A mighty 150′ tall white pine fell in a strong windstorm last Thursday night in Salvisa, Kentucky. My friend Otis Knox planted a dozen of these white pine seedlings soon after he and his wife Ilene moved down here on what is now our farm in 1976. He had dug little seedlings from near his home place in the mountains of Powell County, about an hour from here. The fallen pine had already been struck by lightning last summer. The electric bolt surged and blew off bark, two-thirds of the way down the trunk. The tree didn’t seem diminished, but when it fell you could see the trunk’s blackened interior.
My pals at SavATree removed the pine lickety-split in a mere three hours. I’ve still got a gutter to rehang and a hole in the barn roof to fix, but there’s a silver lining. I am left with a three-foot stump, some small seedlings and a BIG pile of shredded pine chips
I’m already thinking about a vine to plant on the stump; I can plant the two-year-old pine seedlings on the farm in the next year or two, and I’ve also got mulch for years to come.
Always hard to see a big tree come down. Glad it didn’t do more damage to your barn. While looking through your photos was struck by all the beautiful daffodils naturalized in the field. Lovely! Have always wanted this but so far efforts have not been successful. Once the dust settles inspiration arises. Look forward to seeing what you create.
Thanks, Elaine.The last few years we’ve lost dozens of ashes trees to emerald ash borer I’m good cutting up the smaller ones. I’ve got loads of firewood. The daffodils are a joy every spring. I binge planted 500 five or six good naturalizers per year for about 5 years. The neighbor kids love to come over and pick bouquets. The field doesn’t get bush-hogged for 6 weeks after flowering to allow the leaves time to absorb enough energy for next year’s blooms. Happy spring!
I also noticed the daffodils in the field! So pretty and so impressive when I think about all that planting. Congratulations on your big pile of wood chips–may it bring you joy. ^_~
Summercloud, please come and pick a bouquet of daffodils some late March-early April.
A stump is a perfect place for a small sculpture or a large pot with more plants. Of course, you always need more plants! This stump is a fitting tribute to a worthy tree, and thanks for saving it. Most people grind them out, which I find rather sad and wasteful.
Lynda,thanks. A friend, tongue-in-cheek, suggested a garden gnome but I can’t quite see a sculpture going in atop the trunk. The remaining adjacent pines would dwarf the sculpture… Here comes the garden gnome back in my head, and then a bathtub Jesus. Mercy me.
I wouldn’t go for the gnome either. Perhaps glass bottle tree sculpture with some metal spikes hammered in-kind of like a glass tree spiral on top? The hellebore look incredible-wish I had a transporter to go back & forth whenever something great is happening in Mercer County.
Well, Jenny, at least you missed the windstorm, but I’m sure there’s more excitement to come. Is it me, or do these “weather events” seem to be coming hard, fast and more often? Something to talk about at Salvisa post office.
SavATree is a great name for an arborist! The way trees are treated round here seems like KillCrushDestroy would be an apt name.
Deborah, SavATree is a great name. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go. The power companies around here don’t take kindly to trees that get in the way of overhead power lines. They are routinely butchered. There is a continuing effort to educate the public about planting recommended smaller trees that won’t grow into the power lines. At least new housing developments require underground service.
jealous of all that mulch you’ve acquired. Our great big beech was very considerate in choosing to fall into a (neighbour’s) field, but that also makes it pretty inaccessible. We’ll get the firewood in ok. The huge trunk is a challenge but an interesting one. But we won’t get a chipper up there.
You sure it won’t regrow? Most of our hardwoods happily regrow from a stump – something that many people routinely lamenting the felling of a tree can overlook.
Yes, it’s the mulch pile of pride. Well, envy from my gardening pals, at least. Pine regrowth ? We’ll see, but I’m guessing not. I cut down one before that was suffering from some ailment and the stump sits there rotting now, surrounded by cinnamon ferns. I know hardwoods regrow. I have had enough deer grazing and rutting on little oak whips to understand that I need only cut back to within a few inches of the ground and they reliably, and vigorously, regrow with multi-stems. I cut back to one sturdy leader a few years later, leaving them prey for deer once again. The cycle of life.
