I topped a tree tonight

17 years ago

Not on purpose. :(

I have always been just crazy about the foilage on Bald Cypress, so when I saw a baby one at K-Mart this year for $15, I had to have it. I moved a Crepe Myrtle to give it the spot of honor right outside our Florida room, so I could get the maximum enjoyment out the windows.

Tonight I was playing fetch with Simon in the backyard. I threw the bumper...WHACK! Hit the tree and took off the top 18". :( The thin trunk snapped right in two.

I was mortified, and I think I said something like "Oh my God, what have I done!" Simon was just returning with the bumper, and his ears went flat and he got that "OMG, I'm so sorry!" look on his face (whenever anyone yells, he thinks he's in trouble. He's a rescue...)

So, I had to reassure Simon this was not about him, but I felt just SICK. I snipped off the damage, did a little light pruning to make the "new" shape make more sense, brought the top inside to throw away, but couldn't part with it, so it's in a glass of water.

Well, I still have most of the tree left. I hate to lose that growth though. But as Kevin said, it was a little tall and leggy...maybe this will thicken it up.

Sigh.

I had been complaining that our other dog, Angus, "mowed over" the aforementioned crape myrtle the other day after I transplanted it. He took a well-branched shrub down to one stick, in one pass. I guess this makes me as bad as him. ;)

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Comments (3)

Amazindirt (7a TN)
17 years ago
Sorry for your tree trauma!

If it helps you feel any better, one of my foster dogs keeps digging up my shrubbery. He's convinced there are moles hiding everywhere -- and it doesn't help that he actually caught one a few weeks ago!
countrycarolyn
17 years ago
A few years back my father actually ran over a newly planted cleveland pair tree. When I say topped it I mean he actually had totally topped it where all that was there was the main trunk just a few side branches that had began to grow. It looked horrible he trimmed it up to get it halfway decent looking.

At a neighbors advice my dad left it. The neihbor has alot of trees and told my dad that about 20 years ago when they planted one of their trees that he had done the exact same thing. Well the tree the neighbor topped 20+ years ago is actually bigger and taller than the ones that he planted at the same time.

The tree my dad topped a few years back has grown and now matches the other trees. You cant even tell that he did it. So with that said just give it time and it should recover nicely like it never happend. I still laugh when I visit and look at that tree.
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conniemcghee
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks you guys. Hopefully it will go just like that, and in a few years I will look at it and laugh :)

Ione, uh oh! I'm sorry your foster got one! We have chipmunks that the boys are after hot and heavy...I am hoping and praying they never catch one!

Simon can get his head even with the top of our six foot fence if he just saw a chipmunk run over it. !!!