We so wanted this to work. We loved the hope of never buying nor burning lawn mower gasoline again.
But American sweetgums (Liquidambar styraciflua) and white oaks (Quercus alba) lean out over our “lawn,” which is a rough patch of bermuda grass and Indo-European herbaceous colonizers of disturbed ground. By hundreds, the gums drop the spiked, remarkably rot-resistant balls that are their fruits. The oaks rain down thousands of acorns on top of them. It’s the ambition of each and every gum-ball and acorn out there to jam the whirling blades of the mower and bring it to a jarring halt.
Maybe we’ll get a goat.
shedding style: resell
destination: the grass that’s greener in someone else’s lawn
Comments welcome … has your “simpler” ever turned out to be much more complicated?
Your grandpa and dad loved sweet gums and those cultivated chestnuts. Both fall into the category of “trash trees” as far as I’m concerned because of the sticker seed containers they litter the lawn with! Pretty tree shapes don’t balance the mess. I was delighted when “straight line winds” blew down the chestnuts 18 years ago. Sorry about saying goodbye to the reel mower. Mom
Yes, they passed on that love for sweet gums to me (smile) … what a show that one in Elmer and Trudy’s front yard put on every autumn! I wouldn’t want to be around one if I were unsteady on my feet, though. And yes, ouch, the Chinese chestnut hulls are scary-sharp. And they stank when blooming, didn’t they? I wonder what the hulls of American chestnuts are like … I have high hopes for the rescue breeding programs.