Rewilding My Lot

I am very fond of my Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree that was planted in spring 2023. It thrives in our awful soil and has grown several feet in width and height since it went in the ground here.

Desert Willows are often irregularly shaped, which I think gives them more character. So the fact that the trunk of mine was not vertical didn’t bother me. I expected that other branches would grow in different directions to balance the tree.

However, eventually I began to suspect that it was slowly toppling over. Not only was the wasp nest that I have been watching progressively getting closer to the ground, but also on a windy day I saw the ground moving near the trunk as the tree swayed back and forth.

We do get quite strong winds here and I now had major concerns that my Desert Willow might blow over completely. I really don’t want to lose this lovely tree and its two-year investment in growing.

I had planned to let the aforementioned wasp nest complete its season before removing it, but this “tree emergency” presented a greater and more urgent need, and I had to get rid of the nest immediately. Unfortunately, I made one too many visits to the tree whilst planning what to do next and before I had the chance to change into “battle clothing” (see below) I was stung twice! Anyway, a few squirts of newly purchased wasp killer took care of the nest so then I could focus on my precious Desert Willow. (I try to avoid using insecticides and herbicides here, but this was an exception.)

As an immediate stop-gap to help hold up the tree, I placed a stake as deep as I could in our stony soil and tied the tree to it. I knew, however, that this wasn’t going to be strong enough for a long-term solution, and I didn’t have the tools or strength to insert stakes deep enough.

I also pruned away several of the lower branches, especially on the side that was approaching the ground. I had planned to give this tree its first prune this winter anyway, so I just brought that project forward.

That lightened up the tree and cleared some more space to work and then a friend of mine came to the rescue (thank you, Alberto!).

Instead of pulling the tree up with stakes on the “upwind” side as I had done, Alberto used a post driver to place two stakes on the “downwind” side. Then he attached a bar of wood to the stakes in order to push the tree up and we wrapped a towel around the bar to protect the trunk from being rubbed. After that, I pruned away even more branches to reduce what could be blown around in the wind and gave the roots a good watering to help them settle in after the movement of pushing the tree up.

I wonder if with our soil being so poor and the tree having grown so well this year, perhaps the root system isn’t strong enough yet to support the amount of tree that is above ground. It’s a shame that it has to be supported in this way for probably at least a year, but ultimately I hope that it will be strong enough to stand on its own.