My Tiny PlotEpic Elm Tree
I’m not really a tree person. I like trees. I like to look at trees. I’m always happy that trees are there but I don’t think I’m the kind of person who would say, “Let’s plant an Elm tree.” I might say that about an Apple tree or a Pear tree. And infact I did say that about a Medlar tree just the other day. But when it comes to those kinds of trees that you really should be able to recognise the leaves of… hmm no.
So, the fact that I have inherited a garden with the most beautiful, epic and very, very tall Elm tree in it is a bit unsettling. I’m beginning to like it though. The squirrels love it. They climb up to the most wobbly of highest branches and throw things down. At me? Maybe.
According to some neighbours there is a raccoon family that come back every year to the tree to raise their babies. Raccoons are new to me and so I was looking forward to that.
Yes I was getting very attached to my epic Elm tree until the parks department sent me a letter that said the tree might have Dutch Elm disease and that if it did then it would have to come down.
All of a sudden, after having no feelings what so ever for this tree, I felt sad. I tried to imagine the garden without the tree and realised that it would make a stark difference to just about everything. And what about the raccoons!
Anyway, the tree was tested for the disease and the first results came back negative. After the second pass we’ll know for sure. But in the meantime I think I might just give it some water.
Funny how we don’t truly appreciate the things around us until they’re gone… I hope your tree is given a clean bill of health and survives to nurture the raccoons for another few years!
eeek squirrels are my fave and incidentally one of my fave words too :) but racoons too! lucky.
everything is crossed, all will be well fingers crossed x
I was looking at a Medlar tree on Sunday thats in a field where I live; the fruit should be ready soon! I hope your tree is ok, would be a big loss if it had to be removed. Amanda x
It’s interesting how we can get attached to something in such a short time, and then feel really very attached if there’s a hint of losing it. I hope the next test is negative too.
I grew up in a house with a beautiful Elm tree just across the lane. All of us village children would make our dens at the base of the tree. It was a really special part of our play-scape. Then, at some point in the 1980’s when Dutch Elm disease was wreaking havoc across the UK, our tree had to be felled. It was a sad time for all of us rustic kiddies.
Trees are great features in a child’s play-space. I hope you’re boys get to play around the tree for many years to come.
Fingers crossed it comes back negative. Do they run a quarantine area over there, the way they have here in the UK near Brighton where there still are elms? Elms are such lovely trees – it’s sad to see the difference between the English countryside the way it looks now and how it looks in old paintings.
I am pulling for your Elm to pass its second test. I know that my yard would be empty if I lost the old and majestic Water Oak that dominates my yard. We have raccoons and their antics are great entertainment. My wife enjoys the squirrels that hang out in our yard – also entertaining! I don’t know about the Northwest but the hummingbirds are passing through heading south now so my big oak sports a few feeders. Love those big majestic trees.
Oh I hope your trees will get stay. We have just been holidaying in Devon, and one of the things that almost fascinates me in the UK is the size of so many great old trees. Wonderful oaks and beeches of a size one rarely sees here in Switzerland, or elsewhere. Sounds fun with the squirrels and raccoons.
I big tree is a great treasure in a garden, hope all goes well for yours!
Never mind the water, just hug it. It was nearly a gonner! Phew.
I am 35 years old, I’ve been around and known trees well all my life – my father’s a carpenter and a woodsman – and I have never seen a live elm.
Do your best to hang on to that one!