Now that the holidays are over, all of the decorations, including our tree, have come down. The house seems a bit empty without everything, and I really miss the smell of the tree filling the whole house. When I was a kid, we always had a pine tree to decorate. I only remember that once December was over, the branches became deadly pokey things that scratched me as I tried to remove the strings of lights. Once I started to be in charge of finding my own tree, I gravitated toward fir trees. My dad always said that they had a nice handshake.
So when I read that the Canaan fir (one that I love, along with the Fraser fir) was being attacked by the Balsam woolly adelgid, I was concerned. The trees only grow naturally within the Canaan Valley in West Virginia and losing them would greatly change the ecosystem in that area. A lot of the tree farms in Ohio and elsewhere grow these trees. But the adelgid also attacks other trees such as Frasers and conifers. And like the ash borer, the damage that the Balsalm woolly adelgid does isn’t seen until it’s too late.
Bottom line is that both the ash borer and the balsalm woolly adelgid are changing ecosystems. The species that will stand to lose the most are those that are reliant on the trees that those two insects attack. And that bugs me.
Until next time.
Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum 