Today’s photo is courtesy of Photoshop technology. I’ve edited the damaged area so you can’t see what caused, or at least contributed to, the damage:
Now before you complain that I’m cheating (which I am!) keep in mind that what I edited out could have been removed before you were asked to diagnose this injury. I will tell you that it’s not due to pests or disease. As is so often true in real life, there could easily be multiple correct answers. On Monday I’ll provide an untouched photograph and rail against the all-too-common practice that can cause the damage.
Have a great weekend!
Published by
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 an Emerita Professor in the Department of Horticulture. 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 group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors
Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com
View all posts by Linda Chalker-Scott
It looks to me like a linden tree that had something stuck in the side of it, like an address sign or something else along those lines.
Flag pole bracket? Or was this tree wrapped with something? (Looks like there’s a line that goes around the tree at the bottom of the injury – unless this is a photoshop artifact.)
A wild guess it might be a popular. Was it tied to the planting stake too long?
I’m going with John’s idea – someone’s nailed a sign into the tree in the past.
I am going to say it was planted against a fence when it was a sapling.
Kind regards
Tim
I am going to take a wild guess and say screw in tree step….
I tend to agree with Tim. Maybe the tree was notched out to hold a fence rail.