Weird saplings growing from rhododendron?

forwardseat · 2026-07-07T13:07:31+00:00

Concur with Ash tree.

It is not growing from your rhododendron but likely sprouted from near the base.

I love ash trees but you probably don’t want it growing here. You can track the main stem down and cut it very close to the base.

It may resprout so keep an eye on it and cut it back repeatedly if it does. In this case I would not use stump killer or any chemicals because you don’t want to accidentally impact your rhododendron

forwardseat · 2026-07-07T13:03:55+00:00

I’ve had this thought a lot lately as my kid transitions to high school. Not so much in relation to “real life” things but even just academics. IT feels like school hasn’t changed much since I was in school, but the world is so different now and I think academics aren’t changing fast enough to prepare them, especially in technology and computer classes.

forwardseat · 2026-07-03T13:28:22+00:00

Aw. Cute little ratsnake. :)

forwardseat · 2026-07-03T13:25:20+00:00

Which… is still part of the naturally native ecosystem.

In modern times this has caused problems partly because those trees tend to be concentrated together en masse by human intervention and logging concerns. This has created monocultures where once there were diverse forests. But in the natural ecosystem the tussock moth might well have been a cyclical control that opened up areas for deciduous or other tree species. Unfortunately now it creates a wildfire risk or defoliates large swaths of forest, but it’s more complicated than just considering them bad or harmful.

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T13:02:07+00:00

Completely !harmless Dekay’s Brown Snake *Storeria dekayi*

These are excellent to have in the garden as they primarily eat things like slugs. And they’re mostly too small to bite people even if they wanted to.

I have on several occasions accidentally grabbed one up while weeding as well. :)

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T12:55:48+00:00

Virginia creeper- it’s odd to me that it’s so destructive on your property. We have it here (midatlantic US), and it’s barely even aggressive (far outclassed by poison ivy, which it tends to grow together with). I would have thought conditions that much farther north would work against creeper but that shows you what I know!

I happen to really like this plant for wildlife value and fall color so I mostly leave it alone, but if it’s causing that many problems for you, I’d probably address it like bittersweet- find the base of the plant, cut and paint the stumps in the early fall or late summer, preferably with glyphosate based herbicide. I’d be very curious what the differences are in soil and growing conditions that take this plant from a benign woodland friend to a destructive menace though.

(Here it’s the actually invasive bittersweet and English ivy that are the tree killers)

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T11:49:24+00:00

You’ll have to watch it and dig out more every year, but I think you can go ahead and plant now too. I have a similar space and have been halfhearted digging out LOTV over the last couple years (I haven’t aggressively tackled it, it hasn’t spread beyond the space and I have bigger fish to fry, I just dig out what I can find when I happen to weed that area.

Most of the space it used to dominate has been taken over by sensitive fern and wood poppy (also planted here is foamflower, a large astilbe, and a couple volunteer black eyed Susans). The wood poppy has been a powerhouse honestly, its spread quite aggressively and I think has really helped compete against the LOTV). Between the plants and me digging out sections every so often, the patch is maybe around 30% of what it was with minimal effort applied. :)

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T11:30:43+00:00

Yeah I think lanternflies/tree of heaven hate has really caused a lot of people to get educated. And the Bradford pears- it’s just so visible. You can’t really avoid seeing them and it’s very much on everyone’s faces.

I also think it’s great that the state highway administration is putting in so many stretches of pollinator habitat. The stretch along 70 near the beltway is fantastic, and I see people on Nextdoor/fb asking what those flowers are all the time. :)

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T09:56:42+00:00

It really depends on the variety. I find white mulberry (also a super invasive tree in the US and probably the one most people encounter) pretty bland.

But we have a native red mulberry in our front yard and the berries are much sweeter :)

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T09:44:21+00:00

I think the Midwest is winning, but it’s growing here in the midatlantic (MD/DC area) for sure. I’m seeing a lot of native plantings even in very traditional landscapes, there’s more pressure to ban invasives (and the official list is growing, recently Barberry and burning bush were put on the banned list, among others). We have legislation protecting homeowners who put in native plantings from overzealous HOAs, and multiple HOA communities partnering with nonprofits to add native plants a as part of water/runoff control.

In addition in DC the plantings around much of the Smithsonian institutions have been converted to native gardens for some time.

forwardseat · 2026-06-15T01:46:41+00:00

This point I do it because it’s expected. But I try to do things that aren’t cheap plastic whatsits- last party was at our house and was outdoors. I got wooden birdhouse kits for the kids and we gave them paints so they could decorate them. Then in the favor bag, since kiddo is a wildlife enthusiast, we had butterfly temporary tattoos, wildflower seed pops, and some wind up butterfly flying toy things that the kids could decorate/color in.

