I bought and planted a tulip tree (formerly called the white poplar) in my back yard a few weeks ago. A few days later I heard that I’d have to wrap my new tree in cheesecloth to keep the cicadas from killing all the bud ends. I pondered that for a while, picturing 23 ways I might fall off a ladder in the attempt. Then Mrs. Nott had a better idea. I only cared about the top few branches, because I didn’t want the main trunk to branch that low. She handed me some pairs of pantihose. Dingdingdingding! I clambered up my new fiber glass ladder, and I threaded a pantihose leg on each of the top 4 branches. I twist-tied them on, and now I’m ready for the Al-Cicada horde.
Then I planted 60 marigolds.