A sad day here today

[Stinky The Clown]

Our back yard has always been graced with a beautiful, stately American Elm. It was a big tree and covered nearly half the yard. It prevented our growing a garden, but it more than made up for that in its sheer beauty and dappled shade.

Right after full leafing this sprint, it was obvious the tree was sick. An arborist gave us the bad news. Dutch Elm Disease.

Today, a crew took the tree down.

It is estimated to have been eighty years old.

Yeah, I know. Its just a tree.

[joeybee12]

1. It's sad when any living thing leaves us...knr

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. plant that garden in memorial

[geardaddy]

3. We lost a lot of elms in Minneapolis

when DE hit here in the 70s and 80s. So, I sympathesize.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Someone theorized that this elm was one of the ones that had some natural immunity

We knew it was an elm when we bought the house. I had it checked out way back in 1980. It was given a clean bill of health. At the time, there was a theory that some American elms had a natural immunity. A lot of elms were lost here, too, at about that same time. That this one survived was at least worth noting.

[stuntcat]

4. wow, 80 years old!!

I am in love with old trees. It's so sad it had to go, I think it does deserve a memorial garden!

[Quantess]

5. That's sad.

Consider replacing it with another large shade tree, like a Linden? Unless you want a garden instead, that is.

[ohheckyeah]

6. That's so sad.

I don't ever think of them as just trees. I would be mourning it's loss if it were me. Sorry you lost it.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I've been on the deck overlooking the yard all day . . . reminiscing, actually.

I was seeing my sons as little kids in snowsuits as we brought home our first Border Collie and she herded them, their mother, and me ever closer into the tree. There was snow on the ground and we were having a snowball fight and the dog was all excited. Soon enough, we were all shoulder to shoulder at the trunk of the tree.

For the next few years, until my boys were older, she continued to herd them that way.

It kinda feels a little like a wake here today.

The view off the deck is so dramatically different, even though the tree was pretty much leafless.

[ohheckyeah]

23. I can understand it feeling like a wake.

I've stood watching and crying as a tree was taken down. It's good that you are reminiscing and anyone who can mourn the loss of a beautiful old tree is more than okay in my book!

In the empty lot next to our house stands an oak that is HUGE. It's just a beauty and if something were to happen to it I would be upset. I enjoy watching the changes in it from season to season and looking at it's majestic beauty.

I guess were are just tree huggers and that is, IMO, a good thing.

[csziggy]

8. That is so sad. I'm sorry you had to lose your tree

You know there are Dutch elm disease resistant varieties of elms? University of Minnesota has done a lot of research. Here is their list of elm varieties: http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/p42...

Here's a place that sells some of them, but you might want to check in your area:
http://www.botanyshop.com/ValleyForge.htm

[yawnmaster]

9. It was time. Now new growth has a chance. eom

[Stinky The Clown]

13. There are many elm sports from the surface roots.

The problem, of course, is still Dutch Elm Disease.

[yawnmaster]

40. are you going to try to raise any of the sports? eom

[sandyj999]

10. I went through this many years ago and I understand how you feel.

Losing a tree is always a sad event. When I moved into this house I had a beautiful shady backyard with a lovely maple tree. As the years passed I could see it was diseased. Finally one spring it didn't leaf out and it was gone. I still miss that tree.

[hfojvt]

11. maybe now you will get some morels

My elm is only about 7 but seems to be dying from acid rain. Still partly holding on though. I kinda planted it too close to the house anyway.

[otohara]

14. Xcel Energy Came Today & Ruined

my apple tree and took chunks out of a pine tree.
Looks like shit.

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Oh, Stinky, how devastating. I also have trees in the back yard

which are huge. Pin oaks of at least 100 years old. I just keep saying that I hope I die before they do, but I can tell they are mature.

Condolences. I know there is no good solution---another tree will not be grown in time for you to see the replacement. A sunny garden is nice, but isn't the same. At least there are many other trees back there, so you will still have greenery. So sad.

[LiberalLoner]

21. +1 K&R n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Yeah, it is all wooded around here, so it still looks very green and always will

We lost an old oak last year, but it was no big deal. Just the cost of having it cut and hauled away.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I can relate.

We had an empty lot catty-corner off our back yard that was full of giant spruces and birches, just beautiful. A couple of years ago, they came in, bulldozed them ALL down and built a triplex that backs right up to the fence. I admit I shed a few tears. It was a sad day to see those giants come tumbling down.

