Big Tree Down in my front yard.

Here I am finally back on my computer after having lost power early Saturday
evening until late Monday when one of the two old and quite big blue spruce
trees in my front yard came down in the strong winds we had here on Long
Island over the weekend. I had two, one on the left and one on the right
side of the front yard. One of them is very close to the stocktank pond I
had put inground two years ago but that one is still there, it was the other
that came down. The damage started as it rained buckets all Friday night and
continued without any stopping until Monday morning. Then it just rained
normally until today finially it is bright, warm and sunny out.

Those two blue spruce were as old as I am and I had had them limbed up some
to increase the light in the front yard for my garden. Never once in a
million years did I think that there was a possibility of one coming down.
But with all that rain, the ground was soggy soaked and they reported 70
mile an hour wind gusts for our area of Long Island. The roots snapped and
down it came. Now it fell forward towards the street and took down the power
lines with a massive thud. Blocked the street too. One of the telephone
poles is slightly listing, that's how strong an impact. If it had fallen the
other way, towards the house, I would not be here writing this as it would
have fallen across the bedroom right were I was watching TV while sitting in
bed. So I am very lucky, no damage to people, cars or houses, just some
downed power lines.

They came on Sunday and cut the tree limbs off the lines and left them all
over the sidewalk. Then late Monday they came and fixed the wires so we got
power back. Now this morning they came and cut and picked up all the tree
limbs that were there on the street and sidewalk. I was kinda surprised, I
thought it might be my problem to get rid of them but apparently not. Now I
just have to call the guy that does all my hardscape and big garden work to
cut up and haul away what's left of the tree on my property and dig out the
rest of the roots so I can fix the mess with the uprooted soil and some
damage to the roses that the tree crashed over. Amazing really, all this and very thankfully no real property damage. The Iris and bulb lilies in that area should all end up being ok as they haven't even started to grow yet and the tree pretty much missed them.

Sure was a pain to have no electric. That means no heat and no hot water for
days. It sure was nice to have a hot shower this morning. Thankfully, while
it was chilly as the days were cool and damp, it was not freezing cold like
we get in the winter. My stove is gas so I at least could have food and I
cooked something in the oven to throw off heat in the house for some warmth.

I missed my TV and especially my computer like crazy. Sure is nice to have
things back under control

Glad you are doing so well. There are few more days until Spring so I cannot yet declare we survived the Winter. It has been one of such extremes like I have never experienced. Now it is day after day of overcast clouds and the sun just peeks out at us for a short while if at all. I am ready for sunny days, oh so ready.

You really fared well on your adventure. Could have been so much worse.

Thank God it was minimized and gas stoves are again proven to be a winner. Really enjoyed your posting, I was right there with you.

K

What a mess my front yard is hear the used to be tree. The rest of the trunk got cut up but the hard part was digging out the rest because some tree roots were still attached. Of course as luck would have it, they went straight down. Its out now but it was a project for two strong guys.

The daylilies and roses are a trampled mess. Good thing its early spring and everything has time to recover. They are on coffee break (or something) now and then will start to fill up the hole and move dirt around (and off plants). Lilies in that area haven't broken ground yet so I hope that saves them. The poor Siberian Iris are totally dirt covered.

Just finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard section.

I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable.

The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small.

I was also out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Siberian Iris. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump.

Hi Rita Sorry about all your problems & plant loss. No loss of plants here but I'm with you on the loss of power. Water in the basement by late Mon afternoon necessatated shutting off the furnace so no heat until this morning. Fireplace was going, but DH had to get a couple of suplamental heaters. If we closed the door to the bedroon, it was toasty, but not much help in the livingroom, although fireplace helped there. Have not checked washer & dryer yet, but you do appreciated warmth & hot water. Do you have a fireplace where you can use the spruce trunk in the future? If not perhaps you can sell the logs to someone else who does. good luck with restoring your plants.

No, I don't have a fireplace. My neighbor does and he took all the wood. I am so glad we don't get flooding here.