Oh, I feel so bad!

The wind just took down 1/3 of my beautiful maple tree. I wondered out loud when I moved in about the trunk splitting into thirds and was told it isn't a problem. Wrong!!!

DH said our power went out twice today.

From this angle it looks like half the tree is gone!

Still a beautiful tree Katy, and it will grow back! My septic had to be redone and I swear, the digger pruned half of it away, but it looks fine now, 6 months later.

Happily, it fell around the beautiful little pine by the street rather than on it.

Thanks for the encouraging words jburesh. I'm thinking of going to the trees forum and seeing if I should have the other off-shoot branch removed. Not soon, the maple needs to recover from this I think. But maybe next year? This pic was taken from inside the window.

O so sorry Katie glad it didn't do any damage to anything else you are lucky, they are tough trees and will recover in time. I have a very old and big maple that has a y notch in it and every year I worry if it will split. and if the wind is right it will take the little barn and the greenhouse with it. but it shades the yard in summer and I hate the thought of taking it down.
don't worry
Tilly

Oh, no, So sorry to see your tree split....But don't give up-there's still lots of tree there!

My big Raywood ash came down today - right onto the driveway with no damage to anything else. Funny how I was coming down the driveway & things did not look right. Tree was off to one side, so I did not see it at first.
Sad to lose such a pretty tree, but I won't be replacing it.
KatyMac - your maple will be fine; just give it time to heal up & put out some new growth. It's "progammed" to do so. As long as the break did not extend down into the inner layers, it will adjust & continue to grow.

Aaagh! Now there's a scary sentence! Luckily my Raywood ash isn't all that big-yet, but no matter which direction it fell it would be a problem.
I've recently heard that there's some new blight that can affect the Raywood. I really like mine, and watch it closely, but I'd probably replace it with a different tree if it came down, too.

Thanks Katye, it appears to have sort of peeled of the side of the tree, but I haven't ben able to get up close yet.

I googled Raywood ash and one site said it didn't do well in wind.

This message was edited Oct 18, 2007 7:53 PM

OOOH, too bad, Katy! That's more 'mother nature' pruning than anyone would want. I agree, though, that the tree will survive and continue to grow. Sorry to see it, though. And such a beauty!

Silver lining in this? yes. Although I am not the eternal optimist, there is usually a positive that rears its head. I just need to look in its direction to find it!
So, that would be, what else? - a new planting area.
Yay! Gotta love that!
Ash logs will warm us in the woodstove next year, and the leaves are for the worms & microherd.

Oh Katymac - heartbreak. We lost a third of our big sequestrim this summer - and I just hated it - looked so 'tidied' up. But getting use to it now - we can really see the big Japanese maple this year - and the bed to the side of the Sequest. has done extraordinarily well - especially the dierama reynoldiis - so, perhaps your bed at the foot of the tree will give you some real surprises.

Laurie, isn't it amazing how attached we can get to our gardens? Hm, that bed should be getting a lot more morning sun. Opens up possibilities doesn't it?

It does.

I'll give you this to look at while you are thinking about it. I just love this tree, Betula Albo Sinensis (Chinese Red Birch). I took these this evening just before the sun dipped behind the hills.

And one more.

Gorgeous Laurie!

Its what makes us love those trees sooooo much - leaves and bark that do such interesting things. Yum.

That's is awesome Laurie wonder if they would grow out here.
Have you entered this in the contest, I think it could be a winner
Tilly

Beautiful, Laurie!!

Tills, do you not have Birch growing in Washington state? They are completely hardy, growing in anything from drought right up into the low tundra - easy in heavy snow country. They are shallow rooted, so do need some sheltering from the prevailing wind - but love growing in dense plantings so will give each other some shelter (or all go down in one fell swoop). Enormous amount of choice in size and colouring, including some with dark leaves. Google Betula in the Images catagory for some fabulous photos.

Thanks Pix, and you too Tills, I hadn't thought of them as being in the competition - they seem like a snap shot rather than a composition. Hmmm, I'll have to think about that. The Crocosmia photo I really thought about, and set out to 'take' a photo (actually I was tremendously inspired by some of Murmur's photos, and wondered if I could get a better feel for my digital camera - all its really made me do is want an SLR again) - but the Birch photo was one of those gasp moments where you dash in, find you do know where you left it the last time, and then rush out again. That may say more about me than about the photo.

I'll have to give that some more thought - or not. I can analyze things to death. Poor plants - they never just get planted, they get PLANTED (that's caps, bold, italized, with exclamation points). It is a long and tedious process - and I am sure they are gritting their teeth in impatience by time I finally water them in. How embarassing. I'm going out to rake leaves - care to join me?

Laurie
You know you can get a digital SLR, they are the bomb! My husband bought me a Canon Rebel XT and I love it! If you enjoy photography it's worth the investment. Here is a link just to tempt you :) http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/415470-REG/Canon__EOS_Digital_Rebel_XT.html

KatyMac - I'm so sorry about your tree. I was beautiful. I'm so glad that the others think it'll be okay. There was a beautiful mature weeping willow out here that lost its top in the December storm last year. It looked awful, so much so that I wished they'd take it out and put it out of its misery. But later this summer I drove by and noticed that the tree had leafed out and covered up all its old scars. It was as though nature's "pruning" had been planned. I hope that's what happens with your tree. It's fortunate, isn't it, that we seem to have the perfect climate for these guys.

