Bye Bye Basswood



Our Basswood from a distance looks healthy

Some of you may recall last autumn we were heart broken to hear that the large shade-R-ific Basswood tree in our front yard was likely rotten and in need of coming down. We got 2nd and 3rd opinions, and went with what we wanted to hear - that some trimming was needed, but that the tree looked healthy. Well, we should have listened to our arborist - we trust him and he has never steered us wrong. Yesterday afternoon a large heavy branch broke free from the trunk - inside the break we can see some white rotten looking gunk. The limb fell onto our front lawn and part of the sidewalk (luckily with no one walking by). Joe was able to saw enough of the leafy sub-branches off to clear the pathway, but this made us realize that the tree is unstable - we're fortunate that nothing has fallen towards our house (yet) - the branch that came down yesterday could have done some real damage. We've sent an email off to our guy, Jared, to secure a removal date. I love trees, especially this one that provides so much shade to the front of the house and a magical Secret Garden feel to the guest room it shrouds, but safety first, right? We think we'll buy some Colorado Spruce in the fall to plant in it's absence. Bruce and Dora have been with us for 2 years now and they have grown immensely (that's Dora in the picture above - she's over 8 ft. tall now).   

Broken limb from a distance.
The crack down the trunk is also a bad sign.

  



Site of the break - the shelf fungus is a sign of possible core rot.



You can see some of the white gunk if you open this picture larger.