So far, we have taken down at least 15 large dead trees as they became safety hazards with the potential for large limbs, or the whole tree, to fall and damage persons or property. Several large water oaks, including the ones with 80+ circumference trunks, were partially hollow inside or have a soft center, meaning the tree was starting rot.
Through much of 2011, we helplessly watched the drought take its toll on Dogwood. Hundreds of trees had brown crispy leaves by mid-summer. In the fall, those brown leaves hung-on to the trees, rather than being shunted as would occur on a healthy tree. When a deciduous tree fails to drop dead leaves in the fall, it is a good sign that the tree, or a portion of the tree, is dead. On many trees the bark began to fall off.
Little grass grew in the pasture spring 2011 and by summer, it was pretty much scorched. There was not enough grass for the cows to eat so we had to buy more hay earlier in the year. Due to the drought, we bought a stash of hay from Mississippi as hay in Texas was already scarce.
The small pond at the top of the hill was dry by June. We took this opportunity try-out the new John Deere tractor and dug the pond a little deeper so that when it did start raining again, we would collect more water. Thankfully, the pond on old Dogwood never went dry, although the water level was lower than we had ever seen it. Since the pond didn’t dry-up like most ponds in the area, there is credence to our theory that this pond may be feed by a small spring or seep.
Even cedar (juniper) trees died, which is amazing as they are so hardy. One large tree by the barn is a huge brown thick mass of dead cedar. According to our cattle foreman, this is the worst drought in memory the local old-timers who have never seen a drought so bad that it killed cedar!
The live oak trees at the top of the hill looked stressed all summer and through the fall. They did not lose all of their leaves, but they shed some due to stress. We noticed the foliage was thinner and not nice deep green. There are a few live oaks that look like they have died, but most at least appear to be hanging-in.
Perhaps related to the drought are early morning coyote sightings this year. Several times after sun-up we’ve seen a coyote (once a pair of coyotes) trotting across the pasture and into woods. Since we have never seen them before this year, we speculate that the coyotes are travelling further from the den for water and food so they are not getting back home until daylight.
Most heartbreaking of all was watching the ranch’s namesake dogwood trees die. The leaves yellowed; were brown by late summer and turned black by fall. Usually in the fall they have little bright red berries along with colored foliage, but not fall 2011. Through the winter the black dry leaves remained on the trees. I tried not to think about what was happening and even avoided going to the dogwood area most of the summer, fall and winter. If I did have to go over there to work on a project, I tried not to look at the trees. I simply ignored what was happening as we were helpless to prevent it but hoped what seemed inevitable would not be true come spring.
Well, it its spring now. Usually by early March, the dogwood trees are about to bloom with delicate white flowers to herald the arrival of spring. Peak blooming is typically the third week in March. This year there are no buds or flowers. There will be no peak blooming week as there will be no blooms at all.
Last weekend, I finally made myself walk over and look at the dogwoods along the creek. When about 10 feet from the largest tree, I thought about how beautiful these trees have been in all seasons, how we would anticipate the spring bloom and plan a party to share the brief dogwood blooming with others, how dramatic the scene looked when the entire stand of dogwoods were in full bloom together and how the honey bees would go nuts for about three weeks collecting pollen. I remembered putting my 90+ year-old grandmother on the back of the ATV and motoring around the property so she could see the blooming white beauties, including taking her down the trail to see the wisps of white blooms deep in the woods – she truly enjoyed both the ride and the trees! We received so much enjoyment from these trees over the years; they are part of what has made Dogwood special and unique. With all of these memories in my head, while I was walking toward the trees still covered with the dead crispy leaves from summer discolored bark, I couldn’t help it folks, I start to cry. How silly, they are just trees, but I just felt sad.
After getting that out of my system as I wiped the tears from my face Ronnie looked over at the dogwoods and said “hey, I see some green on that one.” We took closer look and sure enough, there was a little twig sprouting out on the trunk with a few little green leaves. We surveyed the rest of the dogwoods along the creek and most, not all, had small sprouting green leaves! Some limbs were dead andbreaking off, some of the tree tops had no leaves and some bark was discolored, but on close inspection many of the trees were pushing out little bright green stems with leaves. Back in the woods, the dogwoods that enjoyed more shade during the harsh summer were covered in leaves! Clearly there will be no delicate white blooms this year but perhaps these little trees on the forest edge are tougher than we gave credit. It’s possible that this spring’s effort is their last gasp in a losing struggle to survive after being damaged due to drought, but at least now, combined with recent rains, they have a fighting chance!
