I did not discover that there were spindle trees at the bottom of the garden for several years after we started to live here. This was because they were systematically de-foliated by caterpillars each year and just managed to put on enough growth after their spring stripping to survive until the next annual attack.
The caterpillars that attack the Spindle trees are particularly obnoxious. They form writhing masses inside a pouch that looks as if it has been made by spiders. If you hit the nest with a stick the caterpillars can eject and parachute out hanging on securely by a silken thread. The synchronised descent is very unnerving. The culprit I believe is Yponomeuta cagnagella or Yponomeuta cognatella if you prefer. This is an attractive little night flying moth but I do not want it to defoliate my Spindle trees nor my young silver birch which was likewise defoliated by a very similar looking caterpillar.
I have had to have recourse to Bacillus thuringiensis as I have no hope to hand gather these caterpillars on branches far above my head. I am remarkably pitiless towards anything that threatens the life of my plants. After two years of treatment, including this spring, I have at last seen berries on the trees.
But life for a spindle tree seems to be tough as I noticed that something has been eating the berries! The leaves and the fruit of the spindle tree are poisonous to humans but there is obvious a little worm around that has cut out a little niche for itself feeding off Spindle berries. The trees outside in the woods don’t seem affected so I’m just hoping there is something out there that likes the little worm and it is just a matter of time till it catches up with my newly prospering trees.
The common name for Euonymus europaeus in French is Fusain. This is a reference to the Spindle trees’ use for the charcoal that artists use to make sketches. Artists’ charcoal is called fusain in French, regardless of the source of the charcoal. The natural charcoal is produced by carbonising young branches of trees of a suitable diameter. Other trees including willow and birch can be used but the name seems to have stuck to the Spindle tree. Does the practical Anglo Saxon mind think of the fine, useful implements, like spindles and knitting needles and the Gallic mind think of the benefits to Art that Euonymus europaeus provides?
Or am I just over-thinking this one?
a french garden 