Bitternut Hickory

This Bitternut Hickory seedling has been growing at this spot for 13 years.  Each year it had struggled, appearing from its pit (it had been poorly planted) only in early summer.  I had given up on it about 6 years ago and planted a black locust twig close to it.  The black locust has grown by leaps and bounds and is now a proper little tree.  The hickory had its first good year in 2022, perhaps due to the extra shade the locust provided, and if it survives the winter looks set to reach for the sky.

I have hesitated to positively identify this fellow until now as there are multiple species of tree that have pinnately compound alternate leaves and often a seedling's first leaves are not typical of the species. One identifying feature the tree books point out for bitternut hickory is the yellow naked buds.  Below is a close-up of one of its buds that definitely has a yellowish tinge.     

Activity this year:

• I planted 3 apple trees on the edge of the north side of the berm.  The larger one did very well this year and grew about three feet.  If it survives the winter it will have a good start.  It doesn't have a lot of sun being on the north side but I wanted a location away from the road.  The two smaller seedlings had a harder time against the grass.  Hopefully next year will be their year. 
• I also planted 10 yellow birch  in the 2010 area and within the forest to the west of it. I  planted them in the fall.  Rabbits seem to like the taste of them as most of them got damaged by browsing before I put plastic protectors around them.
• I delimbed several large cottonwood poplar trees that fell from the derecho. The trees would have been over 80 feet high. it was good exercise but I mainly did it so that the city wouldn't feel the need to send in people to clean it up.  When they go in with their chainsaws they often leave a large swath of destruction.   
• I spent a fair bit of time in the fall clearing dead standing trunks and branches from the 1995 forest around the 2009 and 2010 area.  I hadn't gone into the area to the west of the 2010 plantings much in the past few years and it was a bit of a mess.
• The bush west of the 2010 planting area has been taken over by buckthorn and honeysuckle to a significant extent.  While cleaning the place of standing dead wood I got more and more aggressive against the buckthorn that has come to dominate the understory in the area.  I recently read of their allelopathic nature of  chemically suppressing competitors.   

Derecho

The May Derecho windstorm did a lot of damage in Manordale and the surrounding areas. Many large trees came down. Pinhey forest to the south-west will not be the same in my lifetime. Acres of trees came down where the loose sandy soil did not give enough purchase for the trees to withstand the winds. Some parts of the 60+ year-old pine plantations toppled like dominoes one after another. One blow-down just off Woodroffe south of Slack Rd. must be about 20 acres.

The roadside area this blog follows was relatively fortunate; a couple of the large cottonwood poplars came down but otherwise it got off quite lightly. The picture above was a large 100foot high popular that fell length wise along the berm. It damaged several smaller trees as it toppled. I cleaned up the limbs that were hung-up against other trees leaving this long trunk. It will be a barrier and landmark for many years, I imagine, as it is still a few feet off the ground. I also spent several hours going around with a handsaw clearing other smaller standing deadwood in the 1995 woods. The forest really needed a clearing out as the ash trees that fell victim to the emerald ash borers were left standing and only now have finally rotted away enough to be easily pushed over.