The Daily Peeve / Rant

[catherine]

But umm, we are going to have to take down one tree in the front of this house, a nice old shade tree. It will go down because we will build a garage and it is in the way. For that, people may judge us harshly and rightly so.

You know I love you anyway, but...

We have a huge old maple shade tree in our yard. I LOVE it. We have a swing hanging from a branch for the grandkids, and it's got to be almost 10 degrees cooler under its wide canopy. For the 4th of July neighborhood party, they asked us if they could all assemble to eat in our yard because it's the shadiest. I would be so upset if that tree had to come down for any reason. I don't care if someone came in and offered to donate 1,000 extra square feet to our house--if it meant cutting down that old maple, I'll stay happily in my wee hoose.

[rosarugosa]

I think it's a reasonable guess that it cost in the ballpark of $6000 - $8000 to remove this tree. There was a crew here all morning with huge vehicles including a crane and a chipper.

[catherine]

There seems to be a war on trees in my area. People buy a house and then cut down all the trees on the property. Neighbors across the street are taking down a beautiful majestic tree in their backyard that already has an erosion problem from the river. It's the last tree remaining on the property and it makes me want to cry.
This neighbor has also removed all shrubs and flowers from the property, so there is nothing remaining but turf. It's not like he's clearing away the trees for his iris and lily garden or anything.

That's how my neighborhood in NJ was going. We had one ice storm in March that led one neighbor to cut down every tree on his property. We used to have a lovely, tree-lined "boulevard" type neighborhood and now it looks like a Monopoly board thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer and neighbors who prefer a clear path to turf management over lovely, shade-bearing trees.

I would cry, too, rosa.

[SteveinMN]

We used to have a lovely, tree-lined "boulevard" type neighborhood and now it looks like a Monopoly board thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer and neighbors who prefer a clear path to turf management over lovely, shade-bearing trees.

I'm not sure who promulgated the idea that monocultures were the way to go (in planting crops or boulevard trees) but almost every tree on our street, both sides, was an ash and was taken down in one afternoon by the city in their attempt to limit the spread of EAB. With the missing canopy of trees and uninterrupted sightlines, if you squinted just a bit, the block (car-less that day because of the tree removal) looked like it must have in those overexposed pictures from back when the neighborhood first became popular about a hundred years ago.

Speaking of estimates, one of the tree companies giving me bids on our tree said it would cost around $3,000 to take it down and haul it (and the stump) away. Two of the three companies that gave me bids say the tree does not have to come down, but the current broken branch is the fourth large branch to fall in the last two years. We've been lucky each time that the branches never caused damage to houses or parked cars, but, yeah, that's luck. The tree is no more than 20 feet away from our house and our neighbor's house, so the next time a branch comes down property damage is a real possibility. I'm not feeling that lucky these days.

All of the companies say to expect to have to trim back more large branches in the future. Nature of the beast, they say. Removing the broken branches and trimming back large branches that reached our and our neighbor's roofs, we've lost a lot of canopy on that tree, so it's not like it's doing much of a job shading any more. I'm thinking this just is not a good spot for that tree now and we're better off starting over with something else. But, ooh, the cost...

[iris lilies]

I think it's a reasonable guess that it cost in the ballpark of $6000 - $8000 to remove this tree. There was a crew here all morning with huge vehicles including a crane and a chipper.

Well, you know, sometimes trees threaten, harass, injure and kill old houses. Once in a while they even reach out for humans to maim or kill. It is necessary to keep them contained and their potential for injury minimal.

I see that here in St. Louis, great old Victorian houses surrounded by junk trees that injure the houses. These trees toss down their limbs. Or even fall on the house! Their roots uproot foundations.

In any such altercation I side with the house.

My tax dollars went to a settlement when a tree in a city park fell right on top of a kid, and killed the kid.

Sometimes I don’t think you people truly understand the malevolent nature of trees...

[razz]

Sometimes I don’t think you people truly understand the malevolent nature of trees...

As compared to what, humans? As someone who has planted thousands of trees or had it done, my sympathy is always with the tree.

[JaneV2.0]

Ethiopia has just planted a forest or two to help combat climate change. This needs to be a trend.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...climate-crisis

[catherine]

I see that here in St. Louis, great old Victorian houses surrounded by junk trees that injure the houses.

An honest question--what is a "junk tree"?

[iris lilies]

An honest question--what is a "junk tree"?

They are invasive trees that severely impact native biodiversity. They are fast growing, producing soft wood that breaks in storms. They are messy because they drop branches all over, and often.

These trees are on my state’s list of invasive species:

Purus Calleryana (Gallery Pear)—until recent years, widely used in landscaping

Ailanthus alrissima called Tree of Heaven amoung other names. These grow in 3” of soil taking root in roofs and brick walls in my city.

Honey Locusts sprout all over my gardens in Hermann.

My dad used to consider Chinese elms to be junk trees. I don’t see many of those anymore so I think people are not planning them and they’re pulling them up when they show up.

Some of the maple trees around here are pretty awful as far as being fast growing and dirty, but I don’t know which species they are.

These are just a few examples.

[catherine]

They are invasive trees that severely impact native biodiversity. .

Got it. Well, I'm all for eliminating invasive species and cultivating native plants and trees. I looked up the ones you mentioned (not that I didn't believe you) and they are invasive.

I'm cool with your DH cutting them down, and I have no doubt that you will be great stewards of your property in Hermann.

But I do love trees. To say that they are malevolent is just like saying deer are malevolent because they eat our plants even though they only eat them because we have encroached on their habitat. We are the colonial interlopers, not the trees.