Your fields of daffodils are inspiring me to branch out from anchoring mine safely to various structures or features! Sorry about the tree, but seeing the silver lining immediately is commendable. I have so many dead ash in the sloped woods above the house. A few lose their tops during each storm. – MW
There is a silver lining to losing a mighty tree, although of course it is sad to see one go. I am a huge fan of keeping tree stumps. We lost our beloved Japanese Maple in the middle of our backyard years ago, and we used the stump as a “dining table” for the squirrels, birds, raccoons, etc., that would wander through the yard day and night. We also see woodpeckers no doubt pecking out tasty bugs as well. I found a very gnarly, cool-looking tree stump completely out of the ground at a nearby shopping center, and to my husband’s horror, I put it into the car and installed it in our front circle garden, near the dogwood. It nearly broke up our 30 plus year marriage. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but honestly a slight one. I love your idea of planting a vine on it. I am not a big fan of the sculpture idea. I think what you are going for will look more natural.
Last year I grew those rambling squash on my stump. If it was out front I would have planted a flowering vine. Favorite stump story. In Texas a woman saved a stump in her front yard to use for flower pots and hanging planters. A neighbor sued her for a projected lowering of property values. It being Texas, she won, and promptly went out and painted the trunk bright red.
Abigail, I like the idea of the rambling squash, but the squash borers usually nail mine by mid-summer. I should have saved the bigger, tree-trunk pieces to make a stumpers. Nevermind, we’ve got enough dead ashes lying in the woods, already.
Since I started injecting BT into my squash stems, borers are no longer a problem. Of course my grandkids think I’ve gone off my rocker, but I’ve finally got plenty enough squash. An alternative would be to plant those solid stemed winter squash. Borers leave those alone.
I might add that if you have trouble injecting the stems, you can easily inject the leaf stalks and it will run down into the stems. Lot’s of fun, if your day is boring. (Sorry about the pun. When you are a retired teacher, you need to release some of that corny joke build-up somewhere.
Abby,tell me more. How do you inject the BT? Thanks for the tip and the pun.
I get a syringe with a needle from my friendly neighborhood pharmacist. I also used to save some from when I taught in a high school veterinary science program and had to treat an animal for one thing or another, usually for mites with injectable Ivermectin. Pour some BT in a cup. Suck it into the syringe and inject in several places in the lower stem, where the borers start out munching. Some use a sewing needle to pre-poke the injection hole, to prevent needles getting clogged with squash stem. The thing you want to watch for is having your syringe needle go all the way through so the BT squirts out the other side of the stem. For the past few years I inject into the leaf stalks, which are easier. You can see the BT running down the inside to the stem. I inject a second time in a few weeks, above where any vines have rooted while crawling around the squash bed (the vines, not me. I tend not to root there). The adult borers usually lay eggs at the beginning of the season, so you don’t have to keep on injecting all summer.
This old dog has learned a new trick. Thanks, Abigail.
My son had a neighbor’s huge tree fall on his roof last September. Besides the roof, it took out part of his own huge shade tree and he had it cut down, leaving a very tall stump. After everything was fixed, he built a lookout platform with steps leading up and a railing to keep the kids from falling off. We were up there this weekend birdwatching and he spotted a bald eagle with my binoculars. All the kids enjoyed seeing it as well as numerous other birds, and even animals around the creek nearby. Neighbors have a lot of birdfeeders. If you can’t run a vine over the stump, maybe you can build a bird watching lookout.
Abby, what a wonderful image I have of the kids enjoying you son’s watchtower . We’re not that ambitious. The garden gnome stays. He’s so cute. Has a solar-powered light, too. I’m going to plant a hardier Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sepmpervirens) called ‘Margarita.”