A wide variety of diseases and pests can damage our trees and shrubs. Here are some that often appear in our area:

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Assessing trees damaged or killed by drought can be tricky. Group the trees into three different categories: definitely dead, likely to live and questionable.

DEFINITELY DEAD

It is easier to make this call for pines, Ashe junipers (cedars) and other needle-bearing, conifer trees. The determination can be more difficult for hardwoods, which are more commonly thought of as shade trees. In most cases, a red pine is a dead pine, Billings said, explaining that the same can be said for cedars with red needles. Once all or most of the foliage of a pine or cedar tree turns red or brown, the tree is incapable of recovering.

Pine trees in this stage probably are already infested with tree-killing bark beetles and will eventually harbor wood-boring insects, termites and other critters. Such trees should be cut down and removed, particularly if they are likely to fall on homes, buildings or power lines.

Shade trees — like water oaks, for example — that have lost all their foliage and are beginning to drop limbs or lose large patches of bark are most likely already dead and should be removed. Hypoxylon canker, a fungus that appears as gray or brown patches on the trunk of the tree, is another sign of a dead shade tree.

LIKELY TO LIVE

This category includes shade trees with at least some green or yellow leaves still attached to the limbs. In fact, even those that have dropped all their leaves may still be alive. Some native shade trees, such as post oaks and live oaks, are more drought-resistant than others, like water oaks or elms.

You can use a scratch test to determine if the tree is dead or just dormant. If you scrape the bark off a small branch or limb and find green, moist tissue underneath, the tree is still hanging on, waiting for the next rain. That means you may need to wait until spring to see if the tree makes a recovery — unless the tree starts to drop large branches and patches of bark, which is a sign of death. If there is no green, moist tissue, the tree is likely dead.

An exception is the baldcypress, which also is known as a cypress tree. The tree is a conifer, but unlike pines and cedars, its foliage generally turns red and drops from the tree in the fall or during periods of drought stress. Cypress trees usually will re-sprout in the spring. If in doubt, apply the scratch test or wait until spring to be sure.

Pines with a few yellow or red needles scattered throughout an otherwise green canopy have a good chance at survival. Pine trees typically shed a large portion of their older needles every year as winter approaches, and then put on new needles in the spring.

Though it’s not as feasible to water your forest, any yard trees that show signs of life (green inner tissues or green foliage) should be watered deeply to reduce lingering drought stress.

QUESTIONABLE

Questionable trees are those that appear to fit somewhere between the Definitely Dead and Likely to Live categories.

A pine that is topped with brown or red needles but still has green foliage in its lower branches is alive, but likely will eventually die. That’s because bark beetles likely will invade the lower trunk at some point, killing the tree in stages.

When inspecting a questionable pine tree, look for popcorn-sized masses of resin (pitch tubes) or brown dust in the bark fissures. These are early signs of attacks by pine bark beetles. The foliage of the infested pine may still be green, but the tree is doomed. This is particularly true if you find bark beetle galleries or trails beneath the bark. Pines with these signs of bark beetle attack should be removed as soon as possible.

In the case of shade trees, those that have many dead or dying limbs or mostly bare branches may or may not survive. few green, yellow or red leaves may remain for a while as the tree slowly dies, or it may recover when rains return.

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This depends to a large extent on why you prune. Light pruning and the removal of dead wood can be done anytime. Otherwise, here are some guidelines, but recognizing that individual species may differ is important to remember.

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Count the dark rings, and you know the tree’s age. Study the rings, and you can learn much more. Many things affect the way the tree grows, and thus alter the shape, thickness, color and uniformity of the rings.

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Just before the holidays we were contacted by one of our fellow NACE members at the Westin Memorial City to document a suite for a VIP client that was planning on proposing to his longtime girlfriend. It certainly was a sight to see the rose petal paths and covered surfaces from the front door all the way through the entire suite. Embark Floral was contracted and set up over a couple of days to prepare and execute this surprise proposal.