Oh, my gods — they’ve just cut down the huge lilac tree that stood behind our backyard fence. I went out to bring the laundry in off the clothesline and I saw the bare stumps of what was once a magnificent tree, broad and almost as tall as the powerlines, and they were naked, brutal, and ugly. Words can’t describe how dreadful it looks, how open and exposed the backyard suddenly feels.
Everything was fine an hour and a half ago when Liam and I were out there. And now, it’s gone.
I’m fighting tears. I loved that lilac tree.
UPDATE: They had a whack at the other lilac tree as well. HRH talked to the people who were cutting them down, and they swear they’re just trimming them so they’ll grow back thicker next year. HRH looked at them and said, “Yes, if you haven’t killed them, because you’re supposed to trim them in the spring, not the high heat of summer.” And ‘trim’ doesn’t mean a hack job leaving a couple of feet of bare trunks, like these people have done because they don’t know how to prune properly.
We’re getting a crabapple tree to give us shade and privacy, because this is ridiculous.
Oh no! Do you have any idea why? It seems so random.
The owners may finally have realised that because they haven’t pruned it regularly for the past ten or so years, the tops weren’t very healthy and the tree was moderately scraggly with empty patches in the lower half. But they didn’t need to cut the whole thing down; they could have trimmed it sternly and carefully to encourage better growth next year.
But I don’t know. I’m too busy hurting to go over and ask complete strangers why they did such a lame-brained thing. It’s not like the tree was blocking sun from their property; if anything, it was what blocked the really hot late afternoon sun from baking our backyard.
At least there is another one back there. But yes, that one was lovely. The backyard feels a bit over-exposed and less private now too.
No, they’re cutting that one down too. It’s brutal.
HRH has already said he’s stopping by the nursery on the way home to get trees to put on on our side. We don’t want to be looking into their backyard.
That’s very upsetting news. I love lilacs. I do have a beef with our crabapple tree however. It does drop a lot of fruit, and since I don’t make jam or anything useful out of it, they rot quicker than I can pick them up. Sweet gums are nice trees. They drop those spiky little gumballs, and don’t really make too much of a mess as a fruit tree. So sorry to hear about the lilacs, especially in this swelter of a hot day too :(
Oh, crabapples are my absolute favourite trees; I don’t mind raking and scooping up the fruit, because the rest of the year they’re glorious, especially in May. Besides, now I have a good friend who makes crabapple jelly, so they’re all hers if we get one. If she can fight the scary attack blackbirds who reside in our neck of the woods for them, that is.
Although the scary attack blackbirds used to nest in the lilac that’s no longer there. Hmm.
Well, at least you get to plant some of your own trees. I loved planting trees in my garden in the UK, even though I knew I wasn’t going to be there for long enough to see them mature properly. I often wonder how the rowan (mountain ash) and holly hedge I planted along the back fence is doing.
Don’t worry, my neighbour did the same thing only
he *tried* to dig up the roots too. His wife didn’t
want the leaves on the grass. They both died and
the lilac has come back. He didn’t get all the
roots.
Oh good — you’re getting replacements. I was wondering where to get lilac seeds and how long they would take to grow.