Lightening Struck Tree Trunk and Seed Swap

From In the Garden

I posted about my 'problem trees' on Monday and spoke of a tree we thought got hit by lightening. I have been trying to figure out if that was indeed the problem with no luck. All the information I can find on lightening strikes says the liquid inside of trees is instantly heated to an extreme temperature that usually causes the tree to explode in some manner or form. This was not the case with this tree. No instantaneous loss of limbs or explosion or even loss of bark occurred in a sudden manner. The tree did lose limbs and bark over a period of about two years but the first thing that was noticeable was the sudden browning of the full canopy of leaves. I just assumed it died due to the drought of 2007.

When the tree was finally cut down though I noticed an awful lot of charring in the center of the tree. It would appear the tree did take a lightening hit that traveled down the core of the tree to its very roots. What do you all think?

in the garden....

Dirt Princess at Trials and Tribulations of a Southern Gardener is hosting a seed swap. She is asking us to post on the seeds we have to swap then link the post back to Mr. Linky on her blog. I have the following seeds available to swap: cleome, nicotiana, orange cosmos, purple columbine, tall maroon hollyhocks, pink 4 O'Clocks, annual red salvia, and perhaps a few more I am not sure of right now. Sorry. I really need to label better. So if you all want to participate-all are welcomed not only bloggers-go check out Mr. Linky. My email address is located on this blog if interested in these seeds.