Ep 210. Hope Beyond Declining Native Trees

Mary Stone discusses the impact of insects and diseases on native trees, such as the Emerald Ash Borer, Spongy Moths, and Beech Leaf Disease. She shares the recommendations of Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station to underplant declining beech trees with other native trees, adding a similar strategy for lawn trees. 

Then shares Dennis Briede’s story of the Wolf Tree, a grand White Ash tree on the official New Jersey Big Tree and Heritage Tree Registry, and the labor of love to save it. Mary concludes by encouraging listeners to be kind-- caring for the natural world and each other while embracing the cycles of the garden of life. 

Related Posts, Podcasts, and Helpful Links:

Ep 45. Beloved Mr. Beech  / Beloved Beech Trees - Blog Post 

Ep 61. A Story of Treasured Tuliptrees / Treasured Tuliptrees - Blog Post

Ep 101. Woodcock Dance- Making a Meadow

Woodcock Dance – Making a Meadow - Blog Post 

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
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Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 210. Hope Beyond Declining Native Trees

Sat, Jun 21, 2025 3:25PM • 12:05

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Native trees, emerald ash borer, beech leaf disease, spongy moths, tree replacement, native replacements, tree injections, nematodes, American beech, forest impact, invasive plants, tree protection, native tree planting, environmental benefits, New Jersey big trees.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Mary Stone, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:25

Hello there. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch. And boy, what a shift in the weather, although we've been in this continuum of rain, but now the humidity and heat is starting to ramp up. It's going to be in the mid-90s next week, which is just quite dramatic from the mid-60s this week, but one thing for sure in life we know, and that is, there is always change anyway. I want to thank you for joining me, and I want to thank those who reached back after our last chat about Frenchy’s Field, that lovely labyrinth there, and tidying Daffodil foliage. You know, when we plant bulbs or vegetables or flower seeds, we do so anticipating the glorious blooms and the fruits that are to come, and afterwards, we know that the flowers will fade, but there is beauty in the cycle and the promise of the next season of growth. So on to this week's story, and it starts like this.

Mary Stone  01:20

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, the influx of insects and other diseases, killing many stands of trees, is heartbreaking. We feel helpless as remedies are experimental or beyond our means to implement. Then comes acceptance, the awareness that the gift of life is making the most of everything while it is here. While we are here, nothing lasts forever other than our souls. Losing our much-loved trees is an opportunity to plant beautiful native replacements, and even perhaps more important than that, is to allow Mother Nature to do the same. 

Mary Stone  01:58

The emerald ash borer devastated are native ash trees that compromise roughly 10% of the forests in our area, a woeful fate caused by an alien wood-boring insect that made its way here, likely from overseas cargo. It was first discovered in Michigan in 2002 and is now in 37 states. Some specimen trees in our area remain standing thanks to trunk injections of a product called Tree-Age. But a professional needs to inject the tree's vascular system, and it's expensive, so it's not practical for stands of trees. 

Mary Stone  02:35

Then there's the spongy moths we spoke about in episode 208 formally called the Gypsy Moth. They've been here for a long time, and thankfully, healthy trees can survive two or three years of consecutive defoliation attacks, but it definitely weakens the trees, and there are fatalities as a result. More recently, beech leaf disease caused by a non-native foliar nematode has arrived on the scene; it darkens and distorts leaves, which can reduce photosynthesis by 60%.  Nematodes, by the way, are those microscopic worms that are not visible to the naked eye. We don't know where they came from or how they spread so quickly, but they think birds are likely involved in transporting the nematodes. I'm laughing because I said birds, and then I'm hearing all the tweeting, beautiful sound. 

Mary Stone  03:28

Our American Beach is a dominant tree in forests throughout the northeastern United States and Canada, and it's alarming how many trees are infected, including my beloved Mr. Beach, who stands majestically on the front lawn, shading our home. In fact, I'm looking out at the trees beyond the screen porch, and there are so many sad-looking trees this year, maybe because of the heavy rain events. The hemlocks are not looking too great, and many beech trees are sad, and their defoliation is underway. 

Mary Stone  04:01

First found in Ohio in 2012, beach leaf disease is now in 15 states. And researchers at Ohio observe that trees are dying six to 10 years after infection, and younger trees with fewer leaves are impacted more quickly. And when I think about the fact that the American beech tree hosts 100 species of butterflies and moths, and they offers high-protein seeds. They are essential food for black bears, turkeys, rodents, raccoons and deer. Though the trees are deer-resistant, they are one of the few trees that can thrive in the deep shade of the forest, so the thought of losing them is devastating. There's no cure yet, but there are some promising trials underway about a fungicide, again, being injected in the vascular system of trees. Apparently, the tests are showing some significant reduction of nematodes in the dormant buds. But what can we do now? Because, you know, we can't really wait for these trials to take hold and for the product to become available. 

