John Andrews Gardening Thoughts

This morning, Sunday, July 23, 2006, this is what I found in the back yard. A good portion of the large Bradford pear tree has fallen down. Snapped off right where the branch and the trunk meet. Two branched fell. My son and his wife and children were staying overnight and they were in the room near the tree. When it fell, the tops of the branches whisked across the end of the house sounding like a bookcase falling down. All preceeded by the sound of the branch snapping, of course.

Interestingly, the tree branches fell on our little set of chairs and tables that we use when sitting on the lawn in the shade. One chair was crushed. The others appear to have survived, but are locked in the cage of branches. I am having wierd thoughts of what would have happened if we had been all sitting there when the thing fell.

My neighbor had three of his Bradford pears trimmed nicely by a local tree company. I will call them tomorrow and get a quote. They did a nice job for him. I have a chain saw and could cut up the fallen portion, but I cannot thin the remaining top, so it is all a job for a professional. I think I need an arborist to sign off on the plan, too.

Meanwhile, we have four english boxwoods, three Delaware Valley white azaleas, a dozen hostas and a couple of day lilys to plant...and a fringe tree waiting to be put into the ground. Also the tree seedlings in the tree nursury are outgrowing their space and need to be put into the ground permanently. Some planning to do for that.