ouch.

[witchscauldron]

The power company came today and chopped the center branch off the big dogwood that shades the house. I guess they thought it threatened the power lines on the corner.

It looks damn ugly, and they made a good mess doing it, too.

Not too sure that I like it - we'll definetely have lost shade for the summer, which is important to me. And the branch over the driveway looks like it's lost some support. :\

Comments

[silere.livejournal.com]

arg. i hate when they do that. :( that looks sad, and painful.. and like it might get infected.

[morgandria.livejournal.com]

yes - exactly. The old fellow isn't in the best of health in some ways, but he's still going...and now he's broadcasting a fair amount of distress, even thought winter's got his metabolism slowed right down and he's not that awake.

[silere.livejournal.com]

Hate to see what spring will bring him. :( hopefully quick healing.

My two in the front don't seem especially happy.. they had a tree pruning service come in before they sold the house, and the trees didnt' seem to react too well to it. They are losing the weaker branches.

Anyway. <3

[mud-paw.livejournal.com]

I wish they were legally not allowed to do this, but alas that will never happen. The don't know the first thing about trees or the proper pruning of them. ....I feel for your dogwood and I hope it survives. Dogwoods' number one killer is injury...they aren't very hardy trees when it comes to disease and insects...and with a gaping wound...well, they open the door and hang out the welcome sign :(

[metachaos.livejournal.com]

=( I dislike people hurting trees. Very much.

[korakthesavage.livejournal.com]

Good grief! I have similar problems here in rural Georgia- though as I'm on a very big plot, it's less of an issue. And all my trees along the powerline are just those awful pulpwood pines, not gorgeous old beloved flowering trees... but with that in mind, I agree fully with mudpaw. She's right that dogwoods are not very hardy, and I've seen wounded ones die of insect infestations. Make sure to give the tree plenty of water, extra water seems to really help them pull through. Around here, the DOT crews just roll down the road with a giant mower on a articulate arm... and they just "mow" the limbs of the trees sticking out into the powerline like they were cutting a lawn, or giving a recruit a buzzcut. It looks like sh*t afterwards, believe me! Of course, they couldn't be bothered to cut down the standing DEAD pine that will likely take out the powerline if it falls that way! Nor could they mow down the immense brambles underneath the powerline. So I'm rather sympathetic. Sorry you lost shade and I really hope your elder dogwood survives!

[morgandria.livejournal.com]

There's no way I can effectively water this tree - it's about 5 feet around. Very big. We've had drought two years running - we aren't even allowed to water the lawn, let alone trees. Right now it's in about 3 feet of snow, maybe four after last night's storm.

[fleeting-image.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of the mandatory tree pruning either. We don't even have powerlines in the front of our house so I am not sure why they were cutting random branches. The trees look so damaged and weakened now.