Mary Stone  05:02

And so I researched it and found a paper published by Rutgers, New Jersey Agricultural Experimental Station, which recommends a strategy of underplanting stands of beech trees with native trees such as white oak, chestnut oak, swamp white oak, and shagbark hickory - My favorite. Then there's Pignut hickory, mockernut Hickory, bitter nut hickory, the lovely American Holly, white pine and Black Gum. They are all such lovely trees; choose one that would suit your site conditions. They suggest planting dense stands of 10 to 30 small trees, four to eight feet apart, to replace one mature beech tree. And of course, you need to deer protect them, and they're young, and you can use that six-foot-high mesh in circles around each tree. And I'd also use those tree tubes we've spoken about to protect them from moles and voles. That would be wise as well. 

Mary Stone  05:57

And it's an important undertaking, because when you think about how the dying of the beech trees within the forest floors are going to invite other populations of invasive plants when that understory is so impacted, it's really devastating. Imagining the outcome of all this, it occurs to me, why not plant a few trees around the lawn, trees that are at risk as well. Walking around on our property, I noticed many volunteer tulip trees that have sprouted. I like to think Mother Nature is stepping in. They are also known as tulip poplar, yellow poplar, or tulip Magnolia, and they grow about 15 to 20 feet in six to eight years. And despite being fast growers, they are hardwood trees. You may recall a story of a treasure Tulip tree in Episode 61. I'm looking upon it now, and it's well over 20 feet. I'm going to try and transplant one of the volunteers next to my adored Mr. Beach, but I'm not going to lose hope that he could survive. Garden dilemmas, AskMaryStone.com

Mary Stone  07:06

While walking in the woods with Miss Jolie this morning, I came upon a cluster of bouncing baby white ash trees. It lifted my heart to see them. And I was chatting with Dennis Briede, who you may remember we talk about quite often. He was in the story about the Woodcock Dance making a meadow in Episode 101, and he shared a story about the wolf tree, a grand 400-year-old ash tree not far from here. I think we have a little bit of time, so I'm going to share bits of his story. 

Mary Stone  07:37

When you think of huge trees, the ones that first come to mind are the mighty redwood trees or the Giant Sequoias, but New Jersey has some colossal trees of its own. Back in 1978 I noticed a very large tree in a field off of Route 46 in Mount Olive I had to investigate it, and it turned out to be a huge white ash tree. Years later, I started working as a stewardship manager at the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, which had purchased the property on which the huge ash tree stood. I called Joe Bennett, the regional New Jersey state forester, and met him at the tree. We measured it at almost 21 feet around at 4.5 feet above the ground- The official measuring height - the tree is 76 feet tall with a crown spread of 99 feet. The monster is only six inches shy of the record-holding white ash tree in New Jersey. But the most amazing thing about the wolf tree is that it's 400 years old.

Mary Stone  08:35

 And this is when his story gives such context to what 400 years means. The history of the tree goes back to 1624, before New Jersey was a state. This tree began growing when only the native Lenni Lenape lived in the area. The land now known as New Jersey has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for over 10,000 years. The birth of this tree goes back before the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Jersey, which was established in 1630 at Bergen Square, now known as Jersey City. The birth of this tree goes back 71 years before the first European settlement in the area known as Morris County. The tree's birth goes back before the flagship of the Massachusetts Bay Company arrived in Salem before Galileo published his final book on physics, back to when Rembrandt was 18 years old. 

Mary Stone  09:27

Based on our findings, the wolf tree is large enough to be included in the official New Jersey big and heritage tree registry that has been kept since the 1930s that helps document big heritage and noteworthy trees in the state. It also documents changes that these big trees have undergone over almost a century of time, and now the wolf tree is classified as a signature tree characterized by unique features and aesthetics. Trees of this size are rare and should be maintained and protected,d and are mega resources that perform 600 times the environmental benefits of our average tree as a labor of love. 

Mary Stone  10:05

Brian O'Neill of Weeds Inc., located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been inoculating the wolf tree for several years to protect it from the emerald ash borer. Hopefully, it will continue to live and be enjoyed by all long into the future. Thank you, Dennis. It's such a magnificent tree, and there's a photo on the blog site. I will post the photo that he took. Thank you for sharing. 

Mary Stone  10:29

I want to visit the tree and hug it. Not that I could get my arms around such a giant, but we can all get our arms around the beauty of all the trees that we enjoy in our life and in our world. And yes, there are declining trees happening, and it is so sad and devastating. We can step in and plant some new native trees, or allow mother nature to do that for us, and but take comfort in knowing that there are cycles in life, and that part of the joy of living is enjoying each one of those beautiful things that we get to observe in nature and amongst each other, the relationships that we share and know that life is about change. There's a master plan underway, and we can do our part by being kind and generous, and caring for the natural world around us and each other. It starts in our backyards. It really does. So, thank you for joining me on the soggy screen porch. I am not looking forward to the heat wave, but we have to endure the changes around u;s that is for sure, embrace every one of them. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  11:34

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and on Instagram at # hashtag. Mary Elaine, Stone Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. Always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.