This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: California freeway "wildflowers"

At 10:49 AM 4/17/98 GMT, you wrote:
>
>I'm surprised why Crepe myrtle - Lagerstroemia indica, is not grown as
>a highway divider.  Granted it is exotic to CA, deciduous and
>eventually quite vigorous, but it lends itself well to 'pollarding'
>every few years and there are several most attractive colour variants.
>It would also appear to be rather tolerant of traffic pollution, but
>I'm not sure whether it could cope with full, unmitigated LA 'fug'.
>
>David Poole
>

I think Crepe myrtle's being deciduous is a great disadvantage, since one
of the main benefits of oleanders in the highway divider is to hide
accident conditions from gawkers on the other side who would unnecessarily
slow traffic. I don't know if twigs and branches would be likely to break
off in the wind and blow into traffic. But in coastal San Diego, a big
disadvantage is that mildew plagues Crepe myrtles and I don't think the
plants would thrive the way the oleanders do.

After I wrote the first letter, I thought of lovely, though non-native,
aloes which can be quite large and are certainly drought tolerant and tough
and can grow quite large. Arizona uses orange trees in Phoenix (a bitter
orange, suitable for marmalade). I've heard of cars being pelted by the
fruit during windy weather.

Southern California freeway dividers have changed considerably over the
years. I remember chain link fencing, then combinations of barriers and
fencing. Now in some sections, heavy concrete barriers are paired in the
center of the freeway with the oleanders planted in between. The fencing,
though safe and effective, was costly to repair and maintain, and allowed
the problems with gawkers that I mentioned. The concrete barriers, are
merely precast in 15-ft sections elsewhere and moved to the freeways. I
believe that maintenance on them is now minimal.

I have a friend who was a landscaper for CalTrans many years ago. I'll ask
him about the attitude there regarding the use of California natives.
Perhaps I can find some CalTrans source on the Internet.

DKM
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index