There is an epidemic going on, not only in my neighborhood, but apparently in many places in the U.S. It's called 'tree-itis'.

As I write, I am listening to the sawing away and hacking down of another perfectly healthy tree. Some properties now have zero foliage, except for a lawn, not even bushes.

Here's the list of what's gone down over just a few blocks in the last three years.

9 sycamores, which have taken 50 years to grow. They are perfect for this area, withstanding all kinds of the harsh weather, even recommended for hurricane zones.

1 birch

2 fruit trees

1 beautiful mulberry, which is going down as I write.

1 healthy elm

1 mimosa

2 of unknown species

Another yard has several healthy pines which are dying from not being watered. We must irrigate, due to not enough natural rainfall. We do not have a water shortage here, so that isn't an issue.

All of these trees seemed to have been cut down because they were inconvenient, and required some upkeep. None were diseased.


I managed to talk one neighbor out of cutting down his three apple trees, but instead to just prune them.

The house I sold a few years ago had only one tree, a gorgeous holly where the cardinal birds would rest. The new owners have gotten rid of that one, too.

If any of you feel like doing a Spring project, plant a new seedling on your property, for future generations. You might encourage your neighbors to do the same.

Are some of us becoming too selfish to care for the nature around us? It seems so. Don't bother us with watering, trimming, raking up the leaves, etc. If we want to see a tree