Because some
idiot 30 years before had plant this cute little tree, then probably 5 feet
tall in a pot back of a fourplex we bought, after it was grown!
It was about 8
feet from the building. It had some large, long lateral branches that seemed
possibly threatening to the building. One long branched over the property
line, worrying the owner of a neighboring triplex.
It had to go
although I did it with great regret!
Phooey on the
ignorant people that will plant a redwood tree five feet from the foundation
of their house because it looks so cute there when it is four feet
tall!.
When we bought
our fourplex, it was cluttered with weeds, some like the Grevillea were over
thirty feet tall. I had a figtree that had been cut to the ground when it was
about eight inches in diameter and five suckers were now about six inches
each. There were several middling size Eucalyptus sp that were about to be
large enough to be a worry and unattractive. (Sorry, Australia, great trees in
the right place and with the proper ground organisms to chew up the
detritus.)
I had a
magnificent full grown Black Acacia (Acacia melanoxylon) that the City
considered almost a heritage tree. They refused several times to let me cut it
down. It had a large symmetrical crotch about four feet from the ground which
was beginning to weep, a sure sign of an incipient split which could cause
great damage to surrounding cars and our building.
After I had
cut everything else on the lot, they got their back up when I asked to remove
it and said, "NO!".
Several years
later, after I planted about nine flowering trees of reasonable size and after
I told the City Attorney that I no longer cared because my insurance company
told me I was fully covered and that if the claim was large enough they might
go after the city. Suddenly the tree committee discovered that it was diseased
and recommended I cut it down, which I immediately did! The people in the
close apartment were suddenly inundated in light!
When will people ask, "How tall and how wide will
this cute little sapling get when it grows up?" and then plant it with that in
mind.
So what if it
looks a little silly in the beginning, it will be magnificent when it is
full grown and spectacular. It will be a short time small and a long time
beautifully mature when well placed!
Chas
Your account reminded me of two stories from my past. The
first one was standing at the counter of a local garden centre where the woman
ahead of me was buying a tree for her rockery. She had set her sights on a
copper beech (!) and the person serving her (a very good gardner herself
as it happened) was gently suggesting she might find it a bit big
for that purpose, at which the customer blithly declared "I will just
keep it pruned".
The second one actually also involved another copper beech
which had been planted right under a bay window . At that stage it was
comfortably below the windowsill, but certainly not prepared to stand
still. I suggested moving it out on the lawn as a specimen , but the
lady of the house protested she could not put it there as it would get in the
way of her sons' games of cricket. Why she had chose it in the first
place was something of a mystery, but I guess it does not occur to quite
a few non gardeners that a tree does not permanently stay the same size as
when they first bought it.
Moira
