Hill Walk 14

[motorharp]

This walk through Eastmoreland was not very hilly, but made up for it with flowers* in the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, one of my favorite places.

I learned how aquifers develop and that the Missoula Floods created a perfect environment to store water underground in the Willamette valley. I finally learned what those droopy blobby trees are, but not why they grow like this in Portland. I connected horsetail tea with the plant, which is very primordial-looking. I learned how Dutch elm disease is dealt with in Portland. And finally, I identified bigleaf lindens.

*and ducks

Wood duck

Comments

[gorthx]

So how is Dutch Elm disease dealt with here?

[motorharp]

Every three years the American elm trees are injected with... fungicide?... yes, fungicide in holes drilled into the base of the tree. If a tree does get the disease, it is cut down and disposed of very carefully. Despite that, an average of 35 elm trees are cut down in pdx each year and replaced with hybrids that are more resistant.

And ugh, the fungus basically drowns the tree, or whatever the opposite of that is - it shuts down the tree's vascular system so water can't move up through it. Suffocating? Starving?

[gorthx]

eeewwwwww