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…

Read Full Post »

Exploring a fallen giant…

The fallen ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) in my garden

I mentioned in the October tree-following link-box blog that the biggest ash tree in our garden had been felled by Storm Aileen on the night of September 12-13. After the tree surgeon came to inspect the damage I went to have a closer look at the fallen giant and spent half an hour “communing” with it and taking pictures.

It felt like I was stroking a beached whale as it died.

Read Full Post »

Autumn gold from the ashes of summer

Golden ash in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, on October 2, 2014

I found autumn the other day, in a usually unvisited quarter – the very far corner of Llandaff Fields in Cardiff, right beside the main road.

Here stand a row of golden ash trees. Not just

Read Full Post »

Ash: The world-binding tree…

My ash trees in June…

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn good sirs,
All on a midsummer’s morn.
Surely we sing of no little thing
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

My back garden – my world – is full of ash trees. And I fear for them, as the threat

Read Full Post »