Tree Work in the Woodland Garden

I had some professional pruning done on the two oak trees (Quercus rubra) in the woodland garden. I wrote about these two trees last fall when a neighbor had another enormous oak tree removed down the street. My trees are much younger but needed to be limbed up in order to let more light into my woodland garden. The understory trees have also been getting larger and were bumping heads with the oak trees.

This is a before picture of the smaller oak in the woodland garden which also overhangs the Lower Garden

You can see how the lower branches were removed to give the stewartia in the Lower Garden more room to grow.

A view from the Terrace

Close up of the pruned limbs.

The before picture of the larger oak tree.

The after picture. You can see the Heptacodium tree beyond the shed which now has more light.

A view from the woodland garden. Dan Tremblay, the aborist did a beautiful job creating space in the oak's canopy for the Katsura tree in the woodland garden and the Heptacodium on the Lower Garden level.

Another view from the house of the pruned oak tree limb.

Pruning these trees was very complicated for my aborist, Dan Tremblay of Broad Oak Tree and Shrub Care. My property is quite small, about a third of an acre, and is on a steep hill. Getting the branches safely to the ground and off the property without disturbing the woodland garden was the biggest challenge. I had to get permission from my neighbor to get the debris out of the garden. Fortunately, she was very cooperative and Dan and his crew left both of properties in perfect condition. I have been planning to have this work done for several years. Now I can focus my efforts on developing the woodland garden.

Going, Going, Gone

The Mighty Oak Tree on High Street

The View of the Crown of the Oak Tree From My Garden

Getting Ready to Remove the Oak

About Two Thirds of the Branches Have Been Removed

An Enormous Crane Carries the Huge Branches to the Ground

The Arborist Gets Ready to Attach the Cable to a Branch

The Main Trunk

Another Look at the Main Trunk

A Stump 64 inches in Diameter

Elephantine Logs

The Stump

The New Appearance of the House

The Large Oak in My Yard

The Small Oak in My Yard

I am not ordinarily a tree hugger, especially since we moved to New England. Turn your back on a field for 10 years and you have a science experiement illustrating the finer points of forest succession. At the turn of last century, something like 20% of New Hampshire was deforested. Today approximately 80% of the state is again woodland. Trees want to grow here. That said, there are some trees that I feel are sacred. The mammoth red oak, Quercus rubra, three houses down from our house on High Street was one such tree.

I became acquainted with this fine tree when I was searching for our first house in 1989. There were three houses in the neighborhood that I looked at. The old cape at the corner of High Street and Vine Street was very sweet but seemed a little small for our needs but I couldn't help but admire the enormous oak tree on the front yard. We ended up buying a house up the street and I was fortunate enough to pass this glorious tree on my walk to work each morning.

Early one morning last spring, I was driving to go on a hike and I couldn't help but notice that an enormous branch had broken off the tree and crushed the second floor of the house. Fortunately, the owners sleep on the ground floor and no one was hurt. During the summer, the entire second floor was replaced by the insurance company. Their only caveat was that the tree had to be removed in order for the owners to remain insured.

Last week, the Arborists arrived and methodically removed the tree, branch by branch, with a pair of cranes. I had always figured the tree was ancient but the aborist determined that it was about 150 years old. The remaining stump was 64 inches in diameter. There are two red oak trees in my garden. One is about 90 years old the other is probably about 45 years old. I take comfort in believing that my trees are the progeny of that magnificent tree down the street.

Trick or Treat?

We got over 18" of snow last night, the day before Halloween. The red oak, Quercus rubra, in lower garden glows like a jack-o-latern in the morning light. It appears that trees, even with large leaves, that generally retain their foliage are well-adpted to let snow glide of their leaves and reduce the risk of damage during early season snowfalls.

Fortunately, there has been little damage so far to the ornamental trees like Cercidiphyllum japonicum which have held onto their leaves. Today, this tree reminds of the cultivar Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula'. The bad news is that I didn't have time to finish planting all the bulbs which arrived this week from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. I have over 100 tulips yet to plant!

We live on a one of the few streets where the houses are close together in a small New England town. We are expecting 300 trick or treaters tomorrow. Could be a little scary.