When we bought the house, we planted a number of trees and, in one case, two house plants, in the yard. Those houseplants were ficus trees. A tropical plant better suited for indoors, even in central Florida, where occasional freezes can kill them. So when we had a hard freeze in February a few years after we moved in, one of the ficus survived, the other didn't.
The one that did survive grew into a monster. It was more than 20 feet high, and more than 30 feet in spread of its canopy. It hung over the porch as well as the ditch and provided a deep, cool shade for the back of the house. It had a lovely green canopy and long stringers that hung below the trucks. I loved that tree.
Three winters ago we had another hard freeze. There was nothing we could do but watch. The ficus was simply too big to protect. In the days following the freeze it dropped all it's leaves. It wasn't until the next May that we saw signs of life, with green shoots poking out from the trunk. We called a tree service and had it trimmed back, hopeful that it would survive. Chances looked good at that point that it could recover.
Two winters ago, we had another hard freeze. All the new growth from the previous summer was gone. It proved to be too much. Only a small portion of the tree survived this time. As spring warmed to summer, new leaves appeared, but only on the side towards the house. The rest of the tree was dead.
Two woodpeckers took up residence in the dead trunks. One, a red-bellied woodpecker, never did find a mate to share his work. A second, a downy, carved a hole and raised at least one chick.
This summer has been the wettest ever recorded in Florida. Two tropical storms dumped 9 inches of rain more then the average. When Tropical Storm Debby hung out for three days, one of the dead limbs came down, water logged and heavy. It fell towards the park, causing no damage. Tropical Storm, soon to become Hurricane, Isaac also dumped a large amount of rain on the area. All that dry and rotting wood no doubt soaked it all in.
That must have finally been too much for the ficus. As we were starting dinner on Sunday, we both heard and saw it land. All of the living wood from the tree crashed into the back yard leaving only the dead wood standing. Incredibly, it fell in the only place if could have fallen in the yard and not done any damage. It missed the porch by three feet, missed the birdbath by two. It missed the guy-wires for the power pole in the back yard. It even missed Jasmine's statue. It did land on the juniper bush, but I think that will survive.
We had a tree company out the next day and she gave us a reasonable estimate. She'll take the whole thing down, but not grind the stump. Most of the dead roots are already rotted and soft. It won't take Mother Nature long to claim back the spot. We'll have to decide if we want to put anything in it's place. We're going to get a lot more sun on the porch and through the sliding glass. It would be nice to have a little shade back there. We'll see.
And in the mean time, we can watch the sky and the thunderstorm and the rain again. That's something we haven't been able to do since the ficus grew large enough to shade the house. And who knows, if there is still some life left in the stump perhaps it will send out new shoots. Perhaps, like a phoenix it will grow from its own "ashes", consume it's old stump and rise again. Perhaps we'll see shade from it again. And if not, it was meant to be. Mother Nature takes care of her own. She gave us a magnificent tree, and in the end brought her down safely. For that, I will be forever thankful.
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