Time to Weed the Weed

What motivated me to go outside and photograph our birch trees was actually something I noticed in my dining room.  When I was about to water my rescued weed, the one I've been nurturing for over a week, I noticed one of the late-comers had fallen over.  What I refer to as late-comers is a group of three or four sprouts that appeared a few days after the transplanting of the first weed.  They are undoubtedly weeds also, but I hoped they might be Yellow Wood Sorrel which would be fun to nurture through a whole life cycle if only to play with their exploding seed capsules when they were ready.  It turns out, there's not enough light, so these things grew too tall too soon and collapsed under their own weight.  The "tropism" involved reminded me of what was going on with my birches, so I went outside to take these first four photos.  The above photo shows the birch that was bent low by the heavy wet snow thrown onto it by a snow blower.  It bent low enough during that week to come to rest on my garage roof - out of view to the left.  I shook the snow off and it sprung back a little, but the place where the trunk meets the ground was weakened, so the tree developed a permanent slant.

During the next two seasons, a few of the branches exhibited what we call negative geotropism.  They acted like the original trunk of the young tree and grew in the opposite direction of the pull of gravity, thus the right angles you see here.  If I had somehow been able to pull the tree upright after the snow blower incident, these branches would have continued to behave like branches and grow horizontally away from the main trunk.  I found this adjustment fascinating, so I've hesitated to cut down the tree even though every future snow storm will push it back onto the garage roof.

We started off the with three birches.  Not natives, but they reminded my of birches I loved as a child when visiting Lake Chocorua in New Hampshire.  During the aforementioned snow blower incident, the tree in the foreground snapped off at the middle, so I cut it at around 4 feet above ground.  AS forecast, the oozing sap supported a great burst of shelf fungi.  I probably have photos of them in my archive somewhere.  Now it's completely dead, fungi and all.  Probably a candidate for the wood stove.  The birch in the background seems to be doing OK.  All three of these have played host to Red-breasted Sapsuckers, although I didn't see any this past summer.  The photo below is a better view of the remaining healthy birch.

 Now, back to the inspiration.  You see the fallen sprout on the right.  We have a tendency to think the plant is "seeking" light, and that's why it grows tall so fast.  Actually, the presence of adequate light inhibits growth in stature in favor of producing more foliage with chloroplasts that capture sunlight and manufacture sugar.  This same phenomenon is familiar to anyone who has turned over a rock or board in a lawn and seen very long blades of grass and/or weeds, still white or yellowish.  In a sense they are seeking light, and if they make it to the edge of said rock or board, that part of the plant will turn green and it might be sufficient for the whole plant to survive.  Anyway, I had to make a judgement call.  I decided the hoped-for Sorrels would not survive, so I "weeded my weed" and will nurture it until I can identify it.  Maybe all winter if it looks like it can survive.  I think my kids have become attached to it because I see them water it now and then, even though they seldom water our other house plants.

Here's my weed in all it's glory.  I'll continue to keep its area weeded until further notice.  Always ready for surprises, I will possibly allow another sprout to stay a while if it comes up a few inches away from the star of the show.