Mike Hunter Sudbury

A home without foundation plants looks like a doll house plunked down in the middle of a pool table My first house was a 1920’s colonial with a tiny lot with the worst set of foundation plantings I’ve ever seen on a house. In addition to planting inappropriate species, they were planted too close to each other and the house and were allowed to overgrow about twenty years too long. Especially troublesome were a couple of evergreen yews that were covering the windows and trimmed to an ugly shape that was not flattering to the cute house. They also severely restricted access to the front door. So what’s a new homeowner to do? You guessed it, you get a couple of friends together on the hottest weekend of the year and decide to rip the suckers out. We started with what seemed like the least amount of work, putting a chain around the base of the plant and hooking it to my 1974 Volkswagen beetle. Then I got a running start and when the chain tightened the car leaped off the ground abou...

If you really don’t like someone give them a wild running bamboo plant, that’s my advice.If a friend asks for some and you gave them some they will hate you for it in a year or two. Some folks call them “thugs of the plant world”, some call them “spite plants”, I like to think of them as plants that are by their nature invasive or die easily or somehow bring pain to the recipient. And before you ask, no I’ve never given nor gotten them as presents. Have you ever heard of a plant called a Jerusalem Artichoke or a Stachy or a Prairie Radish? These are some of the common names for the tallish green perennial with a white, edible root that is really quite tasty … in moderation. I brought one plant from my Mom’s farm, planted it in an open area and have been fighting them ever since. Nothing can kill these things … If the stem breaks when the plant is yanked out, the root simply sends up another plant. This plant also flowers, and reseeds itself and neither drought, raging lawnmower...