I always notice trees. Maybe it’s because I have a forestry degree.
In my neighborhood, the more-orange-than-scarlet letter “A” marks elm trees with Dutch elm disease. I know we’re pretty lucky to have as many elms as we do, but the weather of the past several years has really hit our remaining elms hard. These pictures were all taken within two or three blocks of where I live… and this isn’t all of the marked elms.
Every year, fewer streets are shaded by arching elms, which turn even the most mundane street mysterious and lovely.
By the end of the summer, the trees in these pictures will all be gone…
“Well, sure trees are important, because otherwise the birds outside our windows aren’t up at my eye level!” -Mayhem
🙁 That’s so sad!
Here we have huge, old oak trees. Although I haven’t seen any elm trees affected by Dutch elm, I’m sure it’s pretty prevalent in our areas of North America.
I hate to see that. When we lived in Cleveland, our house was on a gorgeous, tree-lined street. I can’t even imagine how different it would look without the elms. Sad.
🙁 so once they have it there’s no turning back?? on treatment?
So sad!
That is so sad.
Less places for cats to sit and watch the world go by as well.
Sad. But necessary. I hate that.
But thank you for capturing them.
Will the city be planting replacement trees?
Oh, that’s so sad. The same thing is happening on my street – all 60-70 year old trees, at least half of them gone in the last few weeks.
Oh – I’ve lived here all my life and 20 years ago I was so sad to watch the arch of elms disappear over my grandma’s street (over by 50th and France). They made a cool, green, shadowy arch over the street. Those trees were replaced with Ash trees and NOW the Ash trees are threatened as well.
All of those trees look old and elegant. It’s too bad we (the general public) are not more aware of how long it takes to replace these renewable resources.
That’s so sad. I hate to see trees cut down, even when it’s necessary. Will they plant more trees to replace them?
We have the same problem around here because of drought. It’s so hard to watch trees die from disease due to lack of water or any other reason. 50% or better of our forests are dead. I’m a tree watcher too;-)
Working in the tree care industry, I have learned more about trees than I ever care to know. Back in NY our main street is lined with 200 year old Norwegian Maples. They are beautiful and well taken care of. When I moved here I learned a new tree practice…topping. Our tree care company refuses to do it as it’s so harmful to the tree, but holy cow, these folks top their trees like it’s going out of style and leave these horrible looking…twig things that are supposed to be tree.
I’m going to be in the minority here but when you have to clean up after an Elm that doesn’t belong to you, every season, and whose owner trims what’s over his side for the past 12 years but ignores the “bigger half” that goes over your property, which doesn’t allow anything else to grow, you’re not going to be too sentimental 🙁
Very sad to see all those old elms go. I remember how gorgeous the streets used to be when they were enveloped in canopies of elm branches.
What a shame to have to see all those wonderful old trees go. One of my favorite ‘tourist’ spots in Athens, Georgia, is “the tree that owns itself”. The current tree is actually the “son” of the original tree, but it’s still neat to see, and it’s on a beautiful old brick road.
I lived on a street that was lined with trees. I wonder how many of them are left too. (I grew up in the midwest.) Thanks for the photos.
How sad. The trees are so lovely.
Did someone have a strange sense of humor when they marked them with the Scarlet Letter? Or have they been bad little trees…. 😉
How sad! When I went to Macalester College, there were still a lot of elm trees, and I thought they were safe due to the harsh MN winters. I guess global warming takes another victim. The elms are such beautiful trees. It’s really a terrible thing.
The loss of a tree is so sad. Shade and a home for wildlife. And, what will your kitties do for birdwatching except to look to the sky?
Boo on tree disease! That’s too bad.
You were right, rather synchronous!
I’m always sorry to see those elms go. I remember a couple bad years in Willmar when I was growing up. The farm has hit an age too where every time I go home there are a tree or two that have come down since my last visit. It’s so sad!
I love trees so much and hate to see them be cut down. Especially those huge, old ones…
The loss of those stately giants is so sad. How awful!!
I know what you mean about the elms. I grew up in a rural area that used to have a lot of elms. The Dutch Elm disease had gone through around the time I was born, so when I was growing up, the elms were just bleached white skeletons with the shape that you can see in the last tree picture of this post. Eventually (25 years later or so), the young trees started growing back.
that is sad.
In this case the “A” stands for “Aw crap, another tree has to be removed.” I hope the city is planting new trees in their places.
that blows. trees are great for tieing up people to them and throwing lunch meat at them…i’ve heard
And yet the city replaces the monoculture of elms with… a different monoculture. They seem to persist in planting the same species/variety of tree for a whole block at a time.
