tamarack

That's what I've read, and even if that was only true in the central/southern Apps region, it's still quite possible that chestnut was once the most abundant single species east of the Big Muddy. Despite the immense forest trauma, nature abhors a vacuum and other species, mainly oaks but also hickories, maples, etc., quickly filled in. That same outcrossing was done on the state's Topsham lot for 3 years beginning early in this millenium, though probably with less hybridized male pollen. Unfortunatley, that female tree has died, and though there's no proof, I think that opening up the area around it to gain natural regeneration (an action I fully support, as we've done it for chestnut elsewhere) may have facilitated the inoculant's reaching a 60-year-old specimen that had shown no prior signs of disease.

Looks good. Those horizontal branches tend toward a downward angle as time goes on, I think more for gaining sunlight than due to weight.

Just getting them off the tree without piercing one's hands is a challenge, and once those spines soften the least bit, squirrels are all over them. I learned this about 25 years ago when trying to collect nuts from a 1962 planting on our Hebron lot. (Alas, all are blighted and gone.) First day I tried, I had no hand protection and chose not to bleed. 2 days later I was better prepared but the squirrels had beaten me to it - nothing but husks remaining, all on the ground. The next year I managed to gather about 20 burrs (wrecked one nut opening a burr and rather than pitch it, had a taste - quite sweet, even w/o roasting.) Planted about 30 nuts on the Topsham lot, but between deer and blight, only one still survives.

A staff forester found several chestnuts, some 60 feet tall, on a state lot about 25 miles NNW from BGR. He had the harvesters cut small patches immediately south of the better specimens, to encourage reproduction. The tactic worked, but unfortunately the biggest of the "adult" trees has died from blight. I've read that oaks can harbor the pathogen without being harmed, so the stuff remains in the environment long after all chestnuts in an area are gone. There are still a few on the state lot in Topsham, but the biggest are either dead or dying.

Sorry, can't be much help on this one - Maine isn't hickory-friendly. We had 3-4 kinds of hickory in NNJ though shagbark was easily the most abundant. Maine has very few native hickories, probably all shagbark, and the closest is along Route 1 in Woolwich, on the midcoast. There's 3 planted ones - 2 shagbark and one of the smooth-barked species (mockernut?) at the north end of Mile Hill in New Sharon, plus some smaller trees that were likely from the original 3, whether planted or naturalized. I've never stopped to look for nuts, or husks, as squirrels probably know to the minute when the nuts are table-ready. Edit: Just found out, from Forestry's "Forest Trees of Maine", that bitternut hickory (C. cordiformis) is found, though rarely, in extreme southern Maine, so maybe that's the smooth-barked specimen noted above. None of the other 4 in your pic show ranges north of Mass. Edit #2: There are records stating that, prior to the blight, one of every 4 hardwood trees east of the Mississippi was an American chestnut. Whether or not that's factual, the elimination of the species as a factor in the Eastern forest is probably the region's highest ecological impact on forests in thousands of years. Due to chestnut's rot resistance, dead snags stood for decades after the disease swept through. My wife lived most of her teen years, (mid 60s into early 70s) in a log cabin built from standing dead chestnut trees about 1930, perhaps 15 years after the trees had died.

The MNAP guidebook control methods for common buckthorn are almost the same - only difference is that Garlon is not mentioned for foliar application, though it's there for cut-stump.

Looks like glossy buckthorn - its equally invasive exotic cousin has 4-petal flowers and yours has 5. Repeated pre-seed cutting can work, if you get it all and do it for at least 3 years. (Guidebook from Maine Natural Areas Program: "...diligence is required.") If herbicides are an option, either glyphosate (Roundup - I use its off-patent knockoff "Eliminator", which I've bought at Wal-Mart) or Triclopyr (Garlon.) Foliar application of either works well, as does cut-stump application except in spring when sap is moving upward. The ester formulation of Garlon, in bark oil, can also be applied to the base of the bark in any season. (Source: Same MNAP guidebook)

I've managed to kill the usually tough lupines in 2 places, my current locale and at our 1st house in Fort Kent. IIRC, the culprit here was plow-scalping (by the town) of the late-Feb slopfest in 2010, one more reason to hate that "winter." In Fort Kent, we planted lupines in the side yard shortly after moving in during May 1977 and got nice blossoms 3 years, just a few in 78 but lots the next 2. Then came Feb 1981, in which CAR tied its high temp for the month twice and exceeded it 7 times. The lupines failed to make an appearance that spring, so I guess the thaw went deep enough so that the subsequent sub-zero mornings on bare ground did them in. Edit: Spent the last week with family in SNJ - EF-0 just 8 miles to our NNW (Mullica Hill), closest I've been to a confirmed tor. We had little wind and not even a rumble. Looked for EAB and Gypsy moth evidence on the drive down (too much RA to see much on yesterday's return trip.) Patches of dead ash all thru CT/NY/NNJ. Also dead/sick oak, mostly S.MA and N.CT, but zero sign of current Gypsy moth feeding and even with this year's somewhat delayed phenology the defoliation should've been visible if significant. (Route thru MA/CT was 495/290/Pike/84. Nothing on I-684 nor Saw Mill River Pkwy in NY nor any of the NJ highways we traveled. either.)

