prairie point

Hackberries get no respect. “Trash trees” - that’s what they are usually called. “If you have a large one in your yard and it’s nicely shaped, then leave it. But never plant one.” That’s what one landscaper told me. She has a point. Hackberries can be really mis-shaped. They grow fast and have soft wood and short lives.

We have a lot of hackberries in our urban back yard. From the placement of them I can assume they were all volunteers. Some of them are fair trees but none really inspire us with their beauty.

These two trees have always impressed me however. They sit in a corner of the backyard and from a certain angle they appear to cross. I like to think they are dancing with one another.

But actually that’s not the part that is most interesting to me. We have lived with these trees for thirteen years and they already looked old and about to fall down at that time. Someone almost cut one of them down. You can see a cut that goes about a third of the way through about six feet off the ground. Higher up the same tree it is evident that it was “topped” at one point but sprouted new growth.

Whatever Pocahontas spared this tree also patched it with concrete at some time. All along one side there is a big gaping diseased area that has been filled with cement. Over time the wound has deepened and the cement has started to crack and fall out.

One thing I can tell you about hackberries is that birds like them. The reason I am sure of that is that so many hackberries come up in fences, underneath phone lines and in our privet hedges.

Something else I am sure of too is that insects also like them. Why else do they die of disease so quickly?

It seems to me that it is about time that hackberries got more respect. It may not be beautiful but here is a tree that has a lot to give to wildlife. It’s easy to grow. It does not demand much in the way of water or other care. It regenerates itself prolifically.

It’s not just a lack of grace that prevents us from wholly embracing this tree however. I can speak with confidence in saying that despite it’s seeming strength it has a tendency to fall down. We have had two fall down in our own yard.

One narrowly missed our house. I was outside on a Saturday afternoon when I heard a “creak” from somewhere. A short time later I hear it again. Later when I heard it a third time I realized that the tree along the edge of our property was assuming a new angle with respect to the ground. That evening we sat with our neighbors in the driveway and watched as the big tree slowly fell, grazing the side of our house but only tearing a few shingles at the edge.

A second tree fell along the back during a wind storm later. We missed that one entirely and only noticed it a few days later.

There may soon be one more hardship for them to endure.  I read in the NY Times this morning that hordes of snout-nosed butterflies are migrating north from Mexico.   They lay their eggs on hackberries and the caterpillars devour the foliage.