Tree Update

Last week, I wrote about some storm damage that occurred on July 9th and June 27th. This past week, we replaced the large cherry tree on the dogleg of #4 with two 4 inch diameter maple trees. Usually, the city of Ann Arbor does not plant many maples due to almost 50% of the mature canopy within the city limits already being maple. Leslie Park Golf Course, however, is situated in a predominately Oak/Hickory Forest. In conjunction for the need for fast replacement of the cherry tree due to the strategic location on the hole and the upcoming City Championship, it was decided to plant maple trees. We chose a vareity of sugar maple called "Legacy" and a red maple called "Autumn Blaze."

The Autumn Blaze is nearest to the former location of the cherry.

In this view looking back toward the tee, you can see both of the new trees. They have the thick bed of mulch under them.

The cherry that fell was in the roped off area in front of the new tree. The stump was dug out and the hole filled with soil, then seeded

More Storm Damage

On Tuesday, July 9th, Leslie Park Golf Course experienced a rain storm that dumped 1.25 inches of rain on the course. Most of this rain came down between 5:45 PM and 6 PM. There were also some isolated wind gusts of much more than the 39 mph the weather station recorded. One of these wind gusts came from #13 tee and blew toward the clubhouse. Along this path it knocked over benches, trees, table and chairs. One of the casualties to this wind was the cherry tree next to the gate crossing Traver Road.

View from the road toward the clubhouse.

Right on the fence.

From the clubhouse.

The boxelder behind #10 tee.

Just like the cherry, the tree was tipped over due to lack of roots and saturated soil conditions.

After cleaning most of it up.

You can still see the boxelder behind #10 tee. Due to the creek conditions, this tree will be left temporarily.

We need a new fence.

Gypsy Moth Update

I am happy to update you on the gypsy moth caterpillars that I wrote about a couple of weeks back. (HERE) The caterpillars have declined significantly and the oak trees have started forcing out new leaves. Hopefully, this will mean that all of these trees will survive.

New leaves in the canopy

A closer look at the one inch long leaves.

These trees look much the same as they would in the early spring.

June 2013 Weather Summary

June 2013 was a wet one in Ann Arbor. The monthly rain total was 8.12 inches. The Average for the month would be 3.68 inches, so we got more than double the normal amount.   On four separate days, Leslie Park Golf Course got over one inch of rain. Both the 27th and 28th got over the one inch mark, while the 12th got the highest total for the moth at 1.83 inches. Twelve days of the moth had over a trace of rain and 9 of them had over a tenth of an inch. Just over 4.5 inches of rain fell on the 24th through the 29th. In other words, the last week of June had more rain than we would see in the whole month under normal conditions.

The high temperature for the month was on the 23rd, at just 87.7 degrees. The lowest temperature recorded was 40.7 degrees (3rd.) That means we did not have any days above 90 as well as zero days below freezing. The last time that happened was back in September of 2012.

The highest sustained windspeed at the golf course was 24 mph. The average windspeed was 2.2 mph.