Nearly 4 years ago my mom dug up a sucker from her magnolia tree in Virginia, tossed it in a box and drove it to Georgia where it sat unplanted for several weeks as I tried to get all her irises planted down here that she'd stuffed into buckets.

Sonny noticed the sucker, then about a foot tall with half decent roots. He planted it where he hoped he'd remember not to mow it down, manured it, and mulched it beautifully.

It's now about 6 feet tall and Sonny and I re-manured and mulched it this afternoon while we were also tending to my different bamboos that I also love.

Yes we always over-manure and over-mulch but between our unpredictable stormy weather, intense heat and blazing sun, everything quickly rots down to dust.