When pruning trees in late fall or winter judgement calls have to be made. The beautiful Chinkapin White Oak pictured below presented just such a judgement call. With oak trees good practice tells us to prune out “V” type branches in favor of a shape more like an “E”. One look at the picture below…
Author: gothictrees
Ties That Bind
During some recent sorting of family keepsakes I came across a Lutheran Hymnal. This was a special one as my father, a Lutheran Minister used this hymnal to pick out hymns for Sunday worship. Every time he used a hymn on a Sunday he wrote the date on that page in the hymnal. So just…
In Memory
Around 2002 or 2003 when our family was busy with three kids in all kinds of activities my youngest daughter Leisa started begging for a dog. Finally I gave in and said we would get a dog to replace her two older sisters when they headed off for college. As that time got close Leisa…
Weeding the Woods
The fight against buckthorn is a never ending task. Buckthorn is the most prevalent invasive species in Southeast Minnesota woodlands. I would estimate that 85 percent of my woods (about 30 acres) is buckthorn free. To keep it that way I “weed the woods” with a tool called the Extractigator which is pictured above. With…
Oak Tree Growth
After a busy planting season here in Southern Minnesota I am back to blogging. I want to provide some information about Oak trees. If you ask someone about oak trees you will likely hear how slow growing they are. Now the deer habitat improvement community knows better and are familiar with hybrid oaks. Most hybrid…
Planting Corkscrew Willow
Every spring for the last 5 years we have planted Corkscrew Willows along the banks of our creek and river. The featured picture show the stump of a Corkscrew Willow which we cut down 5 years ago. Every year the tree grows multiple suckers from the stump. This isn’t uncommon for trees and in Europe…
Oak Seedlings Update
I posted in early April about my Oak tree seedlings project in 2018. Our non-spring long winter has finally broke on April 21st so now my project moves forward. The featured image shows my seedlings as of April 23rd outside on our deck. I am starting the process of hardening off the seedlings by putting…
Hollow Ash
While I haven’t identified any Ash trees in our woods with the Emerald Ash Bore, I have been taking down a few for firewood and to open up the canopy for new trees. I would estimate that our 25 acre forest is about 20% ash, which is a lot of trees. Most of the firewood…
A Hidden Gem
Over the years I have collected around 50 books on Gothic Cathedral’s. As you go through those books you become familiar with the early Gothic Cathedral’s like St. Denis north of Paris, and Laon Cathedral. Then onto the big later Gothic Cathedral’s like Chartres, Amiens, and Beauvais among many others. But I don’t recall much…
Bradford Pear
Here in Minnesota, buckthorn is one of the worst invasive species. Just wanted to share an article about the Bradford Pear and how bad it is in southern climes of the US. The article is titled The Curse of the Bradford Pear. It is by Durant Ashmore and published in the Greenville News. Here is…
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