Friday quiz…better late than never!

As you know, I wanted to get something intriguing for this week’s puzzler from the NW Flower and Garden Show.  Alas, there was nothing that jumped out at me, so I’m digging into my photo archives.

Here is a recent photo from a parking lot tree.  About four feet up the trunk, I found this interesting growth.  No, I don’t know what the tree species is because (a) it wasn’t in leaf and (b) I’m a taxonomy klutz.  But I can assure you that the odd bark morphology has nothing to do with genetic identity.

I can also assure you that there is no foreign material under the bark that’s causing this phenomenon.  The question:  what DID cause it?

The answer – and a revealing photo – on Monday!

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Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

6 thoughts on “Friday quiz…better late than never!”

  1. Guy wire left on the tree for quite a bit longer than a year? Wait ’til a high wind takes down the tree right above that girdling point.

  2. That would be my guess too. Wire from staking the tree at planting was left on too long or wrapped too tight. It is repeated or prolonged physical damage of some sort. If the obvious answer is not the reason, maybe it is where a sign or banner is regularly tied and blows in the wind causing the damage.

  3. Yes I agree. I learned something else though. I have always thought it was a guide wire. Thanks for the education in a number of ways.

  4. My guess would be girdling wire or sleeve. It got left on too long, then removed, but the damage will be there for a long, long time. Four feet up is actually kind of high for guy wire. The sign or banner being tied to it seems logical to me.

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