All that remains of my fallen ash

A cross-section of my fallen ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) – colour enhanced in Photoshop

Well then, let’s get this over with. The tree men have come and gone and the garden is now safe again after my biggest ash tree was blown down by Storm Aileen.

Here are some pictures taken for posterity…

The tree men have left the steps up to the garden very clean, sweeping them with the branches as they carried them away for chipping

A lot of logs – we don’t use this part of the garden, so have no problem with such a huge habitat pile!

The stump of the fallen ash – you can see it was on top of a slope, so awkward to get at

The ash was rotten inside and broke off rather than pulling up its root-plate

The interior of the trunk is dead

Lots of rotten wood

A big shard of timber

The inside of one of the two main trunks

A pair of half-slices

Another hollow with sawdust

The top end of the stump

It was just about possible to count the annual rings…

…especially by enlarging the image and deepening the contrast

I worked out that the tree was about 100 years old. It’s amazing to think it was a sapling during World War I, at a time when it was in a hedgerow around a field. I guess most of the remaining young ash trees in the garden are its children.

A surviving ash

Silver branches

A gold-spotted laurel (Aucuba) and a Mahonia just about survived the onslaught…

…and a healthy plain laurel

Ivy still clings to a log

A vertical section

Missed a bit … this branch shaped like a witch’s broom still rests on top of a tall sycamore maple tree (Acer pseudoplatanus)

We are really grateful to everyone at Tree Control for their efficiency and hard work (as usual, as they have been here before). The initial estimate was that it would take three days and we were dreading it, but they brought five men and managed it in a day, despite the short hours of daylight at this time of year. They will come back if I want any of the logs removed, but I am happy to leave them at the moment.

All that remains

Looking on the bright side, it meant we got rid of two boring evergreen shrubs that were in the way – a Lonicera nitida and a conifer. We also did some spring-cleaning of the garage to provide access – something that was long overdue!