Since Autumn Blaze is a hybrid between red and silver maples, its seeds would probably share characteristics of each. Red maple seeds are among the lightest of any maple while those of silver are among the heaviest, 10-15 times as heavy as red maple. As you've noted, red maple seeds have reddish wings. Silver maple wings tend toward lime green. Maybe if you mixed paint of similar colors, it would be some shade of brownish? Sugar maple is 3-4 times heaver than red, 1/3-1/4 the weight of silver. If there are any Norway maples around, they produce big seed crops of relatively large seeds which drop about the same time as those of red maple.

I'd call it midsummer, and the maples tend to drop all their seeds over a relatively short period. White ash is different - seeds mature mid-late summer but many hang on into winter. Looks to be a huge crop for them this year, maybe like 1992 when the north side gales around the December bomb covered our entire yard with ash seeds (and not a single snowflake), at least 20 per sq.ft., and next spring it was like every one germinated.

Probably 3-4 weeks after the red maple onslaught. And big seed years tend to be high-viability percentage as well.

Some red maples look half leafed-out due to all the branch space occupied by seeds, which should start flying here soon. (And some trees, brown ash in particular, still look half-leaved because - late.) Looks like lots of trees are producing big seed crops - the pine across from the house, numerous female white ash, and every apple tree in the area (assuming pollination gets it done.)

The close-up pic helps, though I'm not a good enough entomologist to ID the critter. Since it appears hairless, like an inch worm, maybe winter moth? That's an invasive from across the pond that's been chewing up trees in southern Maine. However, the season's massive green salad is a smorgasbord for all kinds of insects, some native and some from away.

Looks "dogwood-ey" thanks to those veins curving toward the leaf tip, a characteristics of the genus. Almost the only tree group with leaf veining like that. Bark isn't like that of the native flowering dogwood, which usually doesn't flower until it's a bit bigger than yours. It's also a touchy tree to raise and transplant. Most nurseries would be more likely to have Kousa dogwood, an Asian species that flowers (eventually.) All that said, I can't say exactly what kind of tree, other than it almost certainly isn't found in the Maine woods. Edit: Desktop, so can't see the critter on Kev's oak.

Quick and dirty way to estimate whether that tree will reach the pen. One needs a straight stick about 30" long. Standing with back to pen, hold the stick horizontally at arm's length with the near end against the nose, as close to the eye as is safe. Without moving the hand closer, rotate the stick to vertical, align where it leaves the hand with the base of the tree. If the treetop extends above the top of the stick, the pen is within reach. Same can be done with other possible "targets." (Similar right triangles) Apple trees are peaking with blossoms this year. It's a great year for the blossoms. Some years I don't have many blossoms and some years I do. So lots of apples for the deer. Last summer was very dry as I missed almost every thunderstorm. Wonder if they were stressed and that helped this season? Don't trees/flowers produce more fruit after a stressful time. Will have to Google that... My Haralred, the most proctive of our 3 by far, is absolutely covered with blossoms. The Ultramac and Empire look to have loads as well though they're just beginning to open. (Can't recall having them all blossom so late before.) Last year we had considerable blossoms on all 3, though not nearly as prolific as now, and there appeared to be good fruit set. Unfortunatley, all but about 2 dozen on the Haralred and a couple each on the others suffered premature drop during the superhumid period in July - maybe the wx favored some fungal disease as the cause, but I don't really know.

My thoughts: Since it's a double tree, things get complicated. Perhaps the cut should be made as close to the ground as feasible, despite all the extra cutting needed. Those twin stems kind of keep either one from going to the right by itself. If there's room to tip the left stem toward the camera, I'd do that first, cutting about 2' above the old stump to keep the right stem from interfering. First thing I'd do is tie a stout rope to the tree, preferably around both stems (unless the left one can be dropped first) and as high as safely possible, with the other end to a solid anchor, like another sizable but living tree. If a come-along is available, I'd tie a loop in the rope such that, when the tag end was firmly lashed to the anchor and the line from tree to tree was taut, the loop would be almost out to full come-along extension. That way the winch can be used without releasing from the anchor. --Here's how I was taught to safely dump a tree against its lean: Make a normal front notch; I'd recommend open face (90° angle between top and bottom of notch) to help control the fall all the way to the ground. Then make a plunge cut 1-2" behind the notch, making sure there's at least an inch (or 2 with a dead tree) of hinge wood remaining. Then continue the plunge cut toward the back of the tree, stopping 2-3" from going all the way. Then do another plunge cut from the back side 3-4" below where the 1st one would've come out, making sure that 2nd cut covers the "footprint" of the wood left at the back of the tree by stopping plunge cut #1. With the tree held by the hinge and the wood in back, drive a wedge into the 2nd plunge cut (on a big tree I've needed 2, struck alternately, and maybe sprayed with WD-40 first.) The wedging will split the wood between 1st and 2nd plunge cuts and tip the tree in the desired direction. Sounds complicated, but with the rope for safety and the tree never resting on less than 2 spots until it falls, things should go okay. ("Should" requires some "splaining", as Ricky would tell Lucy. I did this procedure on a large ash - 16" by 80' - and unfortunately there was hidden rot that compromised about half the hinge, all one side. The hinge failed and allowed the tree to fall not toward its lean, but sideways away from the rot, where it solidly lodged in another ash. If you see interior rot when you make the front notch, leave a wider hinge, especially behind the rotten part.)

