Late Summer Stress on London Plane Tree - September 2020

The past few days, I've added some entries to my garden diary showing off some late Summer growth on our Dawn Redwood tree,  our front-yard Bald Cypress tree and most recently the hedge of Hicks upright yews.   The Summer has been hot and dry.  And, therefore, it hasn't been all good news for the yard.  In the photo at the top, you can see some of the foliage of our London Planetree.  It is clearly stressed.  A good portion of the tree is going yellow - and it is just early September. 

The history of this tree - which I call the Grampy tree:

• Bought in April (during lockdown) on an early am run to Home Depot with some birthday money from Nat's Grampy.
• Got around to planting it in May.  And it was immediately stressed due to the transplant.  
• It recovered and leaf'd out again this Summer. 

I've tried to water it a bit, but have not paid nearly enough attention to this tree - and it shows. 

Here, below, is another look at the yellow leaves.  Also, for those keeping track, this is the second tree to go yellow early - with our River Birch turning yellow in early August this year.

I found this Houzz post about someone's London Plane Tree with same situation - and the community came the same conclusion that I have:  not enough water. 

Just this week, I've rededicated myself to taking the hose and laying down a good ten minutes of slow, trickling water at each of the small trees we have in the yard.  Hoping it will turn this tree around and stop the yellowing and leaf drop.