One of our trees in the backyard is dead. Earlier this summer there was some sign of life, as lush greenery sprouted at the bottom, but it's all dried out and dead now. The top branches didn't get any new growth at all this year. It was slow getting green last year, and I guess it finally decided to give up completely. It's a bare, skeletal thing compared to our other tree, which looks fantastic.
We just can't figure it out. Yes we pruned the top of it last fall, but we pruned the top of the other one as well. We didn't water either of them over the winter, but we didn't water much of anything over the winter; most of it has come back nicely now regardless. Mom has been watering and feeding the dead tree with special tree food for three months now - maybe more! - but it just never came out of its funk.
So. We've decided the dead tree must go. Either this fall, or very early next spring, we'll take the dead tree out, and put something else there. What? We don't know. Maybe another tree. Then again, maybe not. Maybe we'll get a pretty flowering bush, or try transplanting something else there. We really don't have anything to lose. To be honest, we don't really like these trees anyway. They've got teeny-tiny leaves, so they don't give out much shade, and they've got these heavy seed pod things that weigh the branches down, and blow all over when they dry out over the winter. I'd love to take both trees out as well as the unruly shrub in between then, then get one really nice tree to put in the middle of that space. I think it would look much better, and be much easier to deal with. But, the one tree is still very much alive, and it would be a waste to rip out a perfectly good tree.
In memory of our dead tree, I wrote this haiku entitled "Ode to a Dead Tree":
Poor little dead tree.
Why i wonder did you die?
We loved you so much.
We just can't figure it out. Yes we pruned the top of it last fall, but we pruned the top of the other one as well. We didn't water either of them over the winter, but we didn't water much of anything over the winter; most of it has come back nicely now regardless. Mom has been watering and feeding the dead tree with special tree food for three months now - maybe more! - but it just never came out of its funk.
So. We've decided the dead tree must go. Either this fall, or very early next spring, we'll take the dead tree out, and put something else there. What? We don't know. Maybe another tree. Then again, maybe not. Maybe we'll get a pretty flowering bush, or try transplanting something else there. We really don't have anything to lose. To be honest, we don't really like these trees anyway. They've got teeny-tiny leaves, so they don't give out much shade, and they've got these heavy seed pod things that weigh the branches down, and blow all over when they dry out over the winter. I'd love to take both trees out as well as the unruly shrub in between then, then get one really nice tree to put in the middle of that space. I think it would look much better, and be much easier to deal with. But, the one tree is still very much alive, and it would be a waste to rip out a perfectly good tree.
In memory of our dead tree, I wrote this haiku entitled "Ode to a Dead Tree":
Why i wonder did you die?
We loved you so much.
