So Long, Farewell, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen

 For as long as we've lived on this corner of Katy, a pine tree has towered over the north side of the house.  It's been in decline for several years now and each spring, I've asked my tree guy Shawn Geiman of Shawnee Trees whether it was time to take it down.  This year the answer was yes.


Healthy pines have lush dark green needles. This tree's needles were a sickly green with a yellow cast, browning at the tips.  The west-facing side of the tree had as many dead branches as live ones.  At 30+ years old, this pine needed to be put out of its misery.



Shawn and his able assistant Josh arrived mid-morning in the dump truck, chipper in tow, and got right to work. 



Shawn settled himself into a comfortable (???) spot in the tree and got busy with his chainsaw.

 

2+ hours into the project, there was no comfortable spot!



And by mid-afternoon, the tree was gone, leaving the Arizona Cypress 'Carolina Sapphire' to reign over that part of the gardens.  Without the pine to block the morning sunlight, the cypress should fill out nicely on the east and south facing sides.


Not all of the pine has left the premises: at my request, Shawn cut thick slabs of the trunk to serve as stepping stones.     I didn't get any pictures of those ... another time!  Many thanks to Shawn and Josh for their excellent and careful work!  These guys cheerfully make the extra effort to protect my plants and tolerate my input on tree trimming equally cheerfully.  If you live in the Houston area, and you're in need of a tree guy, I recommend Shawnee Trees highly!

Comments

Carol Michel said…
Too bad I don't live in Houston. A good tree guy is a gardener's best friend!
Kathy said…
I'm glad you got rid of it without mishap. Did you keep all the chips, too?
I imagine you will need some time to get used to the change! The stepping stones will be a cool reminder of that long time garden sentinel.
Alison said…
I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the rounds. They'll make great stepping "stones." It's good to have workers you can trust. I was going to say it will be nice to have more sun on the plants that need it, but you're in Texas, where the sun is known as the Death Star -- so maybe not.
Gail said…
Ahh said "Carolina Sapphire I can breath and spread my branches, thank you dear Cindy."
Rock rose said…
Both sad and exciting at the same time.
Hi Cindy...You are so lucky to have good tree trimmers. Especially since they are very careful around your plants. I really like the stepping stone idea. That's going to look great!
Lasyanee said…
It is always interesting to see how a tree removal will impact the garden in unexpected ways. Time will tell but the treeline now looks much more in scale. I hope the roots don't cause too much trouble.
Misti said…
I feel your pain. We have one tree that is in the beginning stages of pine beetle infestation and when we moved in last summer there were 9 dead pines plus a couple of hardwoods. we had them all cut down or my husband cut them down and now the goal is to keep the remaining pines happy through the coming drought year.
Anonymous said…
It looks so better now too! Good for you on knowing when to quit. Much better than having the tree fall on your house later.
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