Loosing Shade

Category: Starting and Maintaining the Garden | Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 9:39 am

As spring has progressed it has become evident that something is terribly wrong with our three filbert trees. Two of the three were planted when we first moved here 30 years ago. One year there were three squirrel nests located in the filberts' upper branches, with a half dozen more nests scattered in surrounding trees.

After inspecting some branches we removed from one of the filbert trees and doing a google search it pretty obvious the trees have the Eastern Filbert Blight. The disease is very advanced. They will need to be taken down. Spraying them would endanger our apple trees that are close and there is no way to control neighboring filberts on adjacent lots.

Some of my hydrangea, and rhodies will be happy with the added light and my garden area will get more sun. Some of my woodland plants under the filberts will suffer but survive. I will have to water more in that area during our long dry spell which means $$$. It amazes me how much an established garden can change in just a year. This has definitely impacted the squirrels and jays that feed on the neighborhood filbert trees. I'd wondered why I hadn't seen as many this spring. The trees produced few nuts last year.

I remember when the trees were young we had a raspberry patch in that area. Now ferns, sweet woodruff, pacific bleeding hearts, trilliums and hellebores fill large beds in this area. It will be interesting to see how plants respond to these changes.

I will be looking for a smaller tree or two to replace these three trees with their multiple trunks. Maybe a small pink blooming dogwood or Japanese maple. I will have to look into their susptibilities first. Definitely no more filbert varieties. The blight has greatly affected filbert growers from Oregon up the coast to BC, in Canada. I really liked those nut trees.

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eileen wrote on Wed May 01, 2013 10:23 am:

It's a real shame that your established Filberts have succumbed to blight but, hopefully, once they're removed you'll find other types of trees that will take their place and stay healthy.

Frank wrote on Wed May 01, 2013 11:27 am:

That's a sad story Jewell. It's always a shame to lose an established tree.

Kay wrote on Wed May 01, 2013 12:45 pm:

That's too bad about the Filbert trees Jewell. When they come down (which is sad) then you will have a whole new perspective on the area. It will bring new ideas and adventures in gardening!!

Jewell wrote on Sat May 04, 2013 3:38 am:

I am getting over the trauma of having to have the filberts taken ou.Eileen, Frank and Kay. When I come home I look at other local trees and realize what a big chunk of real estate the filberts take up. I initially planted them because they were trees I grew up with. I also had a magnolia tree outside my bedroom window. I am leaning in that direction at the moment but the fun is in the exploration as much as the decision making.

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