I went out back yesterday, and in addition to experiencing the ridiculous heat index of 100 plus degrees Fahrenheit, I experienced dismay at seeing cottonwood tree leaves. Yellow and on the ground. My six-year-old trees, stressed to the max, and it’s only mid-July. Darn.
Cottonwoods, native to the Midwest, typically lose leaves in late summer or early fall. Or when it’s extremely dry or unusually hot. No, it’s not late summer. But the heat and lack of rain has caught up with the trees. They’ve shed about 10 percent of their leaves, which helps the tree survive. All the extension office websites I checked agree that the trees aren’t in danger. Yet.
Is there a lesson in that? For me? For you? For the country?
‘Nuff said.
We get so much “cotton” in town that it looks like snow on the edges of the streets. They are amazing trees. Many here in this part of the country have been here since the days of the stagecoach.
These are cottonless cottonwoods. Male trees according to extension. Yellow leaves but nothing else.
It’s that “They’ve shed about 10 percent of their leaves, which helps the tree survive.” part that caught my eye. There’s my personal lesson. Lighter is better. Less is more.
Yes mostly. Although sometimes less is less. Like commas. Where have all the commas gone?
Long live the Oxford comma!