up a tree (without a paddle)
Aug. 14th, 2014 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraI need Advice, o people of lj.
The problem: Big 75-year-old linden tree in our backyard is not doing well.
At a minimum, the top and some high limbs are dead and need to come off (and we certainly want to do that before a winter storm sends them through somebody's window or something, we live in a suburb, this is not the place to embrace the natural tree circle of life). Tree guy today thought that with an aggressive program of pruning, fertilizing, and ongoing management, we'd have maybe a 50-50 chance of saving the tree, but it would never be like it was. (In other news, a google image search for "topless tree" will NOT help you visualize a tree that's had its upper trunk and branches removed.)
Nothing we could plant in there is going to compete with a 75-year-old tree for size and shade and gorgeous Big Treeishness while we're still living in the house. (Let's say we're moving out to our retirement condo in 30 years - who even knows but that's not crazy.) On the other hand, if it's going to have to come out in five years anyways, I would sort of rather get a head start on regrowing something new - in *ten* years, I imagine a ten-year-old tree would be much nicer to have than a five-year-old tree. (Plus redoing all the plantings in that part of the yard, since I'm pretty sure that thing's not coming out without taking out half the yard with it.)
I feel torn and unhappy about both options. Anyone have a good insight into how to make this kind of decision?
The problem: Big 75-year-old linden tree in our backyard is not doing well.
At a minimum, the top and some high limbs are dead and need to come off (and we certainly want to do that before a winter storm sends them through somebody's window or something, we live in a suburb, this is not the place to embrace the natural tree circle of life). Tree guy today thought that with an aggressive program of pruning, fertilizing, and ongoing management, we'd have maybe a 50-50 chance of saving the tree, but it would never be like it was. (In other news, a google image search for "topless tree" will NOT help you visualize a tree that's had its upper trunk and branches removed.)
Nothing we could plant in there is going to compete with a 75-year-old tree for size and shade and gorgeous Big Treeishness while we're still living in the house. (Let's say we're moving out to our retirement condo in 30 years - who even knows but that's not crazy.) On the other hand, if it's going to have to come out in five years anyways, I would sort of rather get a head start on regrowing something new - in *ten* years, I imagine a ten-year-old tree would be much nicer to have than a five-year-old tree. (Plus redoing all the plantings in that part of the yard, since I'm pretty sure that thing's not coming out without taking out half the yard with it.)
I feel torn and unhappy about both options. Anyone have a good insight into how to make this kind of decision?
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Date: 2014-08-14 11:08 pm (UTC)I don't really "get" pets, but I imagine if I had a dog, I would be making a decision that was primarily about the dog's quality of life, like, was it still eating/being happy to see people/whatever dogs do. There isn't a comparable question of the tree suffering (or not in a way that I can understand - it's been trying to send up a lot of suckers from the base and maybe that's more like desperation or maybe it's more like "wheeeee I'm making suckers!", but either way I don't feel like I have an ethical obligation *to the tree*, exactly. I am interested in not destroying a valuable thing and in the well-being of the local ecosystem, but those are still my interests, not the tree's.)