I think that I shall never see.......

I am sure many of you have read the poem, "Trees" by Alfred Joyce Kilmer. 'But let me refresh those of you who may have forgotten or may never have had the opportunity to read it during your poetry portion of high school English class. It reads as follows:

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed, Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

As much as I love this poem I believe there should be another version that reads as follows.

I think the poem should really read like this....

I wish that I would never see volcano mulch around a tree.
A tree whose lovely trunk would sigh because it has mulch piled two feet high,
A tree that beseeches someone to please ; Remove the dirt or mulch below its knees:
A tree that in Summer wears this pile that only makes a landscaper smile,
Upon whose roots much dirt is lain; Who live is choked out before next season's rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, But most self proclaimed landscrapers can kill a tree.

Each year I have the deep desire to place tree planting instructions in the mailboxes of those homes that have newly planted trees. I know you have seen them. These are the trees that have lots of dirt or mulch piled up around the trunk. Sometimes they are the trees that are actually planted on a mound of dirt. I would love to know what idiot came up with this idea. And like the Pied Piper, everyone seems to follow suit.

When I moved into my home almost six years ago, every large species tree had about 20 inches of dirt piled up around its trunk. And to make it all better, pachysandra was planted on top to make it look oh so pretty. My husband and I spent weeks carefully removing the dirt around the tree and exposing the flare again.

A landscaper hired by the school district that I work for came in and started mounding mulch around every tree on the school campus where I work. I asked him why he was doing such a practice and he said that he has been landscaping for twenty years and he has been doing this procedure without any harm. I told him that he probably never came back twenty years later to see the damage. He basically told me were to go and it was not back to work. I figured the next best step was to educate the buildings and grounds people about the practice. Armed with lots of literature, I was able to get my point across. Several days later the landscapers were back cursing and kicking the piles off the trees.

A person in my neighborhood planted a large oak tree last summer after losing a big tree to a strong wind storm. He planted the tree about a foot above ground level and on a two by two foot mound. On that he loaded lots of mulch. This spring the tree had total die back and is now putting out epicormic branching or lower level sprouts in a last ditch effort to survive. This tree will most likely not be here next year.

A few years ago I watched a beautiful Japanese maple in the yard across the street from dad's home suddenly leaf out only to have all the leaves shrivel up and die. Upon further inspection I found dirt and ivy piled up around the base of the trunk. The bark was chewed off around the entire circumference of the trunk. The tree was done. No nutrients or water were being supplied to the upper parts of the tree. I told the homeowner to remove it. Later that day her sister came over and placed netting around the base to protect it from the future attach of critters. The tree sat the entire summer in hopes that it would revive. One day while visiting my dad I noticed the tree had been removed. His neighbor finally accepted the fact that the tree had died. Unfortunately neither of these trees should have died had the homeowner or landscaper followed correct planting and maintenance procedures.

Here are some tips to help your trees survive.
1. Be aware of the size and location. Quite often homeowners do not take in consideration the location, size or needs of a tree. Be aware of water requirements, planting too close to home foundations or overhead power lines. I have a beautiful white dogwood that was planted by a former owner about three feet from my house. Although it is surviving, it has to be carefully pruned each year and given proper watering and nutrients to help stay healthy. I am sure that it will eventually die because it is in a bad location.

2. Plant your tree's flare at ground level. The flare is where the roots meet the trunk of the tree. You should see the flare when planting. Planting above or below ground level can cause the tree to die.

3. Never add more than two or three inches of mulch around the perimeter of your tree annually. Tree roots are usually grow in the top foot or two of ground. Too much extra dirt or mulch can stress the tree and limit water to get to roots.

4. Never pile mulch against the trunk of a tree. This allows a place for insects and rodents to harbor and cause structural damage to the bark. Also excessive moisture against the bark can cause it to rot and decay.

Here are some additional sites about proper tree care:
http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/extension/documents/2006/volcanomulch.pdf
http://www.gdnctr.com/ads/volcano_mulch.pdf
http://forestry.georgetown.org/mulching-101/