WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
Hurricane Helene ripped through Asheville on the night of September 27/28 and I am sure you have seen the videos and news reports of the impact here. Although about 60-70% of the houses in my neighborhood ended up with trees on them, we were lucky and escaped without any damage other than a few tree limbs in the yard. Also because the neighborhood is not in a floodplain or on a steep slope there was no flood damage or landslides. However we lost electricity, phone, water, and internet connections, plus with the damage to I26 and I40 we were initially stranded in Asheville. However by Monday the 30th I had managed to find a gas station and filled the tank and one lane of I40 eastbound was cleared so on Oct 1 we drove out for my in-laws on the Outer Banks of NC right behind the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kill Devil Hills. They put us up for 2 weeks until today (Oct 15) when we headed back home. We got back in a 8 hour drive to find the house still undamaged with power, cell phone service, and internet restored and enough water pressure to live on (coming in at 25 PSI compared to the normal 60).
My next door neighbor had kindly watched over my trees for the last 2 weeks and it looks like he did a pretty good job, but one of my bald cypress and a water elm have brown crispy leaves so I am unsure about their survival—we’ll see in the spring. The trees in the greenhouse did well being out of the wind and in a high humidity environment. And all the trees in big pots managed to get through OK. I was especially happy that my JBP in pots sunk in the ground looked great so I suspect they sent roots down into the subsoil. I’ll be moving them into the greenhouse for winter so we’ll see then when I lift them. So all in all not a bad result given the common horror stories of depending on friends and neighbors to water your trees plus the alternative was to leave them to their own devices. I did take one small JBP with me just to make sure I had one left after the turmoil.
Of course the best part is no one in the neighborhood was hurt and the recovery of basic services was rapid which is a lot better that many in the outlying areas and along floodplains. It will take years for some communities that were wiped out to rebuild assuming they are able to.
My little JBP sunning itself in the warm sun of the Outer Banks
One of my neighbor’s house took a direct hit from a big pine tree which collapsed his carport roof onto his truck but luckily left his house undamaged. I think he has about 10-15 trees out behind his house that need removal or are hanging up on other trees. Well over half the houses in the neighborhood had similar damage.
My next door neighbor had kindly watched over my trees for the last 2 weeks and it looks like he did a pretty good job, but one of my bald cypress and a water elm have brown crispy leaves so I am unsure about their survival—we’ll see in the spring. The trees in the greenhouse did well being out of the wind and in a high humidity environment. And all the trees in big pots managed to get through OK. I was especially happy that my JBP in pots sunk in the ground looked great so I suspect they sent roots down into the subsoil. I’ll be moving them into the greenhouse for winter so we’ll see then when I lift them. So all in all not a bad result given the common horror stories of depending on friends and neighbors to water your trees plus the alternative was to leave them to their own devices. I did take one small JBP with me just to make sure I had one left after the turmoil.
Of course the best part is no one in the neighborhood was hurt and the recovery of basic services was rapid which is a lot better that many in the outlying areas and along floodplains. It will take years for some communities that were wiped out to rebuild assuming they are able to.
My little JBP sunning itself in the warm sun of the Outer Banks
One of my neighbor’s house took a direct hit from a big pine tree which collapsed his carport roof onto his truck but luckily left his house undamaged. I think he has about 10-15 trees out behind his house that need removal or are hanging up on other trees. Well over half the houses in the neighborhood had similar damage.
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