Enjoy Wedgwood’s Spectacular Fall Colors. They May Be at Threat Soon.

Jacqueline Houston is a member of the Wedgwood Garden Club, and also a Master Gardener of King County. She has been gardening in Seattle for over 30 years, and now has a garden consulting/coaching business called Enchanted Garden Consulting. Wedgwood Garden Club always welcomes new members – contact Jacqueline at tppoems@comcast.net for more information on our monthly meetings.

One of the most beautiful sights in the Wedgwood neighborhood is the spectacular autumn color of the tall ash trees lining either side of 35^th Ave NE as the road descends down the hill going north towards Meadowbrook Community Center. The delicate feathery leaves turn a dark purplish color that is unusual amongst the golds, reds and oranges of most other ornamental trees. This avenue of flame ashes is so well known that it was mentioned in a tree identification class I took at Edmonds Community College.

Make sure you enjoy it this Fall and for however long it is spared to us, because the Emerald Ash Borer beetle is moving west rapidly.

This beetle – native to Asia, where it has co-existed forever with native Asian ashes – came to Detroit about three decades ago in infected shipping materials, and began killing American and European ashes such as the flame ash. It rapidly spread throughout the eastern seaboard and then started moving west. It has been identified in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, BC, and experts at Washington State University forestry program say it will almost certainly be here soon.

Unfortunatly it has a 99.9% mortality rate. By the time tree decay becomes visible (dying branches in the tops of trees) it is too late. There is an injectable preventive treatment that works for 2-3 years, but it costs money. Some tree companies are promoting sprays (useless) and soil drenches (almost useless, and bad for wildlife). Experts accept that the current generation of ash trees is likely doomed (apart from those precious 0.1% of survivors), and are already turning their attention to breeding new, resistant strains of ash seedlings, and studying biocontrols in the form of parasitic wasps.

So please, take the time to admire the avenue of ash trees on 35^th this Fall. It is truly a beautiful sight, and one that probably won’t be with us for much longer.