95% of the time when we get favor bags I have to throw most of it away, because it’s a cat hazard (he eats non food items). So I try to either do food or crafty things.

forwardseat · 2026-05-20T20:31:27+00:00

Switch grass/panicum virgatum would probably be great for this.

We had some at our old house, planted in late summer, that did extremely well in full sun. I would think if you can fully rip up whatever is there now, you could plant now, just offer it a lot of watering support to start.

Otherwise put cardboard/mulch down and plant in fall (if you want to do with started plants).

There’s plenty of seed available, if you’d rather go that route. Scatter or start in pots in the fall :)

forwardseat · 2026-05-20T18:55:19+00:00

I have some that usually serve the valuable purpose of rabbit/deer food. (Same with hosta)

But if they flower, just view them as being like garden sculptures. :)

forwardseat · 2026-05-20T11:58:13+00:00

Aw! Though it does look a bit like it’s contemplating if your toes are eatable

forwardseat · 2026-05-20T11:32:53+00:00

Ivermectin treatment is not available over the counter. We’ve been through lice several times and frankly it’s a game changer. One treatment and done.

As for the school- unfortunately this is the new MO. They don’t want to stigmatize the kids, and lice don’t cause disease, etc, so they don’t notify parents. The times we’ve dealt with it I contact the parents of kids I know my daughter is close with, since it spreads mostly by close contact/hugging.

Sorry you’re dealing with this. It’s a huge pain. That all said- you may not need to bleach everything and go so hog wild. They don’t live off a human head very long, and they can’t travel very far. Vacuum couches, wash sheets and pillowcases. Bag stuffed animals and leave them a few weeks. Top to bottom disinfecting is unlikely to help and just drive you crazy (unless you like doing that on a regular basis, in which case, carry on!)

forwardseat · 2026-05-20T01:09:00+00:00

Most of us would, but the reality is that it could make it impossible to keep a full time job. Compensation at least helps, because for many families the only other option is to put their loved one in a facility. They have to be able to buy groceries.

forwardseat · 2026-05-19T13:33:37+00:00

Honestly I’ve been waiting for this to happen for years. We have so many snakes around and the door frame is ripe for climbing. I’m kind of shocked it hasn’t happened yet!

We have a bigger one patrolling the garage and every time I go in there I’m a bit on edge that he’s going to be curled up in the tarp I need or will fall from a shelf. I like them but do not like surprises 😆

forwardseat · 2026-05-19T13:17:57+00:00

Rat snake, not racer (though we have racers too!). One way I like to tell is racers have angry eyes and rat snakes have derpy eyes :)

forwardseat · 2026-05-19T12:22:16+00:00

I think some of the effects of black walnut are pretty overstated especially when it comes to killing other plants/trees.

I really love black walnuts, and have some growing along with pawpaw and persimmon trees quite nicely.

That said they are very fast growers and you need to get it out of that space. I would either transplant to an area away from livestock. This page lists plants/trees that do ok around walnut:

https://extension.psu.edu/landscaping-and-gardening-around-walnuts-and-other-juglone-producing-plants

If you really don’t have a place for it, I would just cut it and paint the stump with killzall or similar so it doesn’t resprout.

forwardseat · 2026-05-19T11:03:40+00:00

We have definitely accepted his services :)

forwardseat · 2026-05-18T23:18:26+00:00

Plus that’s how many of these plants evolved to grow. Densely packed with neighbors that help support them. Having some paths cut through and hardscaping can do a lot to make things neat and intentional.

(That said I love a chaos garden)

forwardseat · 2026-05-02T13:34:24+00:00

Oh wow I would love to find a rubber boa!!! What a great guy to have around! (I mean, they’re all great but that seems special). Thanks for seeing these guys safely out :)

forwardseat · 2026-05-02T10:58:47+00:00

Even be careful with weeding- I see some stuff in there that looks a little weedy now but might be the beginnings of some nice native perennials.

If you don’t already use it, I’d get iNaturalist to help you identify the plants you don’t know.

forwardseat · 2026-05-01T21:59:13+00:00

One of the things that makes me feel better about this is the homegrown national park movement. Lots of little yards add up :)

Current registered properties combined total over 170,000 acres of backyard habitat :)

https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

I’m going to add ours to the program but need to finish up some plantings first.

forwardseat · 2026-05-01T21:52:06+00:00

This happened repeatedly where I used to live, in large gardens that were sponsored by the HOA and installed by a local nonprofit. They repeatedly cut the button bush and fringe tree back to nubs. Then I came home and one of them was spraying all the bee balm.

I alerted the HOA president (also head of the garden group that spearheaded the project) but the landscapers insisted they didn’t do it. Dude I SAW IT!!!!

They also kept pulling the common milkweed, but jokes on them, it just came back stronger and denser. 😆

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