Aug 30 2014
Thinking back over the 40 years we have lived in our home; I don’t believe Mother Nature wanted me to plant trees. Not too long after we first moved here I planted a Pin Oak and a Sunburst Locust tree in our back yard. In the front I planted a Clump White Paper Birch.
When the Locust was just a year old I went out one day to see our niece chopping on it with our son’s toy axe. A lot of the bark was off all the way around. I wrapped it but it died. I cut it off and before I could dig the stump out 3 sprouts grew so I let them go. It now is a large Locust tree with 3 trunks starting about 2 feet up. I lost a good sized limb during an ice storm that took down the power line to my work shop. I have had it trimmed once but it was not topped out, just thinned.
The Pin Oak was about 12 inches diameter when it got a leaf disease and died. I had it cut down and a couple years later planted a Russian Olive tree. That was a pretty tree and the blossoms in the spring were really fragrant. It was about 10 inches diameter when it too got a leaf disease and died so I had it cut down.
The Clump Birch in front was nice sized when it got the Birch Borer that killed it. I had a nursery plant a Bradford Pear tree. When it was a nice size half of it came down in a wind storm so I had what was left cut down. I wanted to replace it and the nursery said the Bradford was prone to splitting out from the way it is grafted. They said a Cleveland Pear was a better choice so they planted one for me.
Last spring or summer a wind storm took out a 6 to 8 inch limb; about a fourth of the tree. I sprayed the scar with sealer and it looked like it was starting to fill in this summer.
Tomorrow the wife’s sister and husband are coming to go with us to some friends 50th anniversary party from 2 to 4:00. I figured with those hours it will just be cake and ice cream so I wanted to fix something in case they wanted to stay and eat before going home.
I had some nice fresh picked green beans from a local farmer’s market and a smoked ham steak from my butcher. I had some baby yellow potatoes to cook with it. I had just cut the bone and fat from the center of the ham; I had it in some chicken broth and water with a sweet onion for some broth and had it simmering. I went out to water some flowers in pots and a neighbor hollered that a limb had just fallen out of my tree.
It was partly cloudy with some wind and gusts maybe 15 to 20 mph. I went out to look and a good sized limb was down and out in the street. I drug it the best I could to get it off the street. The top part was dead; I had noticed I was getting some dead leaves down from it but didn’t look close at it. I figure either it was damaged too much when the other limb split off of it last year or an earlier or another high wind day cracked it this spring.
It now has a large hole right in the center. I will probably let it go until next year to decide if I want to cut it down or not. I do know I will plant no more trees in my life time! I guess planting trees was my hobby!
Smokin Don