Several of the elms on our Mpls block had already been replaced when we bought that house in 1983. The replacement trees are big enough now to a-l-m-o-s-t meet in an arch over the street.
poor things…
That’s so sad! There isn’t any treatment for the disease?
We lost ALL our elms on the island to Dutch Elm disease back in the ’70’s and ’80’s – it was heartbreaking – about 60% of our trees were elms. There has been an extensive replanting scheme and the tree population is recovering slowly.
Do you know if, when a tree is cut down, another is planted? That’s something I always wonder.
(sigh)
And of course, Chaos ALWAYS puts things in the proper perspective for us, now doesn’t he!?! *wink*
(((hugs)))
Well, I hate to be the one to state the obvious, but I guess you’ll just have to move out here to the suburbs where we have a lot of trees. There I said it.
I hate to see any tree go. We lost our pine trees a few years ago (much to the continued fury of our yard Blue Jay) and I can see signs of the #!%!&^ pine beetles in almost all the pine trees in the area.
Hopefully oaks will survive.
🙁
I remember losing several in our yard as a kid – it changed everything.
Any recommendations Ms Forestry Major on what would make suitable replacements?
Poor trees! Out here we don’t get Dutch Elm disease much, we just get the bark beetle. That thing wreaks havoc on the pinon crop, not to mention all the fire danger from the dead trees!
And a degree in Forestry? I would have never thought! It’s a pretty cool sounding degree if you ask me 🙂
Stupid Dutch. I’m kidding!! They have damn good chocolate. That sucks about the trees. I’m a huge lover of them. On occasion, when drunk, you’ll even find me hugging them.
Those pictures make me feel sad too, but did you hear they found a breed of Elms resistant to Dutch Elm disease? They are trying to produce them like crazy because American Elms are so beautiful!
Oh no, that’s awful! I loved the trees in the streets around your place!
May, Bird Feeders = Bifocal birds (up close and personal)
It’s the full grown trees lining the street that gives the impression of neighborhood and hominess. Sure would be nice if something else was planted in their place as they come down.
I too mourn the elms…my old neighborhood (46th and 2nd Avenue) had that wonderful cool arch of trees. I haven’t driven past the old place for quite some time, although it’s not the same anyway — they took down Grandma Hanson’s house (and all the others “across the street” to put 35 through). DO you know what they’re putting up instead? Folks gotta have trees, they provide air, you know.
It’s pretty amazing that you still have so many elms! Maybe they went in the east first?? There is a tax photo of this house from 1937, and the house has front porches up and down! (not anymore). One of the guys who grew up here (he’s mr-o2 deprived at birth- and visits sometimes, just to sit in the liv room and look at the attic!) said he remembers the day the elm out front came down, he was at the din rm table doing school work, and what a racket…took out both porches. We found them buried out back! (in our 1/4 ac city lot!).
My husband loves trees too – I knew he would like our house because of the trees. We have 3 huge elms in the back, and a magnolia tree in the front. Our neighbors complain that the elm drops some stuff that they have to rake up all year, but we enjoy the shade! It’s sad when people take out their trees and I wonder if everyone had a magnolia here when it was built.
I like the “A” too – very literary!
So sad about the elms. We have problems here with a dogwood tree blight, and pine beetles. But right now it’s the drought. Big, big trees are stressed to the point of near death, and little trees – oaks, maples, dogwoods, etc are all dying. My neighborhood is full of 100-year old oaks, planted as “Victory Oaks” after WWI. Many are still in pretty good shape, but the city had to take down two really big ones near me a couple of weeks ago. How I miss them.
I love elm trees. We’ve lost so many in my neighborhood since we moved in 8 years ago, it’s so sad. Really changes the character of the neighborhood, for sure.
They planted a whole bunch of disease-resistant elms over here, in the intersection where Borealis is located. Another 30 years and maybe we’ll be starting to recover some of the beauty lost to Dutch Elm disease.
What a sad sight! Where is the Lorax when we need him? 🙂
I hate seeing trees marked for removal. I remember when one of the east-side parkways was a huge canopy of lovely elms. And then one day they were all gone. Of course, replanting with other tree type happened. But it hasn’t been till recently that they are looking like the canopy that I remembered as a kid. I love trees – I have a favorite that I always say hi to every time I pass by it.
Poor tree!