Cottonwood dropping internal leaves part of its lifecycle

Q: My neighbor and I share a healthy cottonwood on our property line. It seems that all of a sudden it has started dropping some yellow leaves. Isn’t it too early for the tree to start its annual leaf drop? — H.N.W., Albuquerque

A: I want you to take a good look at the tree. I’m thinking that the leaf drop you’re noticing is actually not much to be concerned with. The leaves that are dropping, are they more internal leaves?

What happens is the tree has created so many leaves that the ones that don’t receive a lot of sunlight have finished their job, so the tree is letting them go. Now if it’s lots of leaves from tip end to deep inside the tree canopy, well that could very well be signaling something is up, health-wise with the tree.

So, give the tree a good look, and I believe you’ll be more at ease with the cottonwood dropping some of the internal leaves now. Really, I’m thinking it’s OK.

Q: You suggested, years ago, that we plant marigolds among the vegetables planted in our garden. Can we save the seed from the marigolds, or should we just let them fall to the ground? — E.C., Albuquerque

A: Being a marigold grower forever, I’d recommend harvesting and storing the marigold seed. I’ve never had much success regrowing marigolds by allowing the seed capsules to just stay where they fall.

As each bloom is finished, or spent, pinch the blooms off the mother plant. I always take the spent bloom head, wearing some of the stem that attached it to “mom,” and then spread the collected pinched heads in a cardboard flat. That collection is placed out of the sun but where it’ll get good air circulation for a while until the capsule that holds the long seeds is well dry.

I am also in the habit of giving the flat a good shake to ruffle that collection periodically. When the capsule is dry, you tear it open and voilà, you have gobs of seeds. Don’t open the capsule anywhere it’ll be windy, or you’ll have seed everywhere.

I usually allow the loosened seed a day or two on a flat to be sure they are dry, too. Then, I collect the seed and place them in small PAPER bags. Don’t store the seed in plastic, use paper only. Even envelopes would work. If you know the variety of the marigold plant and the year harvested, you can jot that info on the bag too.

Store the collected and dry packaged seed somewhere cool and dry, and then next spring you’ll have seed galore to plant and help protect your veggie garden. Best of all, they’ll be free.

So yes, collect the seed heads, dry them off, package them and store them until next year. If you know anyone that would like to grow marigolds, you can offer some of your collected seed as a gift.

Q: We went for a hike along the bosque and came back with lots of goathead stickers in our shoes. We didn’t see many or walk near any tumbleweeds, so where did we collect the stickers from? — N.H., Albuquerque

A: Having grown up here, we learned at an early age the difference between goatheads and stickers.

Goatheads are the seed from an amazingly prolific plant called puncturevine. The puncturevine grows nearly flat, can spread to amazing diameters, is usually a good green color and sports the sweetest tiny yellow flower when it’s in bloom.

As the bloom finishes, each one can grow into that hard-shelled, poky, two-prong goathead.

Tumbleweeds set more “polite” poky seeds and unless you’re finding them already dried out and rolling about, I doubt that you picked up tumbleweed seed.

I wonder if you didn’t walk on or through a patch of the puncturevine and inadvertently collect the goatheads that way.

I will suggest you keep a trash bag in your car and remove any of the collected seed you might have gathered and pitch it properly, or you’ll be spreading puncturevine all over the place.

Flat green plants, that’s the goathead. Round, large plants that are known in song and story, that’s the tumbleweed.

Just be careful when you’re out for your walkabouts and Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.