When visiting the Minnesota Arboretum some years back, I saw a Mongolian birch (Latin name forgotten) about 20 feet tall and 6" diameter. It had beautiful copper-gold bark, as pretty as any tree I've seen. Is your birch like that?

The description fits the Eastern tent caterpillar but the picture looks more like the forest tent caterpillar. The latter doesn't make visible tents, and in an outbreak can defoliate whole forest. They prefer aspen but will eat all broadleafed trees. The early 1980s outbreak in N. Maine/NB had these critters being called "army worms." People would open a door and a hundred would crawl in, causing some folks to move away temporarily. Squished caterpillars stopped a few trains from climbing grades. I have a coupe of hickories that I planted out back, but those take awhile to grow and don't do well with transplanting since they have a monster tap root. I laso planted a yellow birch and a tulip poplar, but the tulip is another fast growing tree that drops a lot of branches over its lifetime. Tulip trees drop branches, but they're not in the same league as weeping willow for that. Wood of tulip tree is about as weak as silver maple but the former's vertical growth habitat makes it less likely to break from ice or wet snow. There's a large one - 30"+ diameter and 70'+ tall, in downtown Farmington (Maine) that doesn't seem to shed many branches and has withstood a lot of snow and ice. Two houses up from that specimen is a littleleaf linden (European relative of native basswood) of similar size that is a bit worse for branch loss.

'Fraid so. Had never heard of autumn blaze so I looked it up. Seems highly regarded for fast growth, moderate size, fall color, and tolerance to urban conditions. It's a hybrid of red and silver maples, and the piece I read (which could've worked as ad copy for selling this variety, so maybe check several sources) said that it kept the strength of red maple, which is far better at resisting snow/ice breakage than silver.

If there's no green in the buds, I'm pessimistic, but I'd wait until July before giving up. And that pic confirms that it's not a Norway maple; if it were, I'd not be all that worried about losing an invasive, but it looks like a native maple. Oaks are fine here. Big ol’ leaves. Looking good here, too, though the leaves are only about 2" long - everything is late and this morning's 31-32 didn't help.

Does not sound good. A young open-grown tree that produces those side shoots is probably a tree in trouble, trying to save itself. I f any of those buds are within reach, try splitting a couple with your nails (or with a knife, carefully.) If they're green inside, there's hope. I'm assuming it was planted 8-9 years ago, not grown from seed in your yard. Is it the native red maple, or the variety of Norway maple that has red foliage? (May not make much difference, though.) Has anything changed near that tree? Soil compaction, root damage, change in water table, reaction to lawn chemicals? Kev/Scott: That oak also looks to be in trouble, unless it's merely showing the initial work of this spring's feeding by gypsy moth larvae. Otherwise, something looks to be killing some high-in-crown branches, and that often portends continued dieback. Hope that's not the case. Trees are usually tough, but odd things can happen. There was a very healthy looking pin oak growing in front of the Coke bottling plant in Farmington (Maine), a tree about 15" diameter and 40' tall that had lovely red foliage each fall. (IMO, pin oak has the best fall color of any oak.) Then spring 2 years ago it completely failed to leaf out, and in late summer was removed. I've no idea what caused its death.

Not promising much precision in diagnosing specific agents affecting tree health from a photo, but I'm always ready to make a guess whether I know anything or not. When I was at U. Maine, one of the professors noted that science had not really arrived at a firm reason why trees die. Not referring to death from disease, insects, wind, fire, but just running out of life. Maybe it's similar to why there's a cap on human lifespan, cell replication gets sloppy and bad things result (simplification, but not irrelevant.)

When we lived in NNJ, it was easily noted that those caterpillars ate the white oak group first, then the reds, then everything else but ash. Have not noticed that white-over-red preference in Maine, though the fact that Maine has hundreds of red oaks for every white probably mutes the gypsies' priorities. Lots of reasons for oaks (or any species) to show that symptom, and weakness due to repeated defoliation/refoliation certainly could be a factor. If the non-leafed-out branches are in the main crown and receive good sunlight, the cause is likely some outside agent like gypsy moth or some disease. If the bare branches are within the crown/shade, it could be natural pruning, though white oak doesn't prune itself nearly as efficiently as red.

Not for much of NNE. And sun hasn't been all that abundant.

Usually EAB has infested a tree for a couple years before symptoms become visible, after which comes the quick death you saw. Apparently there is a very small minority of ash that exhibit resistance/tolerance for EAB, so I don't think the species group will go extinct, but will probably be gone as a significant component of the forest. Hillerich & Bradsby can switch to maple. Indigenous people in Maine and the Maritimes, for whom brown ash and the products made from it are important cultural facets, have no plan B.