Thursday, December 20, 2012

You've heard of tree topping…


Q. Do you know what happened to the palm tree? (she asks as she's pointing out the window)

A. Oh it was blocking our sign. They were going to take it out but I wanted it to stay and asked if there wasn’t another way…

36 comments:

  1. Oh no! Did you tell her what happens next? Slow death.

    There are better ways, relocate it to a place where it is appreciated or let it grow until it doesn't block the sign.

    Choosing the right plant for the space would help too.

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    1. I didn't lecture. I thought about it but ran all the possible scenarios and just kept my mouth shut. If I thought it would have made any difference I would have.

      I too thought "if they just would have left it alone it eventually would have grown beyond the sign" and too some of the offending fronds could easily have been removed. I wish I would have thought to ask how tall it was before the hatchet came out.

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  2. Palm beheading! Isn't that a crime somewhere???

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  3. Please tell me this isn't a hair salon. They could change the name to Henry VIII Hair Hut. This is what happens when you ask for a little off the top and aren't specific. I wonder if they know how many gardeners who would be happy to relocate that palm for them and even replace it with something that would better meet their needs. So sad!

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    1. Not a hair salon, a used book store. I wonder what size root ball you'd need to keep it happy? Do they have a very bog root system?

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    2. It would be a heavy sucker but I've seen much bigger ones moved with no problem at all. Obviously the more roots and earth you can get the better. The roots go down deep and the palm would take at least the first year just to recover from the transplant but they are actually quite successfully transplanted at that size. Sooo sad! Palm roots are one of the reasons they make such an epic plant in urban settings; they can be planted close to sidewalks, buildings etc without causing problems or obstructing views. (and like some suggested, its only a brief period that palm would block anything... they go about a foot and a half to two feet of trunk per year at that size provided some irrigation in the summer.

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  4. This is a crime! See the website Plant Amnesty: http://www.plantamnesty.org/home/index.aspx Their missiong statement:
    PlantAmnesty’s mission is to end the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs. I will admit that I printed a few pages of this website and put them in the mailbox of tree-criminal in my neighborhood. I think you should alert the owners to the seriousness of their tree-crime and send them some Plant Amnesty literature.

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    1. The photos of horrors on the Plant Amnesty website (and their booth at the NWFG Show) are always quite startling. Besides the fact that I was just so shocked when she told me I also wasn't sure she was the right person to direct my dismay at. After all I'm sure she wasn't out there with a saw and I doubt she was the one who made the choice to plant it there in the first place. Instead just a small business owner who wants her store to be easy to find. The entire strip mall was fairly well landscaped and tended, with this huge exception, someone cared...just not enough.

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  5. What's so sad is that some "gardener" actually carried out that solution to her problem. When I am Queen, no paid professional will be able to lay a finger on a plant until they are certified in horticultural basics.

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    1. Yes exactly! Was the landscaping designed and installed and then left to a mow-&-blow team? Probably. Nobody with half a clue would do that, right? When exactly can I vote for you?

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    2. Sadly, a professionally designed landscape for commercial sites are often not properly maintained.
      The property owner or manager, not the landscape architect, makes decisions about maintenance after the initial design and installation guarantee period expires.
      You learn not to look at some of your past projects!

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    3. I bet you do! In this case the over all landscaping was above average, too bad the maintenance crew wasn't too.

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  6. Murderous dill holes!!!!! That's a tragedy of epic proportions.

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    1. "What would Louis do" crossed my mind both when I asked about what happened and as I was taking the photos.

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  7. And such a lovely, elegant sign, too.

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    1. Ricki, I thought exactly that after I picked my jaw up off the floor at the tree topping travesty.

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    2. Standard issue strip-mall style!

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  8. Ouch!

    What an extreme way of solving a problem!

    PS - It's my birthday today :) (I have 10 minutes left) I am now 42 years old and I have had a lovely day. Took the day off work and spent it with my wife and children and spoke to parents and in-laws.

    Hope you are doing well Loree!

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    1. I hope you had a lovely birthday Adam! It always makes me glad when I hear of people taking the day off to properly honor their birthday...good job! May your 42nd year be the best yet!

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  9. Sometimes I'm glad we can't grow palms only so that I don't have to see tragedies like this.

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    1. That's finding the silver lining for sure!

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  10. Oh man, this is so sad. You're right, there were so many other better solutions.

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    1. And interesting that doing absolutely nothing may have been the best solution of all!

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  11. OMG! That plant would never recover from that harsh treatment, they've just killed it. And a slow death too :(

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    1. Luckily this is not somewhere I regularly go, so I won't have to watch it's slow decline.

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  12. OMG......I do not know what to say after that. I can not believe a professional would do that, who I'm kidding.

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    1. I think perhaps the problem is in the labeling of "professional"...

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  13. That's absolutely heinous. I shuddered when I saw the picture.

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    1. It's up in your neck of the woods, you might come FTF with it someday!

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  14. Maybe it will grow two heads now...

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  15. Priceless.

    A reminder for gardeners that most people don't think of plants as living things.

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  16. Well, yes, there's the ugly way. Ugh.

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