When I was a child, our home had a row of American elm trees separating our property from our neighbor to the south.\u00a0 I climbed one of those trees so often that I could get to a branch 20 feet up within a few seconds.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Dutch elm disease came along and wiped out just about every elm in Iowa and the nation.<\/p>\n
The one good thing that came from all those diseased elms was the morel mushrooms that sprout in spring (that\u2019s as far as I\u2019m going to go on that subject \u2013 too many people have been harvesting them as it is, especially when newspapers love to publish stories on how to locate the tasty morsels).<\/p>\n
After the Dutch elm disease, everyone was encouraged to plant ash trees.\u00a0 I have planted so many ash trees that I couldn\u2019t begin to estimate how many locations my hands got dirty planting them.\u00a0 Now, along comes the emerald ash bore and eats up all the ash trees.\u00a0 At a community meeting, we were told to plant Kentucky coffee trees.\u00a0 Yeah, right.\u00a0 They grow slowly and create a mess at almost every time of the year.\u00a0 But to each their own.\u00a0 Is the Kentucky coffee tree the next species to encounter a deadly disease?\u00a0 A few years ago, we planted a pear tree to replace the only ash tree we had.\u00a0 This fall, we have begun to reap its fruit.\u00a0 I have canned 15 jars of pear preserves.<\/p>\n
Although the American elm trees of my youth were in the west-central town of Vail, Iowa, today I have the same amount and same size of elm trees on the south part of our yard.\u00a0 As with the Vail trees, you can plainly see that they grew up in a fence line, and the fence line was removed; at least, part of it was on my current property.\u00a0 The trees have grown into the fence, and as long as they are still alive, the fence and trees will remain conjoined.<\/p>\n
The derecho[1]<\/a> we experienced this past August knocked a good fifteen-foot branch of the top of one of the elms.\u00a0 The branch was hanging over the playground of the daycare, which abuts our property.\u00a0 The daycare owner had it removed within a day or two.<\/p>\n I began thinking of trees last week when the Cedar Rapids Gazette<\/a> published an article about the massive loss of Cedar Rapids\u2019 tree canopy as a result of Iowa\u2019s derecho.\u00a0 A loss of trees as big as eastern Iowa\u2019s loss, and in particular, Cedar Rapids\u2019, removed decades (and in some cases \u2013 centuries) of shade, habitat for wildlife, oxygen production, soil erosion prevention, and most of all, beauty.\u00a0 Those thoughts recurred when we traveled to Ankeny a few days ago.\u00a0 Trees, removed from the ground, roots still clinging to the soil, were piled high in the middle of several former fields in order for ground-leveling machinery to alter the sites for future warehouses.\u00a0 Sure, once the warehouse is built, a spattering of small trees will be planted in front of the mammoth structures.\u00a0 But those trees will take a very long time to match the work of the trees that have been removed.<\/p>\n Our backyard in Des Moines cannot handle one more tree.\u00a0 In addition to the elms, we have four apple trees, an oak tree, a peach tree, and five very small serviceberry trees (planted by accident).\u00a0 Likewise, our front yard is limited.\u00a0 In front, we have a maple tree, a pear tree, a crabapple tree and a tree that was here when we moved in (we have no idea what it is).<\/p>\n We haven\u2019t mowed the back yard in years.\u00a0 The trees along with a small garden, blueberry bushes, black raspberries, blackberry canes, cup plants (from Sandy & John \u2013 thank you), and a few other prairie plants, provide squirrels, ground hogs, birds of numerous species, deer, opossum, and raccoons with food, water, shelter, and places for raising the young.\u00a0 The natural selection process would not be complete without the occasional feral cat or Coopers hawk.\u00a0 We chase them away \u2013 sometimes \u2013 but our backyard, neighbors\u2019 opinions notwithstanding, is a thing of beauty.\u00a0 The backyard is a Certified Wildlife Habitat, designated as such by the National Wildlife Federation.\u00a0 In order to have a certified backyard or garden, all that is necessary is to confirm you have provided food, water, cover, and places to raise young birds and\/or animals.<\/p>\n Check this out:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.nwf.org\/Garden-for-Wildlife\/Certify<\/a><\/p>\n They took all the trees Joni Mitchell – 1970<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Derecho<\/em>:\u00a0 a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds.\u00a0 Definitions from Oxford Languages<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was a child, our home had a row of American elm trees separating our property from our neighbor to the south.\u00a0 I climbed one of those trees so often that I could get to a branch 20 feet … Continue reading
\nAnd put ’em in a tree museum
\nAnd they charged the people
\nA dollar and a half to seem ’em<\/em><\/p>\n