1 Aug 1, 2012 - the turning point for our front lawn and gardens. This Siver Maple, planted sometime before 1920, has dominated our home since it was constructed in 1941. It is a city tree and has been slated to be cut down. On this morning the tree drinks in the morning sun for the last time before it is felled.
2 A google street view from 2009 shows the tree already reduced from its full size as we first found it in 1999, when we moved in.
3 This google street view from the west side hints at the original character of the nieghbourhood. For much of the second half of the twentieth century, with maples having been planted sometime before 1920 on every lot, there would have been a glorious canopy over our street and its two side streets. All of the large trees shown here are now gone.
4 In our backyard, the maple tree had always been a towering backdrop for the house.
5 March 2008 - another of ninety winters in the life of a this tree, rising up in the corner of an otherwise flat front lawn.
6 In October of 2009 I put my 32' extension ladder into the tree and climbed up to see what there was to see. I was worried about tree rot and could see evidence from the ground that there were holes and hollows. This confirmed my suspicians.
7 March 2011: a tree crew has come in and trimmed the tree of rot.
8 What remains is a shadow of its former self, but still magnificent.
9 April 28, 2011: In spite of the trimming a month ago, another branch has come down in a wind storm and knocked out our hydro again. This was probably the last straw for the city. The tree was now living on borrowed time.
10 The Silver Maple is huge, with a base that is six feet across from side to side and four feet, front to back.
A City Home