A Transplanted Gardener Article

 Transplanted Gardener Home  More Transplanted Gardener Articles  About Ginny Stibolt

Published in Jacksonville's Times Union soon

Kill invasive aliens & other to-do items for 2007  
by Ginny Stibolt

Yes, it's the beginning of the year and like all good gardeners I'm adjusting my gardening strategies for the year.  This year, for me, it's time to kill more aliens.  Last year around this time I harvested a goodly amount of water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes) from the lake—they were a great addition to my compost.  This year a few more have floated into our finger, so I'll remove those on a warm day* when it's comfortable to jump in the water. 

There's another alien in the lake this year, that's going to need attention—it's hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata). While the lakes have been treated special herbicide and the lake association has brought in grass carp to eat it, some hydrilla has taken root in the bottom under our boatlift.  I'll pull it out with its tuberous roots so it won't grow back so quickly and I'll be sure to compost every scrap so it doesn't add to the population. 

Hydrilla's shameful history 
Once upon a time, hydrilla, a native of the warm waters of Asia (probably Korea) was sold to aquarium owners.  It grew very well and produced dissolved oxygen in any type of tank for the benefit of the fish therein.  At least two people dumped their aquarium contents into the waters of Florida and in 1960 it was growing wild in the Crystal River on the Gulf coast and in a canal near Miami.  It grew just as well in Florida waters as it had it all those aquaria.  Boaters did the work of spreading hydrilla to almost every lake and river in the state by chopping it up (Each piece can become a new plant.), and not washing the pieces from their boats before re-launching in another body of water.  Now many millions of dollars have been spent to keep it under control because it has clogged our waterways, has wrapped itself around propellers of outboard engines, and has killed native plants and animals.  

Those carp that were bought for our lake cost $6 to $10 a piece and they are sterile, so we have to keep buying more as they die off.  The herbicide treatment is an annual expense that puts a big dent in the lake management budget.  Unfortunately, we can never turn back the clock and have Florida's waterways unfettered by this pest.   

The Beautiful Invader
Creeping daisy or wedelia (Sphagneticola trilobata) was widely planted in this region as a great ground cover; now it's on the invasive plant list for Florida and nurseries are not supposed to sell it any more.  It has crawled over the shady back meadow, into the wooded area, and out in the mowed lawn areas.  The diversity of the meadow area is quite low compared to our other meadows without this creeping crud daisy.  So it has to go. 

It had also started to grow out front, but I caught it in time and have kept it under control.  Of course it keeps sprouting anew.  Oh the weeder's work is never done in Florida.  

This year I vow to continue working on pulling it out, especially in the wooded areas where it's covered ferns and other native plants.  Last year where I pulled it out at the edge of the wooded area, rattlesnake ferns (Botrychium virginianum) are now growing.  I'd never noticed them before—I guess their spores were waiting for more light.  I love ferns and welcome this new addition to our collection.  

Another invader that I'm working on is the Chinese tallow or popcorn trees (Sapium subiferum).  I'm sorry to see them go, because they are nice-looking trees with heart-shaped leaves, good fall color, and the birds love those white puffy seeds.  They have to go—they are on the number one list of invaders, and they are sprouting everywhere in our neighborhood.  I've girdled the trunks with a saw and have sprayed herbicide on the bare wood underneath.  I won't know until spring if I killed them or not.  I'll leave most of them where they stand as dead wood to provide habitat for wood boring birds.

For more on invasive plants in Florida: http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/invplant.html. You may notice that wedelia is not highlighted here—it's on the second list.  But since it's taking over our yard, good-bye wedelia!

Other items on my 2007 list

Remove more lawn.  Our mostly St. Augustine lawn is dormant—we haven't mowed it since early November.  I've been de-thatching it during its dormancy.  It's not an easy task, so I've been working one small area at a time and have completed most of the lawn at this point.  As an experiment, I've left a sizable section of the front yard alone—it's in full sun and a good distance away from trees.  I'll let you know what differences I can see by this fall. 

There are a number of ways to de-thatch, but here's what I've done.  I hold my flexible metal leaf rake vertically and use short strokes to pull up the thatch, and then I rake it again perpendicular to the first pass.  I try also to rake left handed half the time so I'll be a more balanced person.  It was really awkward at first, but now, it feels a little more natural.  It was also time to rake the leaves from the lawn, but de-thatching is more intense than just raking the leaves.  Now we have lots of new compost and mulching material. 

After more than two years without fertilizer or pesticides, there are some bad spots in our lawn, but the bluebirds, blue jays, moles, and armadillo have been working on the grubs, mole crickets, and other bugs.  They've also done a good job of aerating the soil under the grass.  I pat the divots left by the armadillo back in place and they re-root quickly.  Also, the sod that I've transplanted to these dead spots has done very well.  My un-poisoned lawn is its own ecosystem.  The more lawn I cut away, the more sod I have to fill in the holes and the less I'll have to do when I de-thatch the lawn the next time.   

Part of our lawn removal will be replacing the grass at the edge of the bulkhead with mulched gardens and with pavers for access to the boat lift shed and dock area.  This will make this area easier to mow and it will reduce the likelihood of our grass trimmings from falling into the water.  The lake doesn't need any more organic matter to absorb.  If we all did just a little for our waterways, the health of our whole region would improve. 

Finish writing the book.  "Sustainable Gardening for Florida" to be published by University Press of Florida is an exciting project.  I've learned so much from expert and amateur gardeners and property managers across the state as I've worked on my research.  My goal is to get the whole first draft done by May.  It will cut into some of my gardening time, but I knew that when I started this project.  Look for some previews later this year. 

* Warmer weather has made news recently, but gardeners have noticed for the last few years that many tender plants can survive in areas where they couldn't before.  The Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday.org) updated the USDA's 1990 hardiness zone map in 2006 using more recent weather data and Florida's zones have shifted northward.  Using the old map, the line between zones 8a and 9b ran right through my house, but the newer map says that I'm now solidly in the middle of zone 9.  American Horticultural Society (www.ahs.org) also issued a map showing the average warmest temperatures—heat might be an important limiting factor in Florida, but as yet, heat tolerance is not widely listed in plant descriptions.  

Speaking of heat, we are going to try some tomatoes bred for Florida's heat. I'll let you know what we find out.

I trust that you are working on your 2007 garden plans.  Let me know how your garden grows.  Happy New Year to you!

Ginny Stibolt is a naturalist and a gardener with a master's degree in plant taxonomy. She's written a book, "Sustainable Gardening for Florida" for University Press of Florida—it will be available in Sept. 2009. She’d like to hear from readers who have suggestions and questions. After all, there are more than a few transplanted gardeners here in northeast Florida trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t in planting zone 8/9. You may contact her or read more of her articles posted on her website: www.transplantedgardener.com.

 Transplanted Gardener Home  More Transplanted Gardener Articles  About Ginny Stibolt

© Sky-Bolt Enterprises 2001-2010

This webpage was designed and is maintained by www.sky-bolt.com