For a gardener, there’s more to sports than throwing balls around. Superbowl Sunday is history, and before March Madness begins, let’s talk about the other kind. Even before the discovery of DNA, keen observers of nature knew about mutations. Horticulturists use the term “sport” to describe a mutation of a plant that produces a branch or shoot with interesting characteristics. Merriam-Webster describes a sport as a “sudden spontaneous deviation from type.”
Where the White spruce has large, widely separated branches that grow around the trunk in whorls, the Dwarf Alberta has dense branching and even more dense side shoots. The needles are short and prickly, and the outer edge of the plant can appear to be an almost solid sheet of green.
The Dwarf Alberta is much beloved of landscapers, for it has a remarkable growth habit – an extremely regular cone-shape. For homeowners who like their shrubs pruned into geometric novelties, the Dwarf Alberta is a nearly perfect solution. (Of course, being a mutation, Dwarf
Like most trees, the Dwarf Alberta will, if topped, sulk for some time. It will then do what trees do – produce several new leaders where once a single leader grew. Now the “shrub” has a perfect cone-shape, except at the top, where something like a bunch of bananas has burst forth. A careful gardener will remove those shoots, but this will again cause the would-be tree to sulk further. It’s often at this time that a villain appears on the scene – and I don’t mean the landscaper who recommended this tree where a shrub should have been planted.
This villain is really nasty – and voracious! The Spruce spider mite is a tiny eating-and-reproducing machine that infests not just the Spruce family, but most other conifers that grow in our area. The Dwarf Alberta spruce is good eating for these mites, and also provides great shelter. For those inclined to spray, the density of these trees presents a challenge. If you could just pick up each tree and dunk it in a vat of pesticide, you might win, but spraying usually has to be repeated several times, not least because the mites may produce several generations per year.
No comments:
Post a Comment