Well, damn

Our ash tree is doomed. We got the emerald ash borer. I hadn't yet gone to take a good look at it this year, but yesterday I went to prune it a bit and it's badly infested.

We have two new trees being delivered from the nursery today, when they're put in I'll use up the compost that's in the trailer so I can free up the minivan, and pull the ash out. We were hoping it would escape this, but it was always a long shot. I want it out ASAP so it doesn't provide these hell-bugs with another habitat.

Here's what the trunk looks like. If your ash looks like this, sorry.


( another photo behind the cut )

Yay, new trees!

New trees, selected to replace the dying paper birch (I think I'll be getting a sugar maple to replace the ash tree that's coming out after dinner)

In the front yard, Tupelo AKA Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica). It's very "architectural" - it has interesting bendy horizontal branches and open space inside. They get to be 75 feet high and 30 feet around.


And in the back, a River Birch. The paper birch nearby is still alive but not doing well; they don't really live very long anyway. I'll probably be pulling it in 2 years or so, hopefully the river birch will be jumpin' by then. They get to be 40-50 feet high, and 30 feet around.

The Culprit (emerald ash borer)

I just caught this little bastard right on the Ash tree (not going to get it pulled before tomorrow morning, just too much to do today).


Click for a bigger pic and a side view (next image in album)