Posts Tagged ‘maple’
Sheared Again
Hindsight being 20/20, I decided to not chip any more of the large dead oak branches that had been cut out of the oldest trees on our property. Too bad it took busting the replacement shear pin I’d installed 15 minutes earlier to adequately enlighten me.
I switched to exclusively chipping the branches that came out of our maple trees for the rest of the day yesterday and the 3rd shear bolt in two days survived just fine.
The branches of oak would get the chainsaw. That tool didn’t have any problems cutting through the almost petrified oak.
I guess I’ve learned the limitations of my beloved Wallenstein chipper.
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Beneath Trees
After a bit of a pause in construction, I was stepping out to work on the chicken coop again yesterday, now that Cyndie is home to lend a helping hand. We were taking advantage of the very summer-like weather gracing our region this first week of November.
Striding across the yard I was suddenly struck by how distinctly different the carpet of leaves was within just a few steps. Photo op!
Beneath a big old oak tree that holds most of its dried leaves through the winter.
Next tree over is a dominant poplar that lost a significant portion of its top in a storm during the summer.
On the other side of the driveway, the grove of maples create a thick layer of light crunchy playfulness that is a delight to walk through.
Another example of the micro-environments that collectively make up the paradise where we live. We call it Wintervale Ranch.
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Wilted Leaves
I heard on the radio yesterday that the local vintners suffered significant losses to their grape-vine crops because of the two nights of below freezing temperatures last weekend. Of all the plants on our property, the wild grape vines look the worst. Luckily, we don’t need to harvest any fruit from these vines. Ours are all volunteer plants spread most likely by the activity of birds.
Growing right beside the vine in that picture is a large poplar tree. It doesn’t look too good, either.
The first thing that stands out is simply the lack of healthy green color in the leaves. They all look too pale and are a little droopy, but a small portion are curling along the edges.
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I took a picture of a maple tree across the driveway from it for comparison. Does the difference in coloring show? Maybe not as obviously as the difference in number of leaves on each. The maple is way ahead of the poplar, and maybe that contributed to it surviving the freeze so much better than the other. New growth seems particularly fragile in the presence of freezing temperatures.
It’s sad to see how harsh this can be on growing plants, and frustrating to be so powerless to protect them all.
It has me feeling a little wilted, right along with the leaves.
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Relative Something 