weed problems
Diane Whitehead (Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:17:24 PDT)
The trees that cause me many hours of weeding are bigleaf maples -
Acer macrophyllum. Sometimes I use pole pruners and cut off as many
bunches of seeds as I can reach. I'm trying to picture birch trees
with seeds - I suspect they don't gather them in convenient bunches
like the maple does.
If I had lots of seedpots and pots with dormant bulbs, I would cover
them with a king-sized sheet in seed shedding season. Then - hmm.
Into the washer?
Your problems may diminish. Birch trees here have problems. European
birch has been used a lot here - in parks, gardens and even as a
boulevard tree along some of our streets. The tops are now dead, but
I can't remember why. Something fairly new here.
Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
mild rainy winters, mild dry summers
I live in a townhouse alongside some birch trees. As you may know,
a single birch produces millions of seed each season - every one
viable! Birch seed seeps in through the tiniest cracks; it gets
into everything: bedding, rugs, toweling, pet's hair; it forms
windrows in the driveway. My pots get covered with a "mulch" of
viable birch seed.