Change is in the air Part 4 or we cut down the trees in our backyard

Last winter (December 2010) we did the unthinkable and had all the pines within the chain link fence cut down.  It broke my heart but it needed to be done.  At least that's what I tell myself.  One of the trees was leaning at a 45 degree angle toward our dinning room.  I truely believe that the only reason it was standing was because it was trapped in the branches of  another tree.  If those branches snapped... well it would not be pretty.

Cutting trees down, especially big trees that are near a house, can be expensive.  The pecan and an evergreen of unknown variety in the front yard set us back $800.00.  A loblolly pine in our side yard between the house and power lines cost $1000.00 to remove.  We had lots of trees.  I was afraid it would be cheaper to move than to have the trees cut down.  We called timber companies offering to give them the trees but they weren't interested.  We called tree companies and landscape companies and then we met an angel.  He came out, took one look, and said: "I think you need some help".  His quote to remove all the pines in the back yard was...drum roll please.... $5,000.00.   I couldn't believe it, for $5,000.00 he would cut down, and haul off 26 very large trees.

One of the men on the crew high in a tree

There were 4 men on the crew.  They worked non stop for 3 1/2 days.  Their first day on site we still had snow on the ground.  They arrived on time, respected our property, did one hell of a job.  I'd recommend them to anyone though I have to say they are not in the tree business. They are a landscape installation and maintenance company and would much rather take care of your trees then cut them down.

Work done by:
Green Tree Landscaping
www.GreenTreeLandscaping.com

View of house before tree removal

Christmas 2010 it snowed.  They began work the week after Christmas.

View of house after tree removal

December 30, 2010.  The crew has finished, leaving behind a very happy home owner.






As you can see in the pictures we still have a lot of trees.  But now sun gets to the property and we can begin the process of preparing the yard for a new and exciting landscape.  And when the time comes and our pocket book recovers we'll have the other 50+ pines removed.  

When the time comes we know who to call.

Change is in the air Part 3

When you live in a house that is dwarfed by towering pines every ice storm gets you nervous and when the wind blows you get a little antsy.   

It's a love hate relationship.  

You love the trees but are afraid of being crushed.  And with each passing year they get bigger, the shade gets  thicker and the house gets buried in pine straw.  What was once a comforting presence now scares the day lights out of you every time the wind blows.   

Change Is In The Air

Ten years ago very little sun light made it to the ground. I'd call our yard partly shady to shady. Trees on the south-east side shaded it in the morning and trees on the south-west side provided shade in the afternoon.  Not a bad arrangement.  We knew there would be lots of shade when we bought the property.  It wasn't a problem.  Actually, at the time the trees and the shade they provided were considered an asset.

Our backyard was like a park. The dogs loved it and up keep... your kidding right... what up keep?  A thick layer of pine straw covered the ground and all I had to do was blow the pine needles off the patio and pick up  twigs and small branches that fell from time to time.  Oh, I forgot, pine needles needed to be blown off the roof every other month or so. All in all life was good. We lived within the city limits, had industrial facilities on our property line, yet felt like we were in the country.

Then we had an ice storm...

While it was pretty to look at the sharp crack of limbs being ripped from the trunks of trees and the sound of ice cascading down through the canopy was frighting.

Lower story plants were crushed.  And our patio was hidden under a layer of ice and tree branches.

And then the unthinkable happened.  We heard a loud snap, a deep rumble, and a powerful thump.  The earth literally shook. On the western edge of our property, in an area we affectionately called the back forty, a white pine had been torn out by the roots.  As it fell it started a domino effect.  It knocked down the tree next to it, and they knocked down a third tree.

We were very thankful that none of our beloved trees fell on the house.

A pecan tree, weed-eater blight and a slow death

One of the things I like about our neighborhood is the park like setting.  Mature trees frame the neighborhood and gave us a great deal of privacy.  Trees also age and in a suburban environment, where people don't always understand that you can't just dig, cut, and pour concrete over a trees roots without consequences, their health and longevity may be compromised.

A pecan tree in our front yard had fought off years of weed-eater blight and gouges by lawn mowers before the stress was too much and it started dying. That wonderful tool we use to trim our yard, the string trimmer, can be deadly to plants.  When used improperly it can and will literally cut through the bark of trees and shrubs destroying their circulatory system.  The roots pump, and pump water and nutrients but they can't get to where they need to go.  Our pecan tree was dying a slow death.  Branches were constantly falling off the tree; when we bought the house the tree was so far gone I didn't even recognize it as a pecan.  Being in our front yard and constantly dropping branches on the garage it was the first we had cut down.

Like us trees get wounds.  Most of the time the wound heals just fine.  Then there are times when the trees defense mechanisms just can't heal or compartmentalize the damage and  decay sets in.  If the tree has decayed or rotted wood at the base chances are it will eventually fall down.  We found such a tree in our back yard and decided to cut it down before some natural event sent it crashing onto our house.  Rather than have the stump ground we left it to decay.  The decayed area at the base of the stump is home to a local toad.

The Beginning, Almost

Our backyard is scary to some but the dogs love it and on a hot summer day it's the coolest place on the property.  It's scary because 26 large pine trees, three dogwoods, a maple, and numerous shrubs make their home within 2 to 30 feet of our house.  The border of our backyard is defined by a chain link fence a prior owner had installed so her dogs could go out and play.  We thought it was a fine use and declared the back yard the dogs domain.  

Then something happened and our plans changed.  We had 26 pines and two dogwoods cut down. Ouch.