Lean on Me When You're Not Strong

We planted a couple of cassia trees in the backyard as we really like the beautiful yellow flowers that fill the trees in late summer/early fall.  We purchased the trees from a local nursery here in town called Natural Gardens.  They are very knowledgeable and helpful and they mentioned to us that the trees don't have a strong root structure and tend to blow over very easily in storms.  They told us that it is a good idea to stake the trees.

Well, we planted the trees and the trees quickly grew and thrived and added height and filled out nicely.  They make a nice looking tree for the backyard.  We got so busy doing other things that we never got around to staking the cassias.  Last month when we received almost 26 inches of rain (yeah, you read that right), the saturated soil coupled with the weight of the water on the foliage caused the trees to topple over sideways.  Lots of times I find myself waiting until disaster strikes to get around to doing things.

I googled the proper way to stake trees and it turns out it was a very easy process that I should have done from the "git-go."  Below is the finished product for the smaller tree.  You can see it is upright and happy.

All you need to properly stake a tree is two T-posts, some rope, and a sledgehammer.  Position the T-posts about a foot and a half away from the trunk so as not to damage the root ball and drive the t-posts in with the sledgehammer. Then drive them in until they are firm and solid.  Due to the saturated soil, I had to drive them in quite a way.

Then take a rope and loop it around the trunk and make a 'figure-8' and loop it around the t-post on one side.  Repeat the process on the other side, but pull it tight before you tie it off on the post, ensuring that the trunk is straight and true.

The other cassia tree was larger and required not only the two posts on either side, but a third post to be driven behind it to provide the stability and strength to stand. It took all of about 10 minutes to get the job done.  However, the rains continued to fall and the fact that this tree had more than one trunk caused complications that we didn't have with the other tree.  The weight of this tree caused it to continue toppling over.

It just needed a little fine-tuning, though.  I had Russ push the tree back upright and I tightened the rope on the left hand side and it pulled the tree back up.  If it would ever stop raining, the soil will stabilize, giving the roots something firm for which to anchor itself.  During dry weather, you don't need the staking, but when the storm winds blow and the weather rages, staking is mandatory.

I've discovered that like the cassia trees, we all need Someone to lean on when the storms of life hits!