I’m feeling climate crisis grief today. I made a collage of photos that friends, customers and I took since the ice storm that hit last week. One of the sadder collages I have ever made, I circled broken and bent branches along with wounds where tree branches broke off. The storm started a week ago today on Tuesday with cold rain. Wednesday more and more rain came and coated all of the trees and streets with ice. As hours went by the forecast got worse and worse, much worse than predicted. Very similar, in that aspect, to the Feb 2021 storm. Thousands of households in central Texas lost power including us. We also lost phone and internet for a couple days. Fortunately our power was restored after about 12 hours. Though the temps in our house we uncomfortable they were never dangerous. Many people still don’t have power today, the following Tuesday. By Friday all the ice had melted but the damage was so severe, things were not back to normal. I tried to shop for trees for a customer on Friday, as that was what I had planned for the day and I was eager to get back to normal. Many businesses including nurseries were closed due to power outages and severe damage. Many traffic signals were still out and lanes were blocked by downed trees and power lines. We had to cancel our Horticulturati recording because Leah’s power was out and my internet was still out last Friday. Nonetheless I was able to shop for and deliver all the trees I promised to my customers. Seeing the progress they are making in their yard really cheered me up.
I have heard a few people mention that tree pruning is key to preventing this kind of damage. I guess that is not an untrue statement. But it’s only one factor.
One of the most common trees in Central Texas is the Live Oak. They are semi evergreen so they have leaves during the winter (they fall off in March and then grow back right away). The extra surface area on these trees with the leaves collects more ice. Plus the weight of the leaves contributes to tension in the branches. Much of the tree destruction in the storm was on Live Oak trees. As much as I love live oak trees, they are over planted we need more tree diversity in our urban forest. I have a Bur Oak and Chinqupin oak in my yard and neither sustained any damage, because they have good branching structure and no leaves.
I’ve also seen a lot of damage on elm trees. Elm trees are wonderful natives and a crucial part of our local forests. They are prone to certain structural defects. Pruning can help prevent these trees from falling apart but eventually they’re all going to fall apart. We got half an inch of ice! No amount of pruning can stop trees from collapsing under that weight.
On Monday on my way to my first appointment I was drivin’ and cryin’. I was thinking about how much I love trees, and how much we need their help in the climate crisis. But at the same time the climate crisis is damaging and killing the trees. The trees are some of the best carbon sequesterers (is that a word?) in the plant kingdom, and having them in our cities cushions the impacts of most storms. But when a storm caused by climate change rips apart the trees…it’s depressing. Today we are expecting thunderstorms which will knock down most of the hanging branches left from the ice storm…may make things even worse. We’ll see!
On a happier note the ice storm did not damage any of my smaller plants. The warmer temps and being encased in ice prevented more cold damage. Some of the stuff that was damaged in December is fine after this one.
Got tree damage and questions? If you lost a big tree and need to re-do the landscaping underneath, that is one of my specialties. Make an appointment today before I get booked up in Spring.
