Interns.....Just when you get to know them they go back to school!

I don't know if this is the most interns the Arboretum has ever had but it's certainly the most that have been here during my most recent tenure. And they're all good workers, knowledgeable, sensible, and self possessed. I have wondered before about how the world works; how does it happen that you get a group like this, not to suggest that past years were chopped liver, but these guys were, are, an exceptional group. Most of them will be leaving over the next week or two or three. One or two may repeat next year but maybe not. I hope so.

It is always sad when they leave. The headhouse goes from being a loud, busy, conversational place to a more sedate, quieter, calmer (not in a good way) location. And it's still hot. This year we will not only lose a lot of interns, but seasonal laborers as well. Of course more will arrive next summer but thats not really a consolation right now.

It's just a little beaver, how many cherry trees can it eat?

Likely it's the parents that are doing most of the damage to the cherries in the cherry nursery by Hickey Run. Over the last couple of weeks everyone had noticed the classic beaver damage to the trees closest to the stream. Still....I was a bit surprised to come in Thursday morning and find the Sue Greeley, Floral and Nursery Plants Technician, Wildlife specialist, Arborist, and more, was parked behind the Headhouse with this young beaver. She wanted the parents but got this gullible youngster instead. After much discussion, Sue decided to return this guy/girl to its parents.

She/He showed a remarkable indifference to the group that slowly assembled around the trap. Just kept debarking the 'Dreamcatcher' (USNA cherry introduction) branches. I guess that means that the cyanide in the branches isn't hurting him/her. Cows can poison themselves by eating cherry leaves; it happens during dry summers when the browse disappears but they can reach cherry foliage. Farmers actually have to attend to this situation. I can remember cutting cherry trees with my uncle during summers on my Grandmother's farm. Curiously sorghum and Johnsongrass also produce dangerous amounts of prussic acid.

Years ago I remember there was a problem with the Tidal Basin Cherries; a beaver was cutting them. As I recall this beaver took down a good number of trees before he was trapped and relocated.