The Old Cottonwood, Like 2020, Is Almost Gone

Dead Cottonwood Tree on December 30, 2020,© Barbara Radisavljevic

This cottonwood tree In Larry Moore Park was showing signs of ill health when I moved here and first photographed it in December 2004. At the time most of the green part of it was mistletoe hanging from the branches. It did still have a few branches with leaves, but not many. You can see the tree's history from 2004 to 2017 here. Now even the mistletoe has given up on it. 

Soon this tree will be history, just as 2020 will be. The sun is setting on this year in a few hours. 

Sunset from Charolais RiverTrail on December 28, 2020,© Barbara Radisavljevic

Let's hope 2021 will be happier than this one has been, but that is in God's hands. I hope the pandemic will be over and we will have more, not less, freedom to move and do business again as usual. 

Is This the Last Photo of This Tree I Will Be Able to Take? © Barbara Radisavljevic, 12/30/2020

Happy New Year!

Will This Tree Survive?

A Cottonwood Tree with a History at Larry Moore Park

I have been observing this particular cottonwood tree since about 2004 as I pass it on my walks through Larry Moore Park in Paso Robles It's shape is so unique you can't miss it. It stands alone near where the trails in the park intersect. This is how it looked on October 14, 2017. I will now share the photos I've been taking through the years for comparison.

As you can see, the tree is in bad shape. See how much bark is gone? Very few branches are still alive, if any. Every storm breaks off more branches. It looks as though this year the city may finally be taking better care of the tree.

A Pictorial History of the Cottonwood Tree

This is my first photo after my mom moved near the park and I started walking there. I was still using a camera that left a lot to be desired. You can see that even back then park maintenance was inferior. Most of the tree is dead, and most of what's green is mistletoe.

My First Photo of the Cottonwood, August 9, 2004

My pictorial history has a gap between 2004 and 2010 when I got the computer I use now. It seems a lot of photo history has vanished. But we will pick it up again in 2010. I have put the dates on the photos for easy comparison.  I'm not sure when the picnic table was put under the tree. I think I may see it through the branches on the right.

By March 2011 there is definitely a picnic table and the branch covering it in the 2010 photo no longer has leaves, even though it's March. It's very likely the leafy branch suffered storm damage. Or all the leaves died over winter and are just beginning to come back. The branch at the top right appears to be beginning to get leaves. The bright green is mistletoe.

It's now January, 2012. The shot below looks north toward the trail that goes east to west through the park near the river. You can see the trail and the back of the sign that faces the trail -- the same sign you see in the picture above that faces in the opposite direction.

Below is a cropped version of the photo above for a closer look. It's hard to tell if I'm seeing the top of an intact picnic table on the left. Again, the green is all mistletoe.

By December 2013 vandals have carried off the top of the picnic table leaving only the supports. It appears there are some leaves on the tree.

It's now August 3, 2014. The tree is happily in leafy foliage again,  though the mistletoe is still bothering it. The picnic table is gone, and it appears some of the dead branches have also been carted off. Perhaps the homeless who were living in the riverbed took it to use for firewood.

It's now October 2014. There are some remnants of the picnic table. The leaves have turned brown and the mistletoe has taken over again, but even it is beginning to die, especially at the top.

Here's a closer look. You can see the spot where a branch broke off.

2015

It appears I did not get many walks in the park in 2016. We had to make a lot of day trips that year that took us out of town.  The closest I can get to 2016 is this photo taken on January 9, 2017 between rain storms.

I end this history of the cottonwood tree this month, on October 14, 2017. I'm hoping this tree will last a few more years. I hope you've enjoyed the journey.

Is there a tree you have watched closely over several years?

A Spooky Cottonwood Tree in the Park

Spooky Dying Cottonwood Tree, © B. Radisavljevic

I usually never have time to take a walk before late afternoon when there are shadows and the sky can be getting darker. This is especially true on cloudy days such as October 14, when I took these photos of the old cottonwood tree at Larry Moore Park. It's a dying tree and is already beginning to look a bit spooky.

One Live Branch Left on  Cottonwood Tree, © B. Radisavljevic

This second photo shows more of the tree. I focused here on the one living branch that is still green. Most of the mistletoe on this tree is even dead or dying. A bit more of this tree dies every year. I will miss it when it's finally gone.

Does Your Dog Climb Trees?

Every now and then when I'm out walking I see something that makes me question my eyes. This is what I saw one day while walking past the old cottonwood tree at the north end of Larry Moore Park -- a dog who had climbed a tree. When I asked the man if the dog had really climbed the tree, he said he had. Then a passer-by said her dog had also climbed that same tree.

This reminded me of a book by Farley Mowat that thoroughly entertained me -- The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. Mutt was Farley's companion during his childhood on the prairies of Canada. Mutt did all sorts of things most dogs don't, including climbing trees and ladders.

 If you love dogs or humorous memoirs, I highly recommend this book. Although it was written for adults, it's fun for a family to read aloud together. Even upper elementary age children would be interested in it if they love laughing and animals and most seventh graders can read it themselves.

Have you ever seen a dog climb a tree?

There is Little Life Left in this Old Cottonwood Tree

This cottonwood tree has been important to me since I first started walking in Larry Moore Park years ago - at least ten years ago. I have seen teens climb this tree, and, yes, I even saw a small dog climb this tree. But I'm afraid that one day it will share the fate of trees closer to the river and completely die. As you can see, only one section of the tree is still alive -- the bright green section in the center of this photo.

In this photo o the right, you can see the one branch that still seems to be healthy and putting forth new shoots. I took this shot from a different position so I could get a closer look at it.

Unfortunately this tree is the victim of drought and mistletoe. The cottonwood trees right next to the river are still fairly healthy because their roots can reach deep and get water. But the mistletoe appears to be sucking all the nutrients from this poor tree. It lost a large branch a couple of years ago in a storm.

This last shot gives you a closer look at the deadly mistletoe at the end of one branch. It's the largest clump, but you can see in the top photo that it's not the only clump. Except for this branch with new leaves, all the rest of the green on the tree is the mistletoe that's killing it.

We have mistletoe on most large trees in our county, and many are also adorned in Spanish moss. Do you have either of these growing on trees where you live?

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Two Cottonwood Trees with Character at Larry Moore Park

Neglected Cottonwood Tree

Larry Moore Park is a wonderful place to see a variety of trees in all states of growth and damage. I personally think the damaged ones are more interesting.

Their suffering at the hands of wind, storm, and lightening have given them character that distinguishes them from the other trees in the park. Often the trees are just skeletons and the only green thing about them is the mistletoe that feeds on them.  Such is the tree in the photo here, which was taken in winter about four years ago. Except for all that mistletoe, it was still pretty much intact.

Above is that same tree on March 4 last year, from the other side. You can see its broken branch, much of it still on the ground. It gets worse and worse every year. No one seems to care. The trees closer to the river are just left to disintegrate when they fall,  but they are a bit better at hauling off parts of this tree a few months after the branches break off. Maybe that's because it's in the middle of the park near the trail. Even the vandalized picnic bench has not been fixed in over a year.

Another Cottonwood in the Park

Today I shot this picture of a cottonwood tree near the other end of the park. It's actually not in the park itself, but on private property next to the park on the cul-de-sac.  It is beginning to leaf out with new growth, but you can see it's also been reshaped a bit by nature. It is very close to the south entrance of the park at the end of Riverbank.