Re: street trees?

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Hello Beverly!  Nice to hear from you.

Human Melia poisoning is very rare:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18763152

though in livestock it is much more common.

The hard round seeds can be painful or even dangerous to tread upon.  In European villages, birds seem to make off with most of the fruit (perhaps Australian birds aren't fond of these berries?).

Seán O.
http://about.me/seanaohara

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 3:07 PM, Beverly Elischer <e*@iinet.net.au> wrote:

Here in Melbourne, Australia, they have been planting a lot of Melia recently. I am not too keen on all the (poisonous to people) berries which lie about on the ground but the flowers are attractive and perfumed. They are preferable to the London Planes with their invasive roots and horrible floating seed fluff.

"Sean A. O'Hara" <s*@gimcw.org> wrote:

Hey folks -

A post about the qualities of Rhus Lancea on the Facebook group got me thinking about street trees.  So many people have asked me about street trees over the years - a hard thing to choose, what with local ordinances, overhead wires, pavement surrounds, abuse by any passerby, cars, etc.

I live in a pretty urban environment, so the conditions are even more extreme - e.g. lots of dust/soot from busy paved street.  In such a setting, I usually suggest a deciduous tree so that there is fresh foliage each year (instead of a build up of dirty, sooty leaves), though large falling leaves can cause their own headaches.

Wondering what experiences you may have with street trees - what works well and why.  What settings you've seen them in.

Roots are often seen as a problem - some species are notorious surface rooters.  But many with otherwise well behaved roots seem to exhibit problems lifting pavement.  My own belief is that irrigation techniques tend to encourage this problem.  When the old available water is at the surface (due to shallow watering techniques) then the roots grow there, and ultimately enlarge to cause problems.  Deep irrigation send tree roots deep into the soil, where they can also find other water sources.

I had a direct experience with this when asked to weigh in on choices of street trees in a neighborhood I lived in years ago.  I encouraged everyone on my own block to irrigate deeply (a continuous tiny trickle of water over a couple of days, then no water for two weeks or more).  Other blocks practiced a variety of techniques, based on each owner's opinion.

That single block of trees, even today (a couple of decades later) established themselves very well, are healthy, straight, and with well-behaved roots.  Other plantings in the neighborhood exhibit the usual spotty survival rate, with several mis-shapen trees (or even some replacement due to failure).  It was such a profound learning experience.

Seán O.
http://about.me/seanaohara