Green Grow The Lichens

Day 20: Some years ago, a pussywillow twig I had cut to bring indoors sprouted roots in the vase. I planted it at the corner of my garage where it became a tree within a relatively few years. However, it was not particularly happy. The soil there is fill, and poor fill at that, rife with bits of broken glass, fragments of rusty cans and, I suspect, chemicals I'd rather not think about, courtesy of the previous owners. The pussywillow tried its hardest, but to add insult to injury, it was then attacked by insects which in turn were harvested by a determined Sapsucker who drilled and shredded the bark until the main trunk died. That said, the weakened wood was primed for lichen colonization, first by Parmelias and Usneas, and now by these young Lobarias. People think lichens damage trees. In fact, they have the process backwards. Lichens take advantage of the softer, more porous wood and bark of sick and failing trees, and do not contribute substantially to the trees' eventual demise. Is my pussywillow doomed? I don't think so. Willows are remarkably resilient, and as long as the root is undamaged, new shoots will no doubt spring up. And if not, a twig from this tree also sprouted roots, and I planted it in the front yard where it's doing just fine.