We have a very interesting blog for you this week. First we want to remind you to re-apply your grub treatment to your lawn this month. This will prevent the female beetles from laying eggs in your lawn, which will hatch out as grubs and feed on the tender root system. Also remember to feed any struggling, thin or recently pruned trees, shrubs, perennials especially the knockout roses if you have trimmed them as of late.
Now the Big Ash Tree…..
Pictured
This particular ash tree has been growing longer than I have been breathing and has had quite a struggle as of late. You have to admire and respect a tree of such age and magnitude. We as human beings reach our forties and fifties with a slight grumble at times or even a welcoming embrace and we move on without a second glance. We gather a wrinkle or two, a new knee a scrapbook of milestones and hopefully many more memories. A tree who has reached forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and beyond years with little to no outward evidence of the toll the years have taken is a wonder in itself. Imagine the stories such a tree could tell if only it could speak. Standing as the giant proverbial fly on the wall, silently watching us humans scurry about building homes and roads, raising children and chasing pets, celebrating the victories and mourning the setbacks. Hurriedly moving in to the once new home and hastily moving on to the next.
As I stand on this property in Fairlawn Heights and admire this great ash tree in the peace of the quiet afternoon sun. No one is around, it is just this grand tree and me and I asked it how many conversations it has had over the years with homeowners I can only conjure in my imagination. How many giggles have tickled it as the children ran through the yard beneath the trees canopy chasing each other with the wonder only a child has? How many times has this magnificent tree been a witness to a new soul blessing this family in this home? How many tears has this tree gathered at its trunk flare, as the faces were too forlorn to look upward at its far-reaching canopy?
Imagine how much life has been lived within this trees loving embrace, the root system stretching twice the height cradling the property far beyond our own understanding.
What is this tree worth? What is it worth to you? To me it is precious, irreplaceable, unique, only one time around kind of thing, not to be taken for granted or easily dismissed. HHmm sounds like each one of us….
Who has not felt at some point in time someone or something seems to have stacked the deck against you, a Murphy’s Law kind of day and so with our ash tree. Of course its name gives the enemy away – The Emerald Ash Borer – Who hasn’t heard this name mentioned within the past year. A menace to our ash trees a detriment to our environment and a destroyer of our scenery/history. After all of these years, decades working toward a century possibly and this tree needs our help.
The ash tree and I came to an agreement, I would speak to the homeowner and make all the necessary calls to try to help it to the best of our ability and all I asked of it was to keep standing, keep flourishing and keep watching.
Enter Stewart & Sons Pest Control, upon evaluating the tree they recommended a deep root injection to inoculate it against the Emerald Ash Borer. This injection should keep it free from harm of the borer for up to two years. I had not experienced such an inoculation before and was amazed by the process. I wanted to share it with you…our precious Ash tree was placed on I.V. last week.
Ray, one of Stewarts many trained arborist agents, spent a day giving back to this glorious tree who has quietly given so much of itself over the years. Ray tapped a few “needles” around the root flare so he could connect the tubing, which was attached to a 50-gallon drum – the I.V. bag – and a pump was placed from drum to tubing. This pumped the much-needed inoculants from the drum into the root flare; these inoculants were transported through the vein system of the ash tree and will create a systemic control.
Ray and I discussed the normal water uptake of a tree that size, up to 250 gallons of water a day. We have had more rain than normal for this time of year, would the tree accept all 50 gallons after so much rainfall? It was as if the tree knew what was good for it – just about every drop.
We will keep our eye on this precious tree as we offer it another decade of memories to gather. I thank it for the experience and I value it for its quiet presence, the energy and wisdom that have gathered beneath the canopy dances within the imagination.
Who may claim this tree a fool?
As one once penned – A tree cannot be claimed a fool as it has no mouth to open –
