I swear, the tree was grateful

[canetoad]

Spring has just arrived. Probably a little bit late for a radical chainsaw pruning, but I could feel a shudder of relief from my 100 year old old Callistemon when I finished a severe pruning that I began last year when I moved to this house.

Callistemons are Aussie natives but I'm sure they grow in the warmer spots of the US. Native birds and insects love them; pollinator heaven! This poor old tree had been neglected for close on a century. Never trimmed or pruned, sitting cheek by jowl to a NZ Christmas Bush which is a magnificent tree in it's own right.

It was loaded with dead wood. Could hardly raise a flower bud because the poor tree was so bloody short of resources and long on old, tangled wood. I started pruning last winter but the task was too daunting. Original plan was to thin it out but the wood is so twisted and leathery-tough that secateurs just wont do the job. Branches tie themselves in knots and the wood is bendy but not forgiving. It just became too hard, so I threw it a bag of horse manure and put it off for a year. But the tree showed it's appreciation; new, low shoots appeared everywhere. They were green and healthy.

Winter on Bass Strait is not a good time to get the chainsaw out, but today I did and am just THAT proud that a 70 yo gal can still wield a (smallish) chainsaw overhead.

I know, it's an insignificant pic but it represent over a year's work to save this venerable, magnificent old tree which in turn sustains a host of insects, pollinators, endangered possums and god knows what else. I'm sure the tree whispered "thank you" when I'd finished.

[Bayard]

1. I looked it up

Its a bottlebrush tree. I used to see a lot of them in Calif.

I hope your tree gives you lots of new blooms.

[canetoad]

2. Yeah that's what we call it too

Might be a bit late for this summer, maybe not. The stuff I cut off was half dead, half trying to come to life and shoot buds. All cool, even if it takes a year.

[brer cat]

3. Interesting account. You should write more for us!

I'm sure I heard the "thank you" also.

[canetoad]

4. Thanks bc

Maybe I will. I'd never really thought that my observations could be interesting to anyone else, then I come in from a big outdoors job and am so damned SMUG with myself that I want to share.

I know that YOU know what I mean.

[Figarosmom]

5. I bet

It'll be beautiful next year.

[rubbersole]

6. Cool!

[usonian]

7. I used to grow bottlebrushes against the back fence.

I had no idea they grew so big, but my stay at that home was short of 100 years!

I pruned roses for decades. Can't grow them here because they're deer candy, and I'd have to put up massive fencing, and then there are gophers and so on. I'll find a more suitable place, even if I have to grow them in containers, which I've done in the past. I put pruning paint on them (tar) but could never do so for trees.

Good luck with the tree. If you get invasive bugs, or molds contzct an arborist, hopefully free at university or ag agency. We in CA lost tremendous amounts of trees to the pine borer. Many years of drought weakened sap production, and sap defends against the borers.

[2naSalit]

8. When I first moved to...

San Diego was the first time I'd ever seen those. My mom had a couple in her yard, she really liked all the hummingbirds they attract. They're quite popular in California.

[hermetic]

9. Same thing happened to me

I swear, many years ago. In my 20s, recently wed and moved into a house with a big old tree in the front which really needed trimming. So we did that and the next day, getting out of the car and looking at how nice it was now, I felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude coming from that tree. Never felt anything like it before. Like a gut punch. I just stood there, jaw-dropped. Ever since then I've had a great love and respect for trees.

[Arne]

10. Is the wood you cut super hard?

Wondered if it's good for walking stick or even a pipe?