April 27, 2013
Maple budding, October 2012It took me all month to come up with X. I wanted all of my posts to make sense to my blog. How does Xylem make sense?
Well, if you'd asked me moments ago I would've said "Xylem? I'm not going to write about the science of clearing one's throat!" or "I know nothing about where crazy xylophone players go, only crazy clarinetists!"
However, don't worry, that's not what it means.
According to Webster's New World Dictionary Xylem is:
noun
the woody vascular tissue of a plant, characterized by the presence of vessels or tracheids or both, fibers, and parenchyma, that conducts water and mineral salts in the stems, roots, and leaves and gives support to the softer tissues
Origin: Ger < Gr xylon, wood
That's something I can talk a little about. For those that have been long time followers you may remember that photo above.
Yes, that's a maple tree that struggled all summer long to have leaves and then decided to bud in October of last year. It was confused. We were confused.
Why did this happen?
The landscapers that planted the trees a few years ago (before we bought the property) did not take the burlap off of the root ball nor did they take the wire that bound the root ball to the tree trunk for transport. Can't you hear the tree screaming?
Trees get their water and nutrients in the Xylem which runs behind the bark. Trees do not get their nutrients from their whole trunk which I used to think. So as the tree got bigger it was basically getting choked to death.
The wire has since been removed, but the trees are weak at their base so we're still not sure they're going to survive. It makes me angry and sad! It was easily preventable and so much time was lost in the growth of the tree!
However, I am marveling at how hard this tree is fighting to survive. Its internal clock is obviously messed up and it's going to try budding once again!
