Water shortage and the “not my tree” syndrome

It’s finally raining here.? And this is unbelievaby welcome given how dry a summer it’s been and how parched our city trees are.? A trip into the country is scarey when you see how profoundly the trees are suffering. Nothing we can do about that but it always amazes me that people will look at city trees and think it’s someone else’s responsibility to keep them watered.

In Toronto, the parks department has money to plant a tree, but nothing in the budget for maintenance.? A state which is close to?criminal.? So unless citizens get out there and water, these poor trees are doomed.? It seems such a small gesture to put a hose near a gigantic 100 year old tree for an hour and let it dribble into one of these magnificent specimens. But the old “not my tree” syndrome seems to be?prevalent.? They are the only things currently cleaning our air. The politicians sure aren’t interested.

The lack of water this summer means that everyone is going to have to?water deeply before we go into winter.? I like to lay the hose on the ground near a tree or shrub and, especially, an evergreen and just let it go very slowly for a couple of hours. This isn’t a huge amount of water but it will have time to percolate through the soil and get below the root systems. This is extremely?important for evergreens since they transpire moisture all winter long.

Everything else in the garden should be well watered too.? And if you’ve got water restrictions keep the watering for the big stuff. Perennials will probably survive but it’s been hard enough on the large trees and shrubs as it is.

The bulbs I mentioned in another blog are gone. But I still have a ticket to the opera Figaro on October 21st (2 p.m. and a fabulous seat). I’m going to be speaking in Ottawa and couldn’t move my ticket to another date because this is one popular opera.? You can e-mail me if you want.

Tomorow I get my iMac set up finally so I’m hoping things will become easier.? Does any part of technology get easier? Do you just shift the complications on to something else?

Thank you for your comments this is very cheering to think someone out there might be reading.

Marjorie