Tagged With: Trees

Leaning Trees

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 by Henry
Leaning Trees

Leaning Trees

Cathy asked me to look at these trees in our back yard and wondered if they’ve always leaned like that. No, that’s new. There is a hole in the ground to the left of them, but that’s been there since before we moved in, more than 15 years ago. The trees are not straight but they seem at least reasonably healthy. Nevertheless, they have started to lean and their roots are pulling up a large mound of earth. If they were to fall they would not hit the house but it’s quite likely they would hit our back fence. Not the end of the world but it’s a hassle we’d just as soon avoid. So, I called a couple tree services to get estimates.

Of course, the fact that they are part way down will tend to make the estimates a little higher, because of the danger of them falling while they are being worked on. At least the fact that nothing will drop on the house works in our favor. But it’s a bigger job than I can handle safely and the trees really do need to come down.

Stay tuned…

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Tree Cutting

Photograph taken on Monday, December 20, 2021 by Henry
Tree Cutting

Tree Cutting

As mentioned about a week ago (see Tuesday, December 14, 2021), these two trees are leaning and needed to be taken down. I got two quotes which were not vastly different. That made it a little harder to pick the company that would do the work because I couldn’t simply say, “these guys were a lot cheaper.” I basically flipped a coin in my head. The company I picked could do the work fairly soon as they were coming to do some work next door today and could get both that and our work done in the same day. Certainly a plus. I took some photos of the work being done, including 11 pictures taken in the two seconds or so that this branch took to fall to the ground.

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Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Photograph taken on Thursday, April 20, 2023 by Henry
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

The common name for our most commonly planted, native dogwood is “flowering dogwood’ (Cornus florida). That’s a little deceptive, since all dogwoods—that is all Cornus species—flower. But that’s what they are called and that’s the one of the things about common names. They have some significant health issues, including dogwood anthracnose, which is fairly serious. They are also susceptible to powdery mildew, leaf spot, canker, root rot and leaf and twig blight. Stressed trees become vulnerable to borers. Nevertheless, when they are in bloom, as they are right now, they can hold their own against our other flowering trees. There are pink blooming varieties that I think are even better, although it’s hard to complain about something as lovely as this. It should be said that they also generally have terrific fall color.

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Rainforest Walk

Photograph taken on Thursday, June 29, 2023 by Henry
Brian, Cathy, and Dogs

Brian, Cathy, and Dogs

Cathy, Brian and I took a walk with the dogs through Switzer Meadow and then on a loop beyond Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School. Most of that later trail is in the woods, some of which is relatively young. The whole area was probably clear cut less than 100 years ago, so there are few if any trees older than that. Some areas seem to be pretty scrubby and one area looked like it was a homeless camp or party spot not too many years ago. It’s hard to tell because wood decomposes very quickly in this wet environment. It’s still a pretty walk for the most part and we enjoyed being out with the dogs.

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Croyden Creek Walk

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 12, 2023 by Henry
Croyden Creek Walk

Croyden Creek Walk

After church and a visit with Margaret, we took a walk from the Croyden Creek Nature Center. We headed down to the creak and went downstream towards where Croyden Creek joins Rock Creek, just above where Baltimore Avenue crosses Rock Creek. Then we turned uphill to the north and followed a trail that loops around close to Norbeck Road and came back to the old cut for Avery Road, when is used to go through this way. We continued upstream from there past a small pond and returned by way of the civic center fields. It was a very pleasant walk. Most of the leaves were down, especially on the tulip poplars, which are the dominant tree in these woods. But there was enough color that it was still quite pretty.

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