Late last summer four Port Orford Cedar trees by our house died from a root fungus disease. We weren’t very surprised, since one Port Orford had already died of the same problem in 2012. Our tree guy took two down in late November and finally got back to us this week to drop the remaining two.
I’m glad these tree are gone as they were way too close to the house for comfort. We have four more cedars by the house that haven’t been affected yet (only two are Port Orford’s). Hopefully they will stay healthy.
The area where the trees died is a warm season roosting site for Turkey Vultures. At one time I had wanted to use this area as a shade garden. However, each summer vast quantities of poop fall from the trees and coat the ground, thus making it a less than ideal space to lounge.
The nice thing about removing all the dead cedars is that it finally highlights our beautiful Sequoia tree. We plan on acidifying the soil (good for moss/conifers/rhodies and bad for grass) and planting a lot of rhododendrons along with some Dogwoods. Mowing through vulture poop all summer isn’t a job I wish to continue.
