lucretiaborgia wrote:
>
>The heavy storm arrived here yesterday and last night, mixed in with
>another storm and although it has brought much needed rain for filling
>wells (apparently record amounts in one go) many people, including my
>son, are without power and lots of trees are down - my grandson lost a
>beautiful old apple tree - we were sitting under it for shade a few
>weekends ago, but it's gone now. Took part of the garage with it.

Why pray tell do people insist on having large trees slose to
structures? There should be no tree should it fall be able to reach
your house, garage, or outbuildings. When I first moved here there
were several very large trees growing right next to the house. I
wasn't here two weeks that I had them all taken down. I've planted
many more trees but none near the house that could possibly grow
large. There are many gorgeous trees that grow less than 15 feet
tall. Apple trees grow fast, plant another but be sure it's a
semi-dwarf, it'll provide shade but fruit trees are not meant to be
shade trees due to when properly pruned they have an open structure
plus why would anyone want to sit under a tree that attracts all kinds
of insects? Semi-dwarf apple trees will produce far more apples than
a family can possibly use plus they are much easier to harvest...
commercial fruit orchards plant semi-dwarf trees, they are easier to
prune and to harvest. I'd rather have 2-3 semi-dwarf apple trees than
one full size (standard) apple tree... they need a pollenator anyway.