Monday, May 6, 2013

Toxic Dog and Martha's Boxwood's

click on the photo it will enlarge
In August of 1994 we spent two weeks on a family vacation in Washington D.C. taking our two sons to all the museums and historical sights including the White House.  One afternoon we all went to George Washington's famous home, Mt. Vernon.  After touring the home and garden I was pleased to discover that the local women's garden club had taken hundreds of cuttings from the now ancient boxwoods that Martha Washington had planted around her kitchen garden.  They were selling packages of four rooted cuttings as a fund raiser for the upkeep of the gardens.  I purchased them and they shipped them home to us and two survived.  My two historical boxwoods are planted on either side of the brick walkway leading into vegetable and picking gardens which I thought was the appropriate site for them.  They had been in this new location for a year when I started noticing the yellowing leaves on the lower right side of both shrubs.  I sprayed for spider mights thinking this would take care of it, but it only got worse.  That is when I discovered the true culprit.....Popeye, the "Boston Terrier From Hell", or at least his urine is.  That stuff would probably remove varnish.  I now follow him into the garden and hose down the boxwoods every time he annoints them.  Dogs have no respect for history. 

11 comments:

  1. This posting makes me laugh, Doc! Popeye's got to do what a dogs got to do. Maisie used to give us lush moonscapes of growth dotted all over the lawn. If I could have used her urine as a even all-over spray I might have had quite an impressive green sward.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maisie was a perfect dog, our lot kill the lawn. I keep a bucket of fresh earth and tools to replace the top inch of soil and replant with seed.

      Delete
  2. I'm glad you found the cause & it is easily solvable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lol...Martha would not be pleased !
    I used to have Yorkie's, the lawn always reminded me of the Lunar Landscape, yes, urine is definitely a killer :)
    ~Jo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Even twenty years later the boxwoods are sucumbing to what dogs do? I'm sure Martha never had this problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think instead of hosing down the boxwood I should hose down Popeye

      Delete
  5. That is one thing with cats they don't cause that problem.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree. Glad you were able to solve it easily!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm afraid I'm responsible for something similar at the back of our Laylandii hedge!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As my wife would say ... "it's a guy thing"

      Delete