Big Tree Down in Front Yard

Here I am finally back on my computer after having lost power early Saturday
evening until late Monday when one of the two old and quite big blue spruce
trees in my front yard came down in the strong winds we had here on Long
Island over the weekend. I had two, one on the left and one on the right
side of the front yard. One of them is very close to the stocktank pond I
had put inground two years ago but that one is still there, it was the other
that came down. The damage started as it rained buckets all Friday night and
continued without any stopping until Monday morning. Then it just rained
normally until today finially it is bright, warm and sunny out.

Those two blue spruce were as old as I am and I had had them limbed up some
to increase the light in the front yard for my garden. Never once in a
million years did I think that there was a possibility of one coming down.
But with all that rain, the ground was soggy soaked and they reported 70
mile an hour wind gusts for our area of Long Island. The roots snapped and
down it came. Now it fell forward towards the street and took down the power
lines with a massive thud. Blocked the street too. One of the telephone
poles is slightly listing, that's how strong an impact. If it had fallen the
other way, towards the house, I would not be here writing this as it would
have fallen across the bedroom right were I was watching TV while sitting in
bed. So I am very lucky, no damage to people, cars or houses, just some
downed power lines.

They came on Sunday and cut the tree limbs off the lines and left them all
over the sidewalk. Then late Monday they came and fixed the wires so we got
power back. Now this morning they came and cut and picked up all the tree
limbs that were there on the street and sidewalk. I was kinda surprised, I
thought it might be my problem to get rid of them but apparently not. Now I
just have to call the guy that does all my hardscape and big garden work to
cut up and haul away what's left of the tree on my property and dig out the
rest of the roots so I can fix the mess with the uprooted soil and some
damage to the roses that the tree crashed over. Amazing really, all this and very thankfully no real property damage. The Iris and bulb lilies in that area should all end up being ok as they haven't even started to grow yet and the tree pretty much missed them.

Sure was a pain to have no electric. That means no heat and no hot water for
days. It sure was nice to have a hot shower this morning. Thankfully, while
it was chilly as the days were cool and damp, it was not freezing cold like
we get in the winter. My stove is gas so I at least could have food and I
cooked something in the oven to throw off heat in the house for some warmth.

I missed my TV and especially my computer like crazy. Sure is nice to have
things back under control

If the tree falls into the street, then the city/township got responsibility to clear it up, for the sake of public safety. That's why they left the remaining part that is on your property.

If the tree falls within your yard or your neighbors, it is your responsibility. If there's no actual damage to a house or infrastructure, insurance will not cover your tree removal expense.

If it falls on an infrastructure or vehicle, then you get the big headache just thinking of all the claims you have to file to your insurance. LOL!

Thankfully, you were so lucky. Northern Jersey area were badly hit. Flood, property and vehicle damage, power outage, they got it all. Down here at the shore area, no problems at all. And yes thankfully, today and the next few days will be gorgeous. Planted 6 roses today. Tomorrow more lilies.

I consider myself very lucky that I have to pay for the last of the tree to be removed myself. Much better to fork out whatever it might cost than having to deal with property damage. Interesting enough I just had the news on the TV and they were explainging the same thing, who is responsible to do and pay for what when things were damaged.

The best part of all is that you were not hurt, and you're back with us adding so much enjoyment to these forums.

Donna

I kind of take off during the dead of winter. But as soon as there is even a hint of green for spring, I am ready to go back into full gardening mode and also back on all the forums.

I have been outside working today and have some plans. Tomorrow my guy is coming to cut up whats left of my tree and dig out roots and fix the ground and so forth.

Last year I expanded a rose bed by adding more shrub type roses as close to the limbed up tree as I could get away with. I love the combos of roses and lilies planted together. So my plans are to add a row of lilies in back of the roses now were there will be room. I am also going to be able to expend the daylily row near there because of more light that will be sunnier now. I had really wanted more lilies there but there wasn't enough room, now there will be.

Actually with all that I have in mind, it is going to look much better than it did before by the time I am finished!

I'm like you in the winter. I amplanning, but on the forums much less. Right now I am making my bulb beds pretty since the bulbs are coming up. Today is tree wrap off day, and tomorrow I may dormant oil if the temps will stay over 40 tomorrow night.

Oh wow, are you a rose person too? I just love them. Lilies and roses and peonies and ornamental grasses, along with ornamental trees, are my favorites. I love this time of year because you know what came through the winter and you can imagine the possibilities.

I have way over 200 roses. I do have lilies all over my yard but one of my favorites is too put lilies in between the roses. They look great together.

Yes, you do love roses. I only have 25. How wonderful that must be.

sorry about the tree.glad no one was hurt

What a mess my front yard is hear the used to be tree. The rest of the trunk got cut up but the hard part was digging out the rest because some tree roots were still attached. Of course as luck would have it, they went straight down. Its out now but it was a project for two strong guys.

The daylilies and roses are a trampled mess. Good thing its early spring and everything has time to recover. They are on coffee break (or something) now and then will start to fill up the hole and move dirt around (and off plants). Lilies in that area haven't broken ground yet so I hope that saves them. The poor Siberian Iris are totally dirt covered.

NYR,

I've had to cut roses down to the ground that bloomed pretty much on schedule. The lilies, being underground, should be ok. Cross your fingers! I'm crossing mine.

I actually do know that the roses will be fine in spite of looking so sorry right now. Tomorrow I will go out there and prune them really heavily. To the ground if need be. That section is all own root roses that I bought from Heirloom roses one, two and three years ago. Pretty hard to kill an own root rose, they just send up new canes from the ground.

I uncovered (scraped the dirt off) all the Siberian Iris but even if I missed a spot, they should be able to come up thru a small sprinkling of dirt on top of them. The daylilies, which were fine before the tree trunk cutting, are such a mushed mess I can barely find the plants. All the tags are broken off and can't tell which tag goes with which plant. That would be tags on the daylilies, roses, Siberian Iris and Lilies. I am thankful that the lillies are not up yet. They would be dust by now if they were.

I usually had my regular crew do this kind of work but my neighbor, who is out of work, convinced me he could do it instead.

Smart lady. Except for Heritage and Glamis Castle, which I got one August at a fabulous garden center (marked down from $27.99 to $9.99) all of my roses are own root. Those two are in microclimates next to a wall. My favorites are Madame Hardy, Marchesa Boccella, Zephirine Drouhin, Enfant du France and Gruss an Aachen. I susally purchase from Pickering or Antique Rose Emporium.

I am very happy about your irises. I understand that daylilies are hard to to kill deliberately, becuase new ones will come up from tiny bits.

Does your tree coming down change the light in your yard? It seems to me that you have lots of sunloving Plants, so once the mess is cleaned out it should be better.

There is so much light there now and sun were there was not much before. It looks so open and sunny to me that I am having a difficult time getting used to it.

As bad as the trampled daylilies look, it is so early in the year that they should bounce right back. Afew years ago I had daylilies trampled just as badly as these are when I had some old barberries dug out and they stood right on top of the daylilies while digging. In afew weeks new fans were growing and you couldn't tell anything had happened plus they bloomed later normally.

It sounds like the plants in your yard can take the additional sun. In fact, it may help them come back faster. Cheers!

I finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard section.

I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable.

The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small.

I was also out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Siberian Iris. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump.

You must be exhausted. It sounds like a lot of work. I'm sorry that you lost some of your irises but all your hard work seems to have restored much of your garde -and just in time for the burst of spring growth!

I will just buy more plants :-))

Yes!