[Fwd: Acacia et al.]
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: [Fwd: Acacia et al.]
- From: "* E* D* <c*@fix.net>
- Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 08:06:00 -0800
>Message-ID: <36580EA0.5AAC@columbia.edu>
>Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 08:16:17 -0500
>From: "Edward E. Malefakis" <eem1@columbia.edu>
>Organization: Columbia University
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>To: meditplants@ucdavis.edu
>Subject: Acacia et al.
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>All this talk of unwanted and despised "weed trees" has brought to mind
>something I've always wondered about: Why do Americans abhor and revile
>the tried-and-true and eminently practical European method of coppicing?
>Many of the problems mentioned re Acacia melanoxylon, for example
>(danger of falling branches etc. ) might be brought under control with
>annual coppicing resulting in a shapelier healthier tree and an annual
>supply of stakes or firewood. Besides, something I know many
>californians miss (I spent three years at Mills College in Oakland) if
>widely practiced it would underline and emphasize the change of seasons.
>It is particularly useful for roadside trees or trees that make messes.
>On our land in Corfu we do it annually for wild mulberries and
>bi-annually for the cercis siliquastrum which are the closest we have to
>volunteer weeds. Wild pears we prune in a more sightly fashion every few
>years. The wild mulberies provide excellent stakes, and the others,
>along with the biannual olive prunings, all the firewood we need.
>Speaking of unwelcome volunteers: ailanthus has begun to rear its ugly
>head on the island. I like to think that the annual five-month drought
>will keep it in check. If not, may God have mercy on us.
>Cali Doxiadis.
+++++-----------------
The problem is that many people buy a tree in a one or five gallon
container, "Oh isn't this a cute tree". Then they bring it home and plant
it as though it were a Shasta Daisy, three to five feet fron the house.
They haven't a clue what it's going to be like when it grows up!
My wife and I bought a fourplex. It was the grossest collection of
weeds you can imagine. It had a half dozen eucalyptus trees, a five pronged
fig that had been cut back to the ground once, a collection of junipers and
yuccas, a 60' Silk Oak, Grevillea robusta, about eight feet from the
building and leaning over the neighbr's triplex and two diseased Monterey
Pines in addition to the Acacia mrelanoxylon. We removed everything except
the Acacia melanoxylon. The city wouldn't let us take that because we had
taken everything else.
We re-leveled the property, built a huge deck on the side, a lawn
in front, and planted a Cassia (which we lost because the lawnmower man
girdled it with a weed-wacker!), a Stenocarpus sinuatus, a Prunus
bliereana, a Bauhinia forficata, a Chionanthus retusa, a Calodendron
capense, a Robinia "Idaho", a Tabebuia chrysotricha and a Nectarine. The
city feels better now but the trees are still samll so they don't want me
to take out the Acacia. Yes, Cali, it would have been better if it had been
pruned over the years, but it was mature and untrimmed when we bought the
place, So what do we do now. I'm having a professional come in and whack at
it to reduce problems, but I'm a little concerned that it has passed it's
peak and is going to start being a problem. I hope not.
But when the other trees start getting bigger I'm going to start
agitating for removal of this tree because I don't think it's pretty enough
to warrant the acceptance of the danger.
Am I wrong in considering appearance of the tree as a major factor
in whether or not I want to grow it? I don't think so. Every tree I've
planted will bloom at some time of the year. I'm hoping that eventually
people will drive down this street just to see them in bloom. If the
renters think the place is pretty, they will take better care of it! And of
course, that is the bottom line.
And by the way, for those others, like myself, that have never
heard of coppicing, I found it in the third glossary I consulted and it
said it was to cut back to the ground to produce several new growths from
one rootstock. Apparently, sugested by the above, it is not as simple as
that! ---Chas---
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It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
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Charles E. Dills 1371 Avalon San Luis Obispo CA 93405
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