forsythia: 1) Don't leave the top wider than the bottom. You'll shade the base of the shrub, which could eventually kill it. Not good. 2) Don't sheer them. They don't like it. 3) If you have to tweak and trim them at all, do so immediately after they flower. Otherwise, you won't get flowers in that section next year. Not good.
And on yet another related tangent, some advice on topping trees: Don't. If you think you need to top your trees, first try cutting your own limbs down to the nearest joint. If you really feel topping is still a good idea, take that last final cut right above the eyes - just a little off the top... Sure, trees do heal *better* than we do, but they don't like it either. It opens them for disease, it weakens their ability to gather food, and it replaces sturdy branching with weak shoots that are more likely to be damaged in storms. Best to plant the right tree in the first place, not one that you have to hack at every year or so to keep it down to size.
In unrelated, and more pleasant, news, a biplane was sighted, flying through the gap, about a hundred or so feet over the road, right over my head.
