Tree Dude came yesterday to take out the dead pin oak and the branch supporting it. He had some free time, so he was able to get here before a week from Friday, when he’d said he could. I’ll take it!

Why I’m not a Tree Dude. Yikes!

Lots more sun down there. Tree Dude is skilled enough that he avoided all of my American mountain-ash, and both tiny persimmons, even though they were in the way.

When he cut the dead oak, the branches just fell like bricks, landing in a flattened pile. A few more storms and it might have ended up on someone’s head…like mine! With the weight of the top gone, the root ball shifted back. Maybe there’ll be more water in the creek now.

C gave me another Mexico Midget that wanted out of its pot in a desperate way, so I didn’t make it wait. Had to use pine bark mulch because I still haven’t got more cypress.

I was able to get the last four faterpillars to eat pipevine after the snakeroot was completely gone. The instinct to eat-eat-eat was so strong that they were tasting my hand as I carried them over. They ate a lot in roughly 12h, but I think they’re close enough that most of my pipevine will be uneaten.

I treated the stump of the crabapple, hopefully soon enough after it was cut. Tree Dude said it had carpenter ants, which is never a sign of a healthy tree!