Late Winter!
Michigan trees stand fast in clutches of English
ivy
Dear Janet,
I have a tree about 20 feet tall. An ivy was planted at
the base of the tree and it has crept up the trunk and on to some
of the branches. It's about 15 feet up. Will this ivy smother the
tree and kill it? What should I do?
T.D.
Dear T.D.,
Vines kill trees by encircling wood and preventing it from
growing, by shading out the host plant, or a combination of these
two tactics. If the vine on your tree is evergreen English ivy
(Hedera helix), it's not able to do the one and prevented
by our climate from doing the other, so you don't have to
worry.
English ivy doesn't cling by twining so it won't girdle the
trunk or limbs and kill them, like bittersweet can. The adhesive
rootlets on ivy vines allow them to hold onto the tree but do not
damage the bark or wood.
English ivy is also unlikely to shade out a tree, here where
winter temperatures dip regularly below freezing. An evergreen ivy
needs the protection of the tree limbs, bare though they may be, to
survive Michigan winters. So fifteen feet may be as far up as it
goes. Only in milder climates can it reach the top of the tree,
spread out and thrive there from year to year, eventually killing
the tree by depriving it of light.
Deciduous ivies are the ones to watch out for. Species such as
wild grape and Virginia creeper can survive the cold to overtop a
small tree and gradually kill it.
One other problem ivy can cause is to make a tree's canopy so
dense that it becomes a sail on windy days or holds extra snow or
ice. Trees heavily festooned with vines will often topple in an ice
storm or when strong winds blow. Once again, this isn't usually a
problem with English ivy in Michigan, since it only survives close
against the trunk, never bridging the gaps between trunk and limbs
to create a sail.
Short reports
Support your local garden center.
Stop in to enjoy the warm sun in your local greenhouse. While
you're there, ask what's cooking. You'll probably hear about new,
high-demand plants and may even be able to reserve one for
yourself. You're also likely to learn that fun, educational events
are coming up at the garden center to usher in spring.
It's high time to prune trees.
If you have trees or shrubs that need pruning, call your
arborist or sharpen your saw. Make your cuts during the next mild
period. It's a great time of year for this work because there are
no leaves in the way. You can prune to improve the plant's
framework.
It's also a plus to prune before heavy sap flow begins. Although
it's not a problem for most trees to lose from pruning wounds, the
"weeping" does tend to bother the tender-hearted gardener. In a few
species the smell of the sap or exposed wood can attract harmful
insects. In the case of oak trees, it's essential to prune before
growth begins, so the smell of cut wood is gone before beetles that
carry oak wilt fungus begin to fly. Oak wilt, a disease relatively
new to our area, is taking a terrible toll on our oaks. It can kill
even a very large tree in a single year.
March is not too late to apply anti-desiccant for the
first time.
She didn't use Wiltpruf or another anti-desiccant coating last
fall, but P.L. says she'll do it now if it can still do some good.
Spray away, P.L.!
In an exposed site, wind and sun can damage the foliage of a
rhododendron, azalea, Japanese andromeda (Pieris
japonica), holly or other broadleaf evergreen anytime between
Thanksgiving and Easter. So leaves may already have some wind-burn
or freeze drying damage, but there are more bad days coming. What
you do now can prevent additional damage.
P.L. also asks how long the coating lasts. That varies,
depending on how much sunlight and wind there is, since the coating
degrades in the sun and with abrasion. We know it can't last
through four months, even if those are gray, calm months. We also
know chances to re-apply are limited to days above forty, so we do
the best we can by giving delicate plants a second coat half-way
through, during a February thaw.
Why bother? The leaves of my rhododendron are still
fine!
You may not see the damage to foliage yet. They are like the
needles of a cut Christmas tree, able to remain green long after
the tree is felled. Often the portions of a leaf that dry out and
die in winter don't lose their green and develop that scorched
margin until the shrub "wakes up" in spring.
Green thumbs up
to horticultural professionals who take the time to learn or
refresh their skills during winter.
Green thumbs down
to the wise-guy of long ago who reconciled the difference
between our calendar and the skies by adding an extra day to
February every four years. We can be certain that genius was no
gardener or the leap day would have been tacked onto a more
deserving month during the growing season!
Originally published 2/28/04