When we moved to this house back in 1998 there was a mostly-dead maple near the front of our yard. My neighbor had a similarly-placed maple in the same sad condition. A few years later we removed both trees. She had hers cut to the ground and the roots ground up. Mine was cut to about a two-foot stump.
My skeptical neighbor asked if I planned to leave it like that. I explained that I would find a small bougainvillea to plant next to the stump. In no time the stump would be covered over.
Being an avid gardener like myself she vanished into the back and quickly returned with a clay pot containing a small bougainvillea. She didn’t have the space and was happy to be rid of it.
Bye-Bye Bougainvillea
I planted the little thing close to the stump and pruned back the stems to encourage thicker growth. That was about the extent of my effort.
Within a couple of years the bougainvillea had grown into a large specimen, visible from about a block away. I pruned often to encourage new growth and the plant thrived.
Then in September 2004 the relentless winds of Hurricane Frances left the bougainvillea completely defoliated and pushed over on its side. I could not think of a good way to force the thorny monster upright, and so pruned back severely and filled in around the roots with a wheelbarrow full of dirt.
About the time new growth covered the thorns, Hurricane Jeanne arrived to smack it around some more. I know that bougainvilleas are tough plants but this seemed a bit much. Not to worry. By spring the plant was thriving, bigger and bolder than ever.
Then a couple of years ago the balsam pear vine arrived. My cousin calls it stink vine. Call it whatever you like, this plant is even more relentless than the bougainvillea. By this time the bougainvillea was so dense that it was impossible to root out the unwanted vine.
I pruned and trimmed but this only seemed to energize both bougainvillea and stink vine. And by this time I was working to replace the ornamentals in my landscape with edibles. Time for the bougainvillea to go.
The only reason I could think to keep it was that the thorny monster had become a favorite nesting place for the mockingbirds. But even if the birds refuse to serenade me this spring I could not justify the amount of time it now takes to prone the mess. I can’t tell you how often I found an hour or two to work in my yard, only to eat up the time yanking out stink weed and pruning thorny branches. I understand why the mockers love the plant for nesting. There’s no way a cat could negotiate the thorns. I don’t really understand how the birds manage it. With good views of the whole neighborhood, it did make for an ideal mocker fortress.
Well, I finally oiled up the chain saw, put on some heavy-duty gloves and set to work cutting the whole thing down. Even with the gloves my arms look like I just lost a fight with my cats. But it is done. The whole mess is cut back to a thick tangled stump of bougainvillea. And by the way, absolutely no sign remains of that old maple stump. Guess it all became bougainvillea food.
Anyway, I am still not sure if I will completely remove the bougainvillea or try to force it into a more manageable shape. For now I will watch and see how the stump recovers.
