From above ground, it was the picture of health! Both of us, each with over 40 years of experience saving trees, looked at our 60’ Blue Spruce and never suspected that it was vulnerable. However, as we drove through town we noticed more Spruce trees down than any other species. Now we had to ask, why, what was going on?

Backyard Wisdom - March/April 2022
by: Gilbert A Smith, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist

I’m sorry to say it, but we had to take this tree down for safety reasons. But, it has a story to tell us, from the inside out!

This Norway Maple landed as a “whirly bird” seed on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan in Lake Forest in 1960. I counted the annual rings as best I could. I guess everyone knows how to count the tree rings to determine the age of a tree. In April 2019 in our Wisdom From The Trees article Lesley and I talked about how trees grow and how they heal. Also Aldo Leopold, in his famous book, The Sand County Almanac explained the history in the rings of a tree.