The good news is that the fire will have hardened and carbonized the wood to an extent which will prevent it from rotting for many years. You could try using a wire brush to remove some loose charcoal from the surface, as long as you don't damage the remaining living bark at the edges. Lots of trees look just the same after being struck by lightning, so you could even tell made-up stories about 'The Night of The Great Storm to younger and more gullible visitors!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
@JennyJ that is a really good idea, I have some over the fence baskets on the other site on the trellis to screen the neighbours. I can add some on this site as well which will provide some symmetry and screen the view. Excellent.
@BobTheGardener I might give the brush a try as well when nesting season is over.
I don’t even think we need to make up stories either. Last year our neighbour had a big bonfire in his garden. A little bit of a spark ended up in our oak tree. It set a branch alight which subsequently did crash down on our wood shed. It was late in the evening and we didn’t even notice. We are on good terms with next door, he removed the evidence but did confess. Our tree isn’t very lucky when it comes to fire.
Sorry I’ve been a bit slow catching up. I’ve a few thoughts about it.
Firstly, our trees are mostly Eucalyptus varieties, and they have epicormic buds that regenerate after trauma so no need to do anything about them. I’ll try to find some photos to show you.
My second thought is: why not make a feature of it rather than try to hide it. It makes a good conversation topic, and you could build a bird feeding station around it to encourage visits from them. 😁. I wouldn’t encourage Ivy though.
These are an example of some of the Eucalyptus trees near where we live which got burned in the bushfires last summer. You can see how they regenerate all up the trunk. Interesting, I think, as they have adapted over the thousands of years to survive our Australian climatic conditions.
@Pat E I wish the oak tree would recover in the same way as the eucalyptus. The fires in Australia have been dreadful, I know people that are part of the rural fire service and the stories are heartbreaking. So it’s lovely to see that there is life after fire. I think it was mentioned early on in a comment, an attitude change would be good. The tree is a survivor, and maybe I need to celebrate it.
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@BobTheGardener I might give the brush a try as well when nesting season is over.
Firstly, our trees are mostly Eucalyptus varieties, and they have epicormic buds that regenerate after trauma so no need to do anything about them.
I’ll try to find some photos to show you.
My second thought is: why not make a feature of it rather than try to hide it. It makes a good conversation topic, and you could build a bird feeding station around it to encourage visits from them. 😁. I wouldn’t encourage Ivy though.