Saving Wisteria
Aw, crud. Some little bugger stripped the bark off my wisteria tree… all the way around. GRRRR.
Being girdled will typically kill a tree, but I’m doing to try my best to save it. After some time on YouTube, I decided to insert several bridges with grafting paste, wrap the exposed area in moss, and then cover with loose-weave burlap for the winter. Now we wait.
23 Trees and Hopefully Done Counting
First there was the small birch just behind the shed that leaned at a 45-degree angle right through where I was installing my fence.
Then there was the dead tree that had been strangled by wire.
Then there was the tree that fell on my fence during the Thanksgiving 2014 snow storm. It became one of the 18 trees I had removed earlier this year... I thought I was done.
Nope.
This fir was one of three in a small stand, so of course when it toppled in a wind storm (core rot), I didn't like the bare look of the two remaining, which probably also had core rot.
The advantage is that I now see a lot more sky when I sit on my deck and look at the stars. And my vegetable garden will get more sun.
Wisteria
Adorning my front garden with the lovely and fragrant wisteria.
The catalog image... but of course, it doesn't look like this when it arrives.
I wanted to punch up my front garden bed... a small showy tree with fragrant flowers. Our neighborhood has plenty of lovely magnolia, cherry, and dogwood trees... I wanted something unique. Enter: Wisteria Longissima Alba Tree Form.
A few weeks later, I found myself planting what looked like a dead stick. (Am I being punked? Hey... look at the neighbor watering her pet stick!)
But sure enough, signs of life emerged, and now I have a fuzzy green tree living in my front garden.
My baby tree has arrived. (01-JUN-2017)
Dormant, not dead... so they tell me.
Signs of life! (24-JUN-2017)
One month after planting. (01-JUL-2017)
UPDATE: Crazy thing still doesn’t look like the catalog picture, but it is healthy and happy. Reminds me of a Chihuly sculpture. Sometimes it blows over in a harsh wind storm… not pulling the roots out, but just bending because the trunk is so flexible. I gave it a bigger stake and some tie-outs, and it seems to be staying put now. The rest of the garden is growing in nicely, too! (12-SEPT-2019)
UPDATE: First buds have appeared! I’m excited to see it bloom. (21-MAY-2020)
18 Trees
More sun, fewer acorns, and less scraggly dead junk.
I'm biting the bullet and having trees removed. EIGHTEEN trees. And the thing is... this won't even make a dent in the forested sanctuary of my back yard. The biggest difference will be to the front yard, where 4 out of the 5 trees will be removed.
I feel somewhat guilty about the oak... it is a nice tree. At least, it's nice until early November, when I start to curse its name. The leaves of my maples fall politely all at once, and I dedicate one afternoon to mulching them for my garden beds. The leaves on the oak, on the other hand, start falling around Halloween and continue to fall until March. And then there's all the other droppings... the tree is always pooping sticks onto my yard. It's also decorated with widow-makers: giant broken limbs hanging 60 feet up, just waiting for the perfect storm to knock them loose.
And then there's the ACORNS. Millions of them. The yard becomes like the ball pit at Ikea, if the balls were marbles with tiny sharp prongs that stab the bottoms of bare feet. I swear the squirrels throw them with force... my bedroom is a percussion instrument. I *!@%$* hate acorns.
Giant oak and three dying firs... these are on my top-ten list of trees to remove.
Then there are the scraggly ugly trees in the back yard that are irritating to mow around and add no beauty. There are a few crowded fir trees that are becoming weak and attracting carpenter ants... they're dead vertical fire starters. A couple others have made sport of dropping onto my fence.
Above: One of the black birches in a small stand decided to let go one winter storm. Just as well, since I keep having to rip out the root-runner babies.
Left: A storm in December 2014 snapped this leaning maple in half. I'm not sad to see them go, since its brother is bigger, and leaning farther onto my property. It worried me that someday they'd hurt more than just the fence.
Sadie surveys the wreckage.
Loam spread in the front yard.
The yard before, with 14 trees scheduled to be removed.
The yard after, with plenty of trees left.
Thanksgiving Snow and Fallen Trees
New England weather packs a festive wallop.
This ice and heavy snow took out power from early in the morning until late evening... so many turkeys got grilled outside today.
The tree leaning over my fence snapped like a toothpick, and then crunched my fence.
