Rewilding My Lot

A Texas Mountain Laurel tree was the first plant that I bought here and it went in the ground in March 2023. Then in July I noticed that half of the tree was paler than the other half. This photo is from that time.

I asked several of my native plant colleagues as to what might be going on and what could I do. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Added peat moss to the soil around the tree
• Monthly iron treatments
• Weekly deep watering
• Sown three scarified seeds under the pale side (no germination yet)

Here are two photos side by side. First is July; second is September:

I realize that lighting could make a difference here, but maybe the left side is less pale now? It’s hard to say. The darker side of the tree on the right seems happy and is putting out new growth at the top and also lower down (next photo). The pale side has not grown, but it also doesn’t look particularly dead either.

And there are plenty of insect visitors. This is some sort of Skipper.

I will continue to watch and wait, and do monthly iron treatments for now. At least half of the tree seems content and over a few years I expect it will sort itself out. Either the pale side will recover, or the dark side will take over. I have no idea if the seeds that I planted underneath will germinate, but it’s not essential that they do.

By the way, the things that look like early flower buds are exactly that, and this is the time they appear, but the flowers don’t develop until spring.