Why I Oughta...

Earlier this week, I shared photos (and a video) of the removal of our large, 70-year-old Norway Maple that was situated right in front of our wrap-around front porch.  This tree was an important landscape feature for our home - we site'd the house back purely to SAVE this tree.  But, it had to go.  That removal and subsequent processing into rounds for splitting was phase one of the project.  Phase two is to remove the stump.  A few days after they removed the tree, the team came back with a giant machine to grind the stump.  The drove the machine up front the front and started to grind the stump down.  See below for a look at the start of the stump grinding: Here, below, is a close-up look at how the machine grinds down the stump into shredded wood.  The operator ground down the stump about 24" in total depth. Stump grinder removing a Norway Maple stump The whole process didn't take long - maybe 20 minutes of grinding.  Here, below, is a v...

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. I foretold the removal of this magnificent tree just last month when I posted about the continued decline of the tree .  In mid/late September, we had an early evening storm and lost another large limb.  Dare I say...a 'widow maker' came 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 tre...

After years of fighting to try to keep our large, signature front-yard Norway Maple tree alive, we've made the difficult decision to have it removed.  We tried everything - giving it a growth regulator , feeding it, pruning it.  But, the tree continues to decline.  Every time we experience a storm of any meaning, we lose a limb .   I'm having a few firms come out to give us a price, but within a couple of weeks, this tree will no longer be gracing our front yard.  I'm not quite sure that I've come to grips with the size of the impact the removal will have on our landscape, but I know it will be massive.   My brain already moves to thinking about what to replace it with - and if we can get the replacement in the ground this Fall.  My normal move for tree planting is to find SMALL trees that can handle the transplant, but this location calls for something else - something larger - as an investment.  That way, we can enjoy the tree WHILE we...

Last September, I posted a series of photos showing how I was taking down a Buckthorn tree in the far reaches of our backyard .  It was a small tree, but took some time between cutting and digging out the roots.  I mentioned that I had a few more Buckthorn trees around - and because they're an invasive tree - I wanted to get rid of them over time.  In fact, I included 'Buckthorn removal' in my 2019 To-Do List addendum and didn't get around to taking down any of the trees this Summer.  That changed this past weekend, when I was out back and tried to take on this tree you see here.  This is a medium tree, but it is in a state of both alive and dead - at the same time.  I know that seems strange, but I'm pretty sure that the main tree is dead, but the suckers on this thing keep coming back, so there's life in there somewhere.  I first started with sawing off a bunch of the limbs.  Then I cut it in half - and let the top-half tumble down int...