still looking at street trees


Our politicians call changing your mind a back flip, and it's supposed to be a weakness. I prefer to think of it as being flexible.

Looking closely at the Prickly-leaf Paperbark (Melaleuca Stepheliodes),  that grows in the street in front of the house, and the Plane trees lining the other end of the street, I find a lot of beauty, in spite of the pruning.

I haven't reversed the views I expressed in the last post. I still dislike the way the trees under the electric wires are cut back. But this is about seeing another side as well, about appreciating the complexity of the issue.



The autumn foliage is dazzlingly lovely.

The Plane trees provide autumn leaves for me to collect and put on my garden.

People grow small trees in their gardens. Few people can grow such large trees, so if they weren't in the street, they wouldn't exist.

Often at night, I've seen possums run up the trees and along the branches. In one tree there's a hole where a tawny frogmouth lives. Small trees can't provide the refuge that wildlife needs.



I'm even starting to appreciate the aesthetics of the interweaving of the wires and the branches. It's like  a symbol of the struggle to find a way for  human and non human life to co-exist in (relative) harmony.








For other posts about trees, check out the Tree Following meme, in Loose and Leafy, Lucy Corrander's blog.

Comments

  1. Some stunning colours ... and I would love to see a Possum. Just off to look up Tawny Frogmouth!

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    1. The possums round here are Ringtail Possums. They are tough urban survivors, native and protected under the law from being killed. But many people hate them because they eat gardem plants.

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  2. it hurts to see the mutilated tree, But if it still provides for wildlife ... there is some good.

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    1. Unfortunately this particular poor mutilated tree is no longer bushy enough to support wildlife. I'm trying hard to find some good in the situation. I just can't keep up the rage up all the time.

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  3. That last photo is stunning. We need those power lines, but it is sad to see the badly shaped trees. I do think they should plant something else under those power lines!

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    1. Hi deb, thanks for the comment. I agree - there are lots of suitable alternatives to the trees they choose to plant.

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  4. They are gorgeous and necessary just not chopped up sp much.

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    1. HI Donna, not chopped up so much, and with such a terrible careless technique.

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  5. A good point you make, Sue, about the balance between competing needs.
    I've noticed so many times ( and I fundamentally dislike the heavy and often clumsy pruning of street trees to make way for power cables ) how beautiful street trees contrive to look despite what they've undergone.

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    1. Hi Faisal, nature forgives us a lot, I think, until conditions become completely intolerable.

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  6. Very much appreciate the bark photo. And what autumn colours they are too. Glad you are finding beauty in the inter-connection between the trees and the wires. You have certainly brought out the interest of that in the pictures.

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    1. Dear Lucy, I so appreciate your Tree Following meme, that has encouraged me to look hard at the trees and think about them.

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  7. haha... some of our trees on the street are also cut in such a fashion to make way for the electricity cables! And Catmint, I really like your last photo... beautiful! The sky pink? So lovely... can have a very romantic dinner under this kind of sky hehe...

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    1. good idea, Steph, but I'll have to rug up because although we're having a record breaking hot spring, it's still nearly winter.

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  8. I saw your previous post on street trees and so dislike trees cut as you have shown. I wonder the thoughts when planting trees in these locations? It seems such a waste to disfigure a tree like that.

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    1. Hi Donna, whatever their thoughts, they're not like ours, they must belong to a whole different value system.

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  9. Loved those brilliant orange leaves. They butcher the trees much the same way here in Florida. The problem starts, I guess, when homeowners plant a tree or two in the right-of-way.

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    1. Hi Linda,lovely to hear from you. In this case, it's the local government that chooses and plants the trees on the sides of the street.

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  10. Hi Sue
    Perhaps I haven't got such a trained and cultured eye as some, but my first impression of the Prickly-leaf Paperbark was, well maybe it has been a little butchered owing to what goes on above, but I do like it. V for victory this tree is telling us.

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    1. lol! Thank you, Alastair, for such an upbeat interpretation of the shape of this tree. If one branch is sticking out and up, I'll now be wondering if it's communicating a rather rude message.

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  11. A pity about the trees being hacked but lovely bark and autumn colour. What on earth is a Tawny Frogmouth? I am intrigued.

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  12. Hi Chloris, http://youtu.be/fJNjlSsxXMo is the llnk to a cute youtube video showing one. They're nocturnal, I used to confuse them with owls, but have since learned that TFs are in a different family, related to nightjars.

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  13. I like the way you think - they have been butchered, but are still worth having, very much so, that autumn colour is amazing.

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    1. thanks, Janet, I'm trying to minimize the either / or dichotomy, and see things more broadly.

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  14. Poor tree! Perhaps your local government could've consulted with experts on how to deal with that situation. There's a way to prune them so as they would not affect each other, but this was done the wrong way. The first picture isn't a pretty site at all. Perhaps the next time they'll do this, they had found a way to do this properly. Thanks for sharing!

    Mike Gurung @ Bay Area Tree Specialists

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