[Greybnk48]

17. I know how you feel. : ( It's traumatic.

We had to cut down a 40 year old Ash last year that was the victim of European Ash Borers. We tried to save it for eight years with the help of an arborist, but in the end it was too weakened.

[Desertrose]

18. I can relate...lost 13 old oak trees to the gypsy moth back in the early 80's.

I counted 120 rings on one of the medium size ones. Our property never looked the same.



I was so sad...I love trees..

[madokie]

19. Yes it may just be a tree

but like all things, a tree can be special too.

[Dragonfli]

20. The natives called trees "the standing people" and considered them to be wise

I am sorry for your loss..

[Quantess]

37. I once had a dream

that while time stood still for people and animals, the trees were lively and jumping around. It was a big joke for the trees, in my dream, that nobody knew they had their own nightlife.

[calimary]

45. I love that - "the standing people." That's a nice fit.

My sympathies on the loss of that beautiful old elm. Damn!

I've always hated seeing a tree cut down. We saved some beautiful old ficus trees in the little neighborhood village area - a place with shops and restaurants and gas station and stuff. The local chamber of commerce wanted to replace the trees which gave some welcome shade and lots of greenery and beauty, but their roots tore up the sidewalks something fierce and little old ladies would trip and fall, or some kid would trip on a skateboard or something, and every merchant was afraid of getting sued. These trees were all over the neighborhood. My kids were part of this kids' petition campaign and the trees all got cut down and replaced with different trees that didn't tear up the sidewalk and the plumbing, but the KEY four, the biggest and oldest and most stately - like landmarks - at the gateway to the village were saved. They have all these little lights shining all over them every night.

My dad had this big tree in the middle of our front yard cut down when I was a kid. My best friend and I were heartsick about it. So we made protest signs and picketed up and down the sidewalk in front that afternoon when he came home from work. We were damn eloquent, too. "Save Our Trees!" and "It took God 20 years to grow this tree and you cut it down in 20 minutes!" Didn't bring the tree back but it gave us a chance to vent our outrage. I think we were ten.

I've always hated it when a tree is cut down. Even when there's a legitimate reason to do so. Still is troubling to me. We need that greenery all around us, all of those trees and more. They're our planetary lungs.

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. awwwww... I love trees

[Historic NY]

25. I've got a couple of large ashes that need to be clipped out full of..

carpenter ants. Its either my property or the weakened tree....We are now under quarentine here due to the http://www.emeraldashborer.info /

I've taken down a ton of ash trees in the last 20yrs all standing dead and it seems to being getting worse. I'm just dropping those close to my property. The woods is owned by a church and they won't do anthing until they do damage.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/56774.html

[Stinky The Clown]

31. There is an infestation of emerald ash borers two counties south of here. Our county is on ......

...... high alert about them. They have a team of college students in summer jobs just driving around looking for diseased ash trees.

[Shagbark Hickory]

26. Very sad day indeed. Sorry for your loss.

There are some reportedly d.e.d. resistent american elm cultivars if you'd like another elm.

But I wouldn't waste any time replacing with something.. do it this fall.

[elleng]

27. SO SORRY. No 'just a tree.'

Drove to Georgetown from Silver Spring today, took Reno Road (passed Cathedral and Observatory,) noting lovely green, SO MANY trees. Help us breathe.

[abelenkpe]

28. My son was super sad when they cut down the trees in back of our apartment

One was an orange tree and the other an avocado tree. The were huge and leafy and kept our place cool in the summertime. Landlord chopped them down to pave the backyard in order to provide the parking required by the city. Now our apartment bakes all day. Every time someone visits or a new downstairs tenant moves in he tells them all about the awesome trees that are gone. It's been three years but a tree isn't just a tree. Hope you can plant something new to fill the hole it left behind.

[lunatica]

29. I have a real soft spot for trees

They scrub the air for us and fill it with oxygen. Some live for thousands of years and they're good for living things as homes and food and they keep places and the planet cool with their shades.

I love trees. I'm sorry you're losing this one.

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. I'm so sorry. :^(

[pipi_k]

32. There's no such thing

as "just a tree", IMO.

I love them all.


Especially sad to see the old ones go...so much history associated with them.

