July 2008 Archives

One of the finest plantings of crapemyrtles (Ok, what spelling do I use - crape myrtle, crapemyrtle, crepe myrtle, crepemyrtle??? - I digress here for a bit..... David Byers book Crapemyrtle, A Grower's Thoughts, Owl Bay Publishers obviously uses "crapemyrtle". Byers, a very well-known authority and grower of these fine plants, gets into the issue of common names, adding one I had not thought of - crape-myrtle. He admits that there is no uniformity, nor agreement among the most knowledgeable plantsmen, both dead and alive. Me, I just am not a very good speller, so I may spell it with an "a" one time, and an "e" the next. So, bottomline, it really doesn't matter a lot - it's a great plant, regardless of what you call it.)

Okay, where was I - yes, a magnificent planting of mature (at least 25 years old), never-been-hacked-back, 'Muskogee' crapemyrtles can be found in the Heritage Rose Garden, located in the Southwest corner of the Tyler Rose Garden. I haven't counted how may there are lining the southern and western perimeter of this garden, but there are at least 9 of them - well spaced, allowed to grow to their full potential. They are beautiful in bloom, but perhaps the most enduring quality is the sinuous multi-stemmed trunks.

Right now the grey bark is exfoliating in long, narrow sheets, to freshly reveal the smooth, tan inner bark. The ground beneath is littered with the shed bark, making a really interesting sight.

The Heritage Rose Garden overall is also looking great for the middle of summer, and is worth a visit at any time of year. Perhaps more on the Heritage Rose Garden next time.

2008 has been a slower year for mole activity at my home. I've trapped a few of them, but recently, one has been a bugger to catch. I knew there was one in the area - tunnels directly under a newly planted vegetable garden; mounds in the middle of the backyard lawn; and an occasional mole run to try trapping.

I finally spotted a large tunnel system where I've had success previously. Picking a straight-away, I set the Out-O-Site trap in the sandy, dry soil. I check the traps daily. If they are not sprung, I'll probe around the trap to see if the mole made it through without tripping the trigger. This happened probably 5 or 6 times over a week period of time.

I finally decided the dry, sandy soil was being pushed through rather than up, which springs the trigger. So I got a gallon of water, and wet the run on either side of the trap, and then wet the soil plug under trap so there would be a little more resistance when the mole pushed through. It worked the first time!

I think this may be why I was able to catch so many last year - it rained almost daily up until July, and I caught most of them in the early part of the year. So, if you're having trouble catching moles in dry, sandy spots, try wetting the soil.