Normally, the leaves fall from the trees in the fall. This year, 13 large 60-70 year old trees fell on Le Petit Gazon. Very unfortunate, certainly, but also necessary. The reason is that the trees were affected by a tree beetle called Scoliet in French. This digs tunnels between the bark and the stem. A healthy tree produces a lot of resin that fills these holes, but where there is too little water in the area, so this wasn’t working. The trees could then no longer absorb food. They are mainly spruce (epicea) which then turn brown within a year, drop the needles and die. These epicea were planted in masses just after the 2nd World War for wood production. A tree drinks more than 1000 liters per day, which caused problems in an area where water is relatively scarce. On the grounds of Le Petit Gazon, two large trees had already died within half a year and many others had already been impacted.
This has led to the choice to have all trees that would become a danger to the existing buildings cut.
Although we are sad to see the trees chopped, we see that every cloud has a silver lining. Some trees may have needed to go for the place to survive, but what took its place was light! We hope that this is an indication of the bright future that is ahead of Le Petit Gazon. The trees leaving also creates more opportunity for different flora and fauna to grow that requires more sunlight.
Below the on the left side before and the right side after images:
Le Petit Gazon 