It was a tree I grew from a souvenir packet of seeds from San Francisco that was labeled "Dawn Redwood." After growing it for a while, I suspected that it was mislabeled or a stray seed, and possibly a Douglas Fir, but it had sentimental value so I had kept it.
It browned and lost needles in the NJ winter, it was stressed and slowly deteriorated, but it grew to about 20 feet with trunk diameter of about 6 inches. But this year, it was patently obvious it had died.
After the soaking rain and storm yesterday, I went outside this morning and found that the tree had fallen over.
It was growing near our shed, my plastic compost bin and open compost piles, and our long stretch of vinyl picket fence, and my neighbor has an old play structure on the other side of the fence that they have covered with tarps and are using as outdoor cat shelter. This tree completely missed all of them and had fallen in the only angle possible -- halfway between the shed and the compost bin.
It was easy for me to lop off the dead side branches and lever the trunk over the compost bin and piles to rest on top of the woodpile next to the fence. Done and done.
Even better, the tree trunk roots had rotted about 4 inches below the soil level and that's where it broke off. So aside from a rainwater filled dimple in the ground, there is nothing to clean up.
Garden Fairies and Gnomes -- helpful or mischievous?
