The day finally arrived. A day that I have not been looking forward to in the life of our property. That day is the day that our large, mature Norway Maple tree that was located just outside of our front porch came down. This tree was a lovely tree. Lived a good life. We moved the location of our house foundation specifically so we could try to keep this tree. But, it still needed to come down.
It wasn't as if we didn't try to save this tree. In fact, we surely didn't want to remove it. But, it seemed liked it was necessary as the limbs kept falling and I began to become worried that it would fall on my house. Or, my neighbor's house.
Over the years, we've worked this tree. Gave it a growth regulator in September 2022. And provided a deep-feeding of this tree the past three seasons. But, that wasn't enough. The tree was in decline. The bark was falling off. The crotches were rotting out. One guy even told me that he thought it was struck by lightening. After living a great life in this spot - providing shade and cover, reducing our utility bills and making our new house feel like it could have been here years ago - it was time to celebrate the life of the Norway Maple.
Here's (below) how the tree looked on the day that the team arrived to remove it. The canopy was thin, it had plenty of bare limbs, and the bark was falling in big sheets down the trunk. But, it was *still* a nice tree.
The mid-day shade this tree provided was dappled on our driveway:
The team from the removal company started by climbing the tree, roping off limbs and using a high-point to lower the sections down to the ground. They started with the canopy and removed all the limbs. See below for a look at the guy with the chainsaw about 2/3rds of the way up the tree:
They made quick work and took down the tree limb-by-limb. See below for how they rigged up the sections and used the tree itself to lower the limbs down safely. They were total pros.
Once all the limbs were removed, they started to work on the trunk. Here (below) is a look at how they pulled down the trunk - and used sections of the tree already on the ground as a way to absorb the blow:
All was remaining was the stump. See below for the bare spot in our bed this removal left:
I asked the guys if they knew how old the tree was - as the rings were hard to interpret/read. They said they thought it was a 70-year-old tree. I didn't want the wood to go to waste. One thing I know - after buying firewood over the years - is that nobody sells Norway Maple as firewood. That means...(I think) that this tree was destined to end up as mulch. I didn't want that. So, I had the guys cut the rounds down to 16" or so and we hauled them all the way back to the rear of our property. Here, below, is one of the rounds:
I quickly built a new storage rack using the cinderblock and 2x4 system that you see online. It was easy to put together and worked well. Here, below, you can see some of the wood on the new rack:
And there were some BIG rounds that we couldn't get up there on the rack, so I left those on the ground. I'm thinking...this will sort-of FORCE me to start to split these this Winter, so they don't rot-out. See below for part of the pile of rounds:
This isn't what I wanted with this tree, but the removal certainly opens up some new opportunities with a newly created, large bed that I can plant next year. That is...once I get the stump ground out.
Our hedge of Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees is waking up for Spring and has begun to leaf-out all over the trees. The last time that I looked at these trees was earlier this (late) Winter, when all of the trees were still clinging to some of their previous-season's leaves (something called foliar marcescence). The screening that comes from planting these Frans Fontaine Hornbeams along the property line is starting to come into focus this growing season as the small leaves are opening from their buds. Below, is a photo showing the current (mid/late April) state in our yard in Northern Illinois (Zone 5b). And, here below, is a look at the leaf from the Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam (Fastigata). They are curled and ribbed with a hob-like flower/fruit on the trees It won't be long until they fill-in for the year - check this post to see what these trees look like mid-Summer (July 2022) where they're screening our neighbor's yard. These trees ...
I've written pretty extensively on my love of columnar trees here on the blog. We have this stand of eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams (that you see some of above) and have this Weeping White Spruce that I picked up this season in our yard. And I've posted multiple times about the columnar street trees of Tokyo over the years. My love of columnar, narrow trees is something I've think I've well established here. But, that doesn't mean that I know everything about them! Recently, I read a note from Amy in from Pretty Purple about her take on narrow trees and thought it was worth sharing here. Those of you who read the blog might remember Pretty Purple Door from my post earlier this year talking about tulip bulb colors and how she outlined some of the ways to make colors work together (add yellow!). In her post about narrow trees, she talks about how/why these trees work in suburban yards (space, duh!). She includes some...
Earlier this year, I planted three small quart-sized nursery containers of a new (to me) nepeta named 'Chartreuse on The Loose' . It is an interesting variety that has a unique color foliage (lime green), habit (trailing) and maintenance needs (it doesn't require deadheading to re-bloom). Right away, one of the plants was eaten-up by the (dang!) rabbits. But the other two seemed to do just fine. Look back at this planting post in early May when the three small plants were just that: small . Lots of mulch showing between them. Today? They've made a drift with no gaps in between them at all. See below for the current state of these trailing/spreading catmint perennials: I've mentioned that I need to continue to remind myself to add more of WHAT IS WORKING instead of adding net-new stuff. But, these are both a reminder that sometimes new things can be great. But, now that I see them working, I have put them...
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