Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tree worries



Normally I write about animals but am posting my tree worries in the hope that someone who knows more about tree care than I (which is pretty much everyone) might offer helpful suggestions.

Yesterday’s rain brought down little fringy leaves from the tree whose trunk looks like the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts. I’ve seen leaves dry up and drop prematurely due to drought but this tree is neither dry nor drowned, so I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe somebody else knows why leaves would suddenly fall off in the middle of July? Could this be due to the sudden temperature change last week from 60 to a few days of over 90 degrees F?




In the same section of the yard, my droopy pine, which has been growing mightily, is turning brown. This began before last week. Last winter MirĂ³ dug one hole near the base of this tree but it was such a shallow hole that he didn’t even expose any roots. There has been no spraying or any other change around these trees.


The hydrangea isn’t too happy, either, but that problem looks like drought. The hydrangea is on a side of the house partly sheltered from this summer’s ample rainfall, so I watered it and will hope it isn’t protesting my having trimmed it back last winter.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sherry-

    Is the first tree a Dawn Redwood?
    It was hard to tell from just the trunk. If so, it's a deciduous conifer that will randomly drop needles in heat stress or as it pushes new growth. No worries.
    2nd tree the Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar. Ours does that all the time. Seems to be a seasonal thing, from really wet, rainy springs. Ours snaps out of it later in the season. This tree is prone to needle blights and spider mites.
    The Hydrangea just looks like too much afternoon sun. More water or a move to afternoon shade!
    Happy Gardening!
    Wyatt

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  2. We're glad that Wyatt can help you because we sure can't! We love the twisted bark on the first tree. How neat!

    Love ya lots
    Maggie and Mitch

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