Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Sad Day, 0 by Happenstance

Happenstance wrote:
It is sad John, but mine could curl your hair with the tales they would tell of the crazy gardener with the BIG giant knife.

Very likely could have been the wind, but don't know if you suffer from windy conditions. I do sympathize with you over the loss of your biggest ear, but fear not......given the right conditions it will just grow bigger faster with every hit it takes.

I take no credit for the explosion of ears in my garden, since I do nothing other than take a machete to them at least once a month! They suck up pond water, never get fertilized, are beaten up by the wind and the sun tries its best to burn them out. Our recent heat wave of 11 consecutive days over 100, three of them over 110, 2 of them at 115, did nothing to deter them. (A couple of more tender forms did get some leaf burn during the worst of the heat wave.)

I'm counting back to remember for sure when I cut these back to nothing.....(flipping the page on the calendar back to July).....it was Sunday the 17th that I butchered the ears down to practically nothing. They've done this for three seasons since I got the 5 gallon can with about 3 leaves and I've pitched as many or more than I've kept. They have crawled up out of the 5 gallon can to the edges of the pond, crawled under the bridge to the other end of the pond and the banks. They dislodge small boulders and driftwood on the waterfall which you can't even see anymore in their quest to take over this little corner of the world. They crawled up and into the tub that serves the waterfall and practically engulfed all the pipes. They attempted to smother the giant gunnera, but even covered in ears, the gunnera just kept on smilin' and growin'.......another potential bully!

Almost impossible to get a decent picture of them......full sun most of the day and the setting sun directly behind them in the evening. Here's a shot from a few minutes ago.

John.......make sure you don't stand still too long when standing next to your ears......they will reach out and getcha! :-)

And you do NOT want to know what water bills here in California are.....last month it was 3 x our first house payment.....but then again that was a very very long time ago!