Another great shot, Laurie. I have a couple of birch trees here. I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and the birch trees were what gave us the beautiful colors in the fall. I love the white paper bark.

Katye, so sorry that you lost a tree. Seems that I got pretty luck with this last storm.

WARNING TO THOSE WHO USE DIGITAL CAMERAS: Do not leave them out in the rain. And definitely don't do it to more than one camera. And don't let your husband take a digital camera with him kayaking, either. Oh, and also do not spill anything on them. I have a lot of experience. Trust me.

LOL, Uh-oh, sounds like an interesting story or two.....

Melissa, my imagination is running wild. Hope you're not now camera-less and DH didn't get too wet and cold.

Oh phew Pix, I'm so glad you intervened there - I was soooooooo tempted looking at Rachier's Canon site, and thinking - could I rationalize, somehow, some long long stretch of the imagination somehow - spring for that camera - and whoooooooosh, leaving it out in the rain just rang warning bells! Although, would the insurance cover it? Stop it Laurie - I am full of admiration that R's husband brought it home - takes the guilt out of getting one. All I can say RAchier is wow, I now have camera envy.

Laurie,
I adore the camera and whenever it's not hanging around my neck it's in the case. I had wanted it for a very long time and had watched the price come down from over $1,000. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much $$ on a camera. When Carl (my hubby) got his bonus check last year he came home and said "let's order that camera you've been dreaming off!" I am a very lucky girl, he's wonderful!

Oh, the digital camera life is definitely the best! Yes, we're on camera number 3, or 4? Can't remember. And the canon like Rachels was one of the ones I used to have. I still mourn. You just can't take them for granted. I used to carry it around with me in the garden as I did my work so that I could take load of photos. Now I have learned that I am not trustworthy enough to do that. Rachel keeps hers around her neck, which is the best idea, but I can't tolerate things around my neck for long and I end up putting the thing down. and then forgetting where I placed it.

The one I am using now (no, I'm not cameraless), is an old fuji that I've had for years. It got wet, like so many of them do, and it stopped working for about a year. I couldn't bear to throw it away and it stayed sleeping in a drawer. Then I pulled it out and decided to give it one more go before giving up on it (this was after another fuji and the canon, which I still mourn) and it actually worked. I am still disbelieving, even as I post photos from it. So strange. When the cannon bit the dust due to water exposure (left it outside overnight and the mist got it) we sent it into the factory warranty people and they actually called us directly and sent photos of the damage to the inside because it was DOA and there was nothing they could do for it. Best camera I ever had. Someday I will get another one but I am waiting for the waterproof ones to come down in price and get a better lens on them.

Well, my BIL came over this morning and cut up the fallen maple. That gave me a close look at the damage and I'm worried. The break goes right to the heartwood at the center of the trunk. I guess I can only hope now.

Here's how it looks from the road now. Wah!!!

Oh, Katy, ow! Your poor tree! Still, if you love it, don't give up on it! At this point, it can't really hurt to leave it through the winter and give it a year, watching it closely, to see how it recovers. At least it will give you time to think about what you want to do. I'm no expert, but I think even a break that deep can eventually grow over, although I don't know what it does to the health of the tree long-term.

Katy-
I always use the tree paint or spray that you can get at garden centers/nurseries whenever I have to take a large branch or limb off of my trees. It's like a second skin and keeps the bugs and water out of the wound.

Thanks Rachel, my BIL and I were discussing that. He said he's heard both pros and cons on the subject. I sure don't want to do anything to make it harder for the tree to recover!

Don't forget to check out the tree forum. There's at least one guy there who has lots of experience with JMs.

Oh, poor tree! Definitely do not give up on it, though, and I ditto the idea of posting to the tree forum and asking for advice. I can't tell from the photo if you can do this but I would consider cleaning up the wound a bit by smoothing out the bottom of the break with a sharp saw. That way maybe water would run off of the wound rather than sit there. Tree people will know, though.

Now that Pixy mentions it, I think I saw something somewhere (useful reference, huh?-sorry, my brain just sort of randomly vacuums up little factoids) about JM and how their bark sometimes splits or cankers and how to help the tree. There was an illustration showing how to carve the edges smoother for easier healing and growth for the tree. I think it was something I stumbled on when I was researching disease in Cornus Florida this spring.

So far, the advice from the tree forum goes from waiting and seeing (without much hope) to cutting down the whole tree immediately. Not what I want to hear. Katie, do try to remember the person with lots of maple knowledge. I know, I'm grasping at straws but I really, really don't want to lose my tree!

Hmmm. I think that person responded to a post I put up there this summer. Let me take a look and see. I just know that he's in the southeast and he propogates JMs.