The Grounds and Land Use page will help Homeowners navigate various “outside” issues that you may encounter. Land Use Guidelines deal with exterior home and lot issues and “common area” structural elements. The Covenants determine these guidelines. Some of the more frequent homeowner questions and concerns are listed below and on the FAQ page. Please direct your questions to the Chair, located on our contacts page.
Trees
Trees are a vital resource that add beauty to our neighborhood, remove pollution, and help control rain runoff. Trees were an integral feature in the development of Robeson Meadows. Trees in the neighborhood may belong to individual homeowners, the city of Champaign, the Champaign Park District, or the Homeowners Association.
Please consult our Trees page for advice on how to determine who owns and maintains a given tree tree and for detailed inventory maps of trees maintained by the City of Champaign and the Champaign Park District.
If you have a concern about a tree, please check these tree inventories to determine which organization is responsible for the maintenance of a particular tree. If you have a concern about a tree belonging to the Homeowner’s Association, please email Maggie at irishgardener3@aol.com.
Unfortunately, after 30 years, many trees begin to show signs of stress or disease. If trees are beyond recovery or in a location where they could present a danger to residents, they may have to be removed as a last resort.
Please water your trees and plants!
Homeowners can help prolong the life of trees by watering them during times of drought and high temperatures. This is especially critical to young trees under five years old, but will be helpful to almost all trees.
In general, in periods where we have received less than an inch of rain in a week, please give a generous “drink” to trees in your yard and even in the commons areas. After a cool and rainy spring in 2022, East Central Illinois experienced a significant lack of rainfall during the summer. This coupled with several weeks of higher than average temperatures caused many trees, shrubs and other plants to be stressed.
While grass will usually go dormant and revive when conditions are favorable, trees and other plants can suffer long term damage in these conditions. When watering trees, plan to give them a long, slow drink once every several days or once a week, rather than a quick shower every day.
The roots are not just under the trunk, but spread out below the canopy of the tree and beyond, so keep that in mind when watering. Some native prairie plants can tolerate temporary drought, but many trees and shrubs, especially young ones, will be damaged by lack of moisture. If your hose can reach and you have a tree in a commons area, please consider watering it as well. Several residents are already caring for trees in our commons areas near their homes by watering trees and plants on the street islands and along the south end of the small lake. For a few dollars in watering, we can keep beautiful, beneficial trees alive.
Trees are such a valuable resource providing shade which helps to cool the earth, homes and food for birds and other animals, carbon sequestering, and many other benefits, let us treasure and care for the trees in our neighborhood.
Bagworms
Bagworms have made an appearance in our neighborhood. Bagworms are the egg stage of a moth, Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis, which can be very destructive to many types of trees. These include evergreen trees like blue spruce, arborvitae, red cedar, juniper, and some deciduous trees as well.
The bagworm cocoon looks like a little ornament dangling from the infected tree; it is made up of silk, needles and twigs of the host plant so it is actually well camouflaged, looking almost like a little pinecone. Each one of these may contain from 500-1000 eggs.
Fall, Winter and early Spring are good times to check your trees for bagworms; if within reach, they can be removed manually by snipping with a scissors or clippers or hand plucking. Destroy by burning or enclosing in plastic bags in the trash. Do not just throw it down on the ground or they will emerge and crawl back up the tree. Rake up plant debris from under an infected tree in case some have fallen there. Unfortunately, bagworms are often found high in the infected tree; feeding damage can be visible at the top.
In the spring, bagworms can “balloon” or float with the wind to other trees, infecting them as well. In central Illinois, the larva will emerge around mid June and begin feeding.
If you plan to treat a bagworm infestation, it is highly recommended that you hire a qualified arborist for recommendations for insecticides, for correct timing of any treatment, and to insure proper application of any products used. Because bagworms can be very damaging and even cause the demise of a tree, we generally treat any neighborhood trees that become severely infected. If you notice a tree belonging to the neighborhood with bagworm infestation, please contact Maggie Dougherty-Roberts at Irishgardener3@aol.com so that I can check and see if it needs to be treated. I hope this information will be helpful to you. Maggie Dougherty-Roberts, Master Gardener and Master Naturalist.