Clearly I must be old, as the past several of months have shot past in what seems like a few weeks time. Clearing up and disposing all of the trees and countless limbs that came down in early March, has been an ongoing and exhaustive task.

All of the downed materials have been dragged away, but plenty of broken off branches remain above, hung up in the trees waiting for gravity and perhaps a storm to dislodge them.

Our little Prairie needed to be burned as well. Once those tasks were completed then the restoration work could begin.

Quite a number of trees required various corrective treatments in order to get them back on track. The columnar larch above, was bent 90 degrees (roughly half way up its length). I wrapped 2″ wide strips (cut from old towels) about every 18″ around the tree’s trunk and secured with masking tape in order to pad the tree. Next I took a 10ft. section of threaded, 3/4″ Black Iron pipe, that I’d taped sponge, pipe-insulation onto, and starting at the topmost end of the pipe, I secured it to the Larix trunk (using duct tape) wrapping the duct tape on top of the masking taped, toweling strips. Working my down the trunk at roughly 18″ intervals, until I reached the end of the 10 ft. section. Next I threaded-on a coupling union in order to add an additional 36″ length of pipe which I had slid down over a 3/4″ x 5 ft. section of rerod that I had hammered into the ground roughly 4 ft. At this point I’m thinking of leaving this straightening device until sometime next spring.

A dozen or so trees, were in need of re-establishing a leader. This is a relatively simple task to accomplish, so long as I can reach the point where the trunk had snapped off. First I make a clean cut below the jagged break. Then select one of the nearest lateral branch below, gently bend it upward and using masking tape, I make several passes around the trunk-stub and the bent-upward branch in order to hold it in place pointing upward. This once-lateral branch will quickly establish itself as the new leader and the masking tape will simply fall off within in a year’s time.

Where entire trees had come down or had to be removed, new planting opportunities were provided. Years earlier I had sited a newly acquired, golden-needled hemlock, in a location that didn’t provide enough direct sunlight in order for the needles to attain their bright golden yellow hue. Relocating it, to where this large White Pine had snapped off at the ground, had near immediate effect, as the existing needles quickly became much more golden yellow and the new buds and expanding shoots are even more so!

Fixing this is going to take some doing, but I have a plan, which will involves a 12ft. step ladder and nylon strapping. We’ll have to see if all goes according to plan!

But it hasn’t been all work and no play. We did get to go on a few horticultural shopping sprees, in addition to the arrival of several mail-order nursery orders, so there’s been a lot of planting getting done.

I did get to go and hunt for unusual forms of Eranthis, though this year it was in mid February instead of the usual mid March. A few more of these green-centered beauties came home with me.

While this was the most unusual mutant trillium that was added to my collection from this Spring’s hunt. By the way this plant is in a one-gallon pot! so you can see it’s quite a beast as well.

Then this past Memorial Holiday weekend a new hiccup occurred, but that will be another installment.