Alas, poor tree.
Well, I doubt there are any two ways about it, but my dear old tree must come down.
A view from my back yard shows the tree in question, who has been good enough to provide me with shade for years.
The left-most limb over-hangs my house, where the other one (not too clearly visible) over-hangs my neighbour's grey and white house. Right over the back area where he has his furnace, of course!
A closer inspection of the trunk shows my worry:
After the last big wind a couple weeks ago the crack has gotten quite bad, and I'm certain it is just a bit of time until the tree loses it completely. So... I need to have it taken out.
Reading through the city by-laws though:
"Pruning of American Elm trees is prohibited between April 1st and July 31st and pruning of Siberian Elm is prohibited between April 1st and June 30th. FAILURE TO OBSERVE THESE REGULATIONS COULD RESULT IN PROSECUTION."
I was also told by a co-worker that any arborist wouldn't touch the tree at this time of year for that very reason... so, what to do now? I'm going to try and contact the Coalition to Save the Elms, or tree folks, or something to see if I can get any idea of what to do... but I'm thinking that time is running out fairly quickly. There's an awful lot of weight at the ends of those limbs!
A view from my back yard shows the tree in question, who has been good enough to provide me with shade for years.
The left-most limb over-hangs my house, where the other one (not too clearly visible) over-hangs my neighbour's grey and white house. Right over the back area where he has his furnace, of course!
A closer inspection of the trunk shows my worry:
After the last big wind a couple weeks ago the crack has gotten quite bad, and I'm certain it is just a bit of time until the tree loses it completely. So... I need to have it taken out.
Reading through the city by-laws though:
"Pruning of American Elm trees is prohibited between April 1st and July 31st and pruning of Siberian Elm is prohibited between April 1st and June 30th. FAILURE TO OBSERVE THESE REGULATIONS COULD RESULT IN PROSECUTION."
I was also told by a co-worker that any arborist wouldn't touch the tree at this time of year for that very reason... so, what to do now? I'm going to try and contact the Coalition to Save the Elms, or tree folks, or something to see if I can get any idea of what to do... but I'm thinking that time is running out fairly quickly. There's an awful lot of weight at the ends of those limbs!