Save the tree

The tree survey we had done on the house before the sale said two trees needed to come down and one needed further investigation.  The first is due to come down tomorrow, or Wednesday, I have forgotten.

Ian is upset.

The tree is gorgeous.  It’s in the corner of the garden, near the house; a beautiful horse chestnut, currently delighting the girls with its harvest of conkers. 

So why take it down?  Simple: the tree has no top, and no middle.  No top means that it won’t come crashing down through the house, though it could do some serious damage to the swimming pool roof, but no middle – according to the tree man – means it might one day peel like a banana.

Ian thinks it must have lost its top some time before the barn was converted to a house and if it’s been standing 35 years without its guts then it can probably stand 35 more.  I’m chicken, a fan of expert opinion.

If we take it down now, before we’ve really got to know it, will we not miss it less than we would after a few years of living in its shade?  Is it not our duty to the garden to help with its regeneration, to plant new trees, to think of the future? 

I have visions of Ian as the new Swampy, camping out up the tree.  But of course it won’t be up the tree – he’ll be in the tree.  Will a man in a tree have quite the impact of a man up a tree?  And it’s at the back of the house so only his wife and children will know he’s there.