Fessing Up

It’s October and I have a confession. I made a mistake in a September column that I need to make right. There are also a few other important things to discuss, so this is my monthly ramble.My memories of the sweet gum tree are from my childhood home, where we had such a tree behind our garage. You could see the tree as you pulled down the driveway and in the early fall it was certainly a focal point of color. But as a reader has reminded me, the Liquidambar has a downside, and to know this all you need to do is ... look down.

Unfortunately the root systems of the gum trees are fairly shallow and very extensive. They can reach out a great distance from the tree and create mowing and other issues because as the tree matures and the roots wander, the surface area around the tree becomes uneven and difficult to mow. The roots can also interfere with retaining walls, curbing and sidewalks, and pruning the roots inevitably results in damage to the tree.

I can’t tell you how many times I cursed that sweet gum when I would mow the lawn and catch the blade on the flagstone sidewalk that the roots had forced up several inches. So, I have to temper my original recommendation with the noted provisos. Yes, you’ll get magnificent fall color from these trees, but they are best planted away from buildings, other structures and lawns that you may want to remain smooth and cut-able for years to come.

Last week I was on a Meadow Lane property in Southampton along the dunes. I was delighted and surprised to see a good number of monarch butterflies passing through the gardens on their southerly migration. It was nothing like the clouds of butterflies I remember from years ago, but there were substantially more than last year, when I can remember waiting a week just to see one.

We can only hope that they make it down to Mexico unimpeded and that they have a mild winter down there. Reports from Mexico say that the monarchs have begun to arrive early this year, which experts see as a good sign of a building population. Then there’s the northern trek next spring, but it does look like the storm tracks this fall will favor the butterflies’ move south. Then we’ll have to see what happens next year. So far there may be some room for a little optimism, but don’t stop planting those milkweeds and butterfly weeds. And yes, the great majority of the monarchs that I saw last week were on Asclepias and Buddleias.

Which brings us to the weather. We’ve had a very dry eight weeks to end the summer and the prognostications are for this bit of drought to last through the fall. There seem to be two kinds of lawns around right now, and they are either green (irrigated) or brown (not). Those lawns that have gone brown can remain that way for at least a month and as long as they have improved turf grasses on them, the drought-induced dormancy won’t be fatal. But keep in mind that at this time of the year a grass plant’s blade growth is slowing, but its root growth continues and even becomes more active as the soil cools. It’s this root growth that can determine if the lawn will survive a severe winter.

If you have the ability to water, do it. Don’t water a little each day, as that promotes shallow roots. Instead, water deeply once or twice a week. If you have an irrigation system, don’t let your service company turn it off too early. You can probably safely keep your irrigation system on until late October and then have it blown out and winterized. If you can, take it off its automatic setting and try to run the zones only once or twice a week, but for a longer time rather than just a few minutes each day for each zone. Sometimes this is easier said than done or doable.

The weather other than precipitation needs to be watched as well. As the days and nights cool off and the angle of the sun changes there’s less evaporation from the lawn than on the hot dry days of summer. This is why you can get by with less water, but you still need to supplement Mother Nature if she’s stingy.

Keep in mind also that while this is the best time of the year to spray for perennial broadleaf weeds in the lawn, if the lawn is stressed from lack of water there’s a danger that some of these herbicides can affect the grasses. So if you have weed control on your punch list, make sure your lawn is well watered the day before.

Obviously it’s not a great year to completely renovate your lawn if it’s not irrigated, as it will be difficult to get grass seed to germinate. Maybe do some patchwork and hold off on large renovation projects until we have a rainier fall.

Newly planted trees, shrubs and perennials also need supplemental watering. Trees are dropping their foliage early due to the drought, and a leafless tree needs much less water than a tree that’s fully leafed out. But until the soil gets really cold or frozen, new trees and shrubs should be watered at least weekly. Newly planted perennials will begin to die back and as they do water can be withheld, but not completely. Remember that whether it’s a grass plant, tree, shrub or perennial, the roots continue to grow into the fall until the ground gets pretty cold.

Have a property that’s fenced in to keep the deer out? Considering fencing in your property to keep the deer out? Here’s something that you may want to think about first. A local property was completely fenced in three years ago. The property was once so inundated with deer that it was nearly impossible to do any ornamental planting. Since the deer fencing went in the gardens are untouched and this summer the property owners had their first vegetable garden in nearly two decades.

But at the end of the summer they started some deck renovations and when they pulled up the deck boards from the ground dozens and dozens of voles ran for the flower beds. At about the same time the owners complained about an outbreak of mice in their house.

In fencing out the deer, these folks had inadvertently kept out the local fox population and the neighbors’ cats. The vole and mouse population exploded. The solution? When installing deer fencing, leave cutouts every 50 feet or so (8 inches tall and 12 inches wide) to allow predators in. Yes, rabbits will get in, too, so pick your rodents. Mice and voles or a few rabbits? Oh, foxes eat rabbits also. Keep growing.