JeffL
ArboristSite Guru
For the past few weeks at work, we've been working on a project for Amherst College/Amherst Historic Society removing a "hedge" of Hemlocks along approximately a 1/4 mile of Main St. in Amherst center. From some info I gathered, and a few ring counts by outside contractors, the trees ranged from 110-150+ years old. Most ranged from 6 to 24" in diameter at the root flare, and the vast majority being probably in the 45-60' range. Took us 8 full work days to remove the approximately 200+ Hemlocks, a single large Norway Maple, Black Walnut, and a decent sized White Pine.
This is all part of an effort to reconstruct the look of the mid 1800's Emily ####inson house/museum in Amherst center. There will be a picket fence installed the length of the road frontage, and another hedge of Hemlocks replanted. Many of the existing trees were infected with what I seem to recall being called "long needle hemlock scale" or something to that effect.
What was really surprising were the trees in the yard that were previously hidden from passerby's view that are now fully visible. I went back yesterday to measure a few of them. There are a few impressive pines in the yard, not solely due to height or girth, but the utter lack of taper the trunks have. I didnt measure them (was running out of minutes in the parking meter!) but guesstimate them to be in the 10-11' circumference range, and both probably 110-120' tall. They carry the circumference at breast height likely nearly to the top, where they both appear to have lost tops in the not so recent past. Really beefy looking trees. What I really went for was a beautiful white oak, and the one stand out Tuliptree in amongst a small stand of them.
The tulips are many in this neighborhood, which I never realized until spending the time down here working. The largest I could pick out was 11.3' in circumference, and came out to 123.4' in height. Cant wait to see all the trees to be leafing out again.....
The White oak was impressive. 13.3' CBH, at 73.3' in height, and took my first real rough branch spread. This tree measures out to roughly 114' at its widest branch spread. Beautiful tree....
I then took my "lovely assistant" over to Mt. Holyoke college in S. Hadley, MA, where the entire campus has been declared an arboretum for years now. Was fairly brisk and windy out, so took a quick walk around part of the campus to show her a few of the real standouts for big trees.
One of my favorites on campus is this Dawn Redwood. I didnt want to go raising any eyebrows, so didnt bother with the task of snaking the tape around the trunk for a measurement, but instead got the height and a few pictures. 79' in height, and just an awesome looking trunk....
The picture of the full tree includes a weeping cedar of lebanon in the foreground....
Also stumbled across an impressive trunked Red Oak, at 15.5' x 87.2'.
And one of the larger Sweetgums I've found in the area, only one larger that I've seen so far, that I guesstimate to be in the high 60's or low 70's in height. This one on campus in particular measuring out to 5.2' CBH and 51.5' tall.
The larger Gum is in a yard in Amherst, and may wait till spring and see if I can get permission to measure it from the owners.
This is all part of an effort to reconstruct the look of the mid 1800's Emily ####inson house/museum in Amherst center. There will be a picket fence installed the length of the road frontage, and another hedge of Hemlocks replanted. Many of the existing trees were infected with what I seem to recall being called "long needle hemlock scale" or something to that effect.
What was really surprising were the trees in the yard that were previously hidden from passerby's view that are now fully visible. I went back yesterday to measure a few of them. There are a few impressive pines in the yard, not solely due to height or girth, but the utter lack of taper the trunks have. I didnt measure them (was running out of minutes in the parking meter!) but guesstimate them to be in the 10-11' circumference range, and both probably 110-120' tall. They carry the circumference at breast height likely nearly to the top, where they both appear to have lost tops in the not so recent past. Really beefy looking trees. What I really went for was a beautiful white oak, and the one stand out Tuliptree in amongst a small stand of them.
The tulips are many in this neighborhood, which I never realized until spending the time down here working. The largest I could pick out was 11.3' in circumference, and came out to 123.4' in height. Cant wait to see all the trees to be leafing out again.....
The White oak was impressive. 13.3' CBH, at 73.3' in height, and took my first real rough branch spread. This tree measures out to roughly 114' at its widest branch spread. Beautiful tree....
I then took my "lovely assistant" over to Mt. Holyoke college in S. Hadley, MA, where the entire campus has been declared an arboretum for years now. Was fairly brisk and windy out, so took a quick walk around part of the campus to show her a few of the real standouts for big trees.
One of my favorites on campus is this Dawn Redwood. I didnt want to go raising any eyebrows, so didnt bother with the task of snaking the tape around the trunk for a measurement, but instead got the height and a few pictures. 79' in height, and just an awesome looking trunk....
The picture of the full tree includes a weeping cedar of lebanon in the foreground....
Also stumbled across an impressive trunked Red Oak, at 15.5' x 87.2'.
And one of the larger Sweetgums I've found in the area, only one larger that I've seen so far, that I guesstimate to be in the high 60's or low 70's in height. This one on campus in particular measuring out to 5.2' CBH and 51.5' tall.
The larger Gum is in a yard in Amherst, and may wait till spring and see if I can get permission to measure it from the owners.
