my fallen tree - $1000 later

[pinkytoe]

One of the reasons we bought this house is because of the beautiful spruce tree that stood at the side of the front yard and commanded awe. It was about 60 ft tall and at least 50 years old. I liked to just sit under it sometimes. It fell silently during the horrible blizzard last week and when we saw it hours later laying across the yard, our hearts were broken. Strangely, the night before it fell, a woman we had never seen before came to the door and asked if she could gather some cones from beneath it. We joke that she must have put a hex on it since no other tree in our area fell. Anyway, we asked the tree guy to let us have the mulch from it so now the beautiful tree is just a memory, we are $1000 poorer and we have a mountain of mulch six feet high. The only thing that feels OK about all this is that it had the grace not to fall on a person, house or car.

[herbgeek]

Sigh. Sad isn't it. I have a number of really nice oaks. But we had a couple of years of drought, followed by a couple of years of gypsy moth infestation and so many of them are dead or dying. We had a huge oak not too far from the house that we had to cut down because of severe leaning. It really makes me sad to see it in pieces.

[Teacher Terry]

Wouldn’t your house insurance pay for the tree? I hate to lose trees.

[dado potato]

Aw, pinkytoe,

It's gotta hurt to lose a tree like your spruce, a tree that has filled up your your senses, one of treasured memories. I am sure that if the mighty oak in my front yard were to fall, I would have to do the work of grieving: two steps forward, one step back, and onward.

Have you thought about something perennial to incorporate the mulch into? How does Wisteria fare in your climate zone?

[KayLR]

Oh no, I feel terrible for you! I have favorite trees, as well. On another thread some place I lamented about a Pacific Madrone in my hometown that was cut down, reason unknown. Still grieve for it.

So, I get it...so sorry about your spruce.

[iris lilies]

Some trees are nice. I am sorry one of the nice ones is gone.

[Teacher Terry]

I do hate my neighbors pine tree because they lose all their cones, etc in our yard. They did cut the back yard one down because I asked them to trim the branches that hang over our fence. The one in the front yard looses its leaves and they end up in our front yard and the tree is huge.

[pinkytoe]

Insurance only covers damage and since the tree was nice enough not to fall on anything, nope. I am eyeballing my neighbors pines though as they will surely go down in the next big one and fall on my house.

[rosarugosa]

I'm sorry, Pinkytoe. I'm a tree lover too, and there is no substitute for a large, mature tree.

[catherine]

That is such a tragedy, pinkytoe!! And irreplaceable (at least in our lifetimes, unfortunately). Can you plant something smaller, but dramatic, in the same spot, like a crepe myrtle or dogwood or Japanese maple that will help replace some of the beauty of that corner?