Hello all,
About 2 months ago I was tearing out dozens of large asiatic forsythia bushes which were taking over the yard. In their place I was bringing up some small foot-tall spicebush plants from the deep-woods shaded backyard. Some got burned by the more-direct sun and root disturbtion, but nearly all are still surviving, even growing new shoots, after a month or so in the ground.
Today I pulled up a chair and was enjoying the shade over there. The former forsythia had shaded a spot so densly underneath a 15 ft pine tree that the lower pine branches up to 7ft high on one side were dead, dry and bare. I had previously removed these branches and along with some nearby deciduous trees it created the perfect shady spot during the daytime heat.
As I browsed around the area enjoying the shade, I checked out the local plants, in particular this funny-looking awkwardly-growing 'tree'. It was about 10 feet tall. I had thrown some rocks 2 feet deep near its base, so it wasn't in the best condition, with a couple knicks in its' trunk from all the rocks hitting it. I realized the leaves look an aweful lot like spicebush....hmmm, no...couldn't be...pinched a leaf and said "I'll be damned" ;) I had been trying to create a spicebush grove and here's a triplet of 10-foot tall bushes!
I removed the rocks at a frantic pace, put some topsoil down and gave them a couple waterings. It seems they were fighting the forsythia for sun, because the lower areas were barren of leaves, and the forsythia can cause some extremely dense shade. There were several
18-inch tall shoots coming out from the base, so I'm positive it's taking full advantage of the forsythia "eviction". Hopefull next year we'll have lots of spring flowers and even more berries!!! :)It doesn't look like any berries this year, but who knows. I had always wondered why the birds such as white-throated sparrows had hung around a couple days, then left. I suppose they were "fooled" into thinking asiatic forsythia flowers were spicebush, but then became disappointed and left. I hope now that they'll hang around a lot longerr in future seasons.
This was just amazing to myself...here I was working my butt off, hoping this particular spot would accomodate spicebush...and there's
10-foot tall plants already in place! It's the best "indicator" I could've hoped for :)Dan, nw NJ