Indian Hawthorns - Tumbling Tumbleweeds

There aren't many attractive dead or dying plants. Some go out slowly and we sometimes save what beauty is left by removing dead stems or branches.

Others waste no time and some of those we can simply r.i.p. (pun intended) out of the ground or cut back, hoping they don't try to make a last go of it and send up suckers and water sprouts.

Well, indian hawthorns, many, suffer from entomosporium (leaf spot), a systemic fungus.

Red Tips (photinia x fraseri) are also susceptible to entomosporium and it appears no cultivar of this plant is resistant to it while there are some cultivars of indian hawthorn which are. Unfortunately, both of these plants tend to be planted in clusters (hawthorns) or are used to create hedges (red tips) and seemed to be rarely pruned by the owner.

Neither one of these situations is good for a plant which can easily spread its disease through contact, water transfer or wind. And, the poor air circulation resulting from the tight placement of and poor pruning doesn't help either.

You'll notice whether your indian hawthorn or red tip is infected, either by close inspection or it will become more than obvious when you notice severe leaf drop for either of these evergreens.

There are some things you can do which may keep these girls and guys alive, but it involves some serious pruning, extra care and application of perhaps more than one fungicide.

By no means is this the first time we've done this, but we removed nine (Hard to distinguish. Isn't it?) indian hawthorns from the foundation of the home above and the result you can see below.

Nothing and a bed of pine straw looks much better than death row. We can always plant in these beds later as we removed a rightfully strong majority of the root system.

Yes, when a small globular shaped dead indian hawthorn is extricated from its burial plot, which was once its healthy home, and a gust of wind sends it rolling across one's lawn, it does look like a tumbling tumble weed.

But, it's not tumbling across the prairie to propagate new plants by dislodging seeds. It's done, and quite ugly.

Lyrics

See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground!
Lonely, but free, I'll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds

Cares of the past are behind
Nowhere to go, but I'll find
Just where the trail will wind
Drifting along with the tumblin' tumbleweeds

I know when night has gone
That a new world's born at dawn!
I'll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds

I know when night has gone
That a new world's born at dawn!
I'll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds