OK, I know we gave you a tough assignment for the weekend, so I want to post something fun as well. (Think of this as dessert after your healthy meal!) Take a look at the photos below:
This hedge is regularly sheared and no one part of it has been maintained any differently than another part. Both sections of the hedge face east, and the damage is anywhere from 2 to 4 feet from the ground. What do you think has caused the damage?
Explanatory photos reveal all on Monday!
Published by
Linda Chalker-Scott
Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and an Emerita Professor in the Department of Horticulture. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets.
Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019).
In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.
"The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors
Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com
View all posts by Linda Chalker-Scott
I think Rover has found a few places to hike his leg for a doggy whiz to mark his territory.
I’m with Daniel – doggie pee!
Dogs were also my first thought, but very big dogs then. 4′ is high!
Maybe someone was walking their pony! 🙂
It’s either dog pee or volutella…
But 4 feet for a dog?? Maybe it was a great dane!
Is the hedge bordering a car park? It could be exhaust damage – it kind of looks like leaf scorch.
I was at first thinking along the same line as Daniel, but the 2-4′ height got me. Then I was thinking…college…drunk frat boys…shrubs on the way back to campus from the downtown bars…
I also like Jimbo’s thought, but I’m not sure that the damage is big enough.