[ohheckyeah]

33. I agree.

We have a lot of Paradise trees on our property and lately a few of them started to die. I called VA Tech to speak to an arborist and asked him what could be causing them to die and he said nobody there had ever looked into it because most people want them to die. I love those trees and the way they look blowing in the wind. Yes, we have Paradise seedlings pop up in the yard but they are easily mowed down. Trees are important to me and when any of them on my property die I take notice and am sorry to see them go.

[slackmaster]

34. The main street of the Iowa town where both of my parents grew up used to be lined with American elm

Dutch Elm Disease wiped them all out in the 1960s.

You are fortunate to have had one as long as you did.

[MoonRiver]

Sorry for your loss.

All life is precious. I don't think this should have been moved to the Lounge.

[Silver Gaia]

35. I'm so sorry. I also love the trees, and know how this feels.

I loved reading your memories about your children and your Border Collie (I am also owned by one of these!). It is so sad when any living thing dies, but especially so when there are so many loving memories that are associated with it.

[ohheckyeah]

36. Wow...

how nice that so many people understand and can offer their condolences on the loss of a tree. This is by far one of the nicest threads I have read in a long time.

I don't think it should have been moved either. It was a breath of fresh air after the nastiness of the last couple of days.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nolabear]

39. I'm sorry Stinky. I'm afraid we're going to lose them all.

Dutch Elm is so awful. And that "just a tree" goes against both my Irish AND my Indian! Trees are sacred. And mortal.

[Taverner]

41. This sucks...

[one_voice]

42. I'm sorry!...

it's not just a tree, it was part of your home, your family and memories! My granny had a tree in her front yard my brother and I used to climb as kids, when it got sick and needed to be cut down, I cried. That tree was part of my childhood. Her house never looked the same.

I have a big ole oak tree in my front yard. It's part of this house. It's been there since I moved in, and we have memories. Last summer I thought I was gonna have to have it cut down, and it made me so sad. I was lucky and it started getting healthy again.

It's not just a tree, it's part of your family history.

[applegrove]

43. That is so sad. But you are lucky that the tree survived so long. We had Dutch Elm disease here

in Ottawa 44 years ago and it took all our elms.

[JohnnyLib2]

44. Awwww, damn.

Tree-lovin' comforting thoughts.

[handmade34]

46. Never, "just a tree"

so sorry... I love the trees on my land as much as I am sure you love yours...


my perfect Stately Elm... I would be devastated if it were to go

[marzipanni]

47. I understand

Two of my older brothers are living in the house our family moved to in 1955, which was built in an old apple orchard in Massachusetts. They helped our 95-year-old mom in the last five years of her life, after she fell and broke her hip. She died a year ago in June.
My brothers told me that the beautiful crab apple tree that had been there all those years, blooming with pale pink blossoms every May outside my parents and my bedroom windows, did not bloom this year and had apparently died.
After I moved to California ~40 years ago my mom would always tell me when the crab apple was in bloom. Her mom's birthday was in mid-May so when grandma moved nearby for a while, mom always took a couple of sprays of blossoms to her.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

48. and now it is pulp for the Lounge . . .

dare I say that DU recycles

[madinmaryland]

50. At least there is no whining in teh lounge about un-recs!!

[I Have A Dream]

49. ...

I'm so sorry.

[Rhythm]

51. A microburst downed a beautiful 122 yr old silver maple on WVU's main campus last May...

On the left side there, in front of the Admin building.


It's never 'just a tree'... it's the memories that you have that include it there.

[kick-ass-bob]

52. I know how you feel. During the tornado in April here

a massive oak was directly hit by the tornado near where they are building a small hospital. The hospital had planned a whole sitting area around this tree, but it literally exploded that day.

Go to
http://oxblue.com/pro/open/brasfieldgorrie/rexhealthcar...

and you will see the site today. The tree was on the right.

Go back to April 16 to see it, and then the 27th (the next day they had the camera working again) to see the ruins.

Makes me sad even now looking at the 2 pics.

[redwitch]

53. I understand your sense of loss.

We had a beautiful 100+ year old maple in the center of our driveway which an ice storm took 6 or 7 years ago. The loss of that maple has taken me years to adjust to as it changed the whole dynamic of my yard and my neighbors. Trees can be much loved friends that offer beauty and shade. You were lucky to have that elm, Dutch Elm disease took so many trees here years ago. My part of Main Street used to be called Elm street but there is not a single one left here.