A tall juniper in my front yard has many branches that spread almost like the arms of an octopus. Over time, several of them have been cut back to keep the juniper from taking over the front yard.
In spite of its tendency to spread all over the place, this tree is quite friendly. When I moved here nine years ago, it made me feel welcome as only a friendly tree can do. I have had a soft spot for it ever since.
Two of its thick, tall branches looked like they were dying. I hired someone experienced with trees to cut down the two thick branches and haul them away. He cut the branches into small chunks and loaded them onto his trailer to take to the landfill. Late that afternoon, he showed me one branch section. He pointed to little tunnels running through it.
"Beetles," he said. "Your tree is slowly dying."
My heart sank. It sounded like a death sentence. I had to do something! But what?
The next day, I made a trip to a nursery in town that has often provided me with helpful information about plants. I told the sales clerk my sad story.
"We have a product that kills beetles," he told me.
A spark of hope lit a small place in my mind. "Show me," I said, hardly able to believe there was hope for my dying tree.
He led me to shelves of many plant-friendly products. Among them was a 32-ounce bottle of Tree and Shrub Drench by ferti-lome. Other products may help too, but this is the one the nursery carried. I didn't know if it would work, but I bought it because I had to do something!
The sales clerk told me to measure the base of the trunk. That would let me know how much of the product to use. The trunk of my juniper, made up of many trunks twisted around each other before they spread in all directions, was big enough to require the entire bottle mixed with five gallons of water.
Layers of juniper berries from many years of life were packed around the base of trunk. I used a shovel to dig a trench through the berries so the liquid would absorb into the trunk and its roots and not drain away from it.
Then I poured a five-gallon can of water mixed with the product around the tree. It soaked right in. Success!
Now it's a matter of time to see if the tree gets a second chance at life. I watch it every day, hoping to see it regain its health so it can live many more decades in my yard. The spark of hope in my mind stays lit as I send thoughts of love and healing to the juniper that welcomed me when I bought my house.