Re: Monterey Pine

K1MIZE@aol.com wrote:
 
> The fact that something will eventually overwhelm an average sized property in
> no way deters the average, horticulturally challenged California gardener.
> One can drive down the street in any neighborhood and see numerous examples of
> trees and shrubs that are mutilated annually (or more often) in order to keep
> them from overwhelming the neighboring houses, sidewalks, driveways, streets,
> or plantings.

 Kurt
Your mention of regular mutilation of pines shows how little gardeners
vary in different parts of the world. I always thought Kiwis were
especially bad in this regard, indeed one of our leading tree surgeons
once coined the name Arbor decapitata for the pitiful examples of the
mutilator's "art" so common in our suburbs.

Apart from those  which have actually outgrown their allotted space,
there is a curious belief among locals here that all trees should be
regularly cut (I won't say pruned). I was a professional pruner for many
years and spent a lot of my time resisting demands from garden owners to
give their still perfect and attractive trees "a good knock-back" as
though they were some sort of dangerous animal in need of firm
discipline.

But there is also a touching belief that any plant can be tailored to
fit any space.
I was once in a garden centre where a knowledgeable assistant  vainly
tried to dissuade a customer from using a (potentially full-size)
Japanese cedar in a rockery. The customer was determined and resisted
all suggestions for more appropriately-sized varieties, insisting she
could easily keep it under control by pruning  (It was the var elegans
with its feathery reddish foliage and I guess she had fallen in love
with the effect)..

However I think the palm for inappropriate use must go to someone who
had planted a copper beech right under her front window and really
seemed surprised when I suggested it might outgrow the space before
long. She was another who seemed to think pruning would easily take care
of the problem. When I suggested a move to the centre of her quite large
lawn as an alternative to permanent mutilation she replied "Oh no, the
children like the space to play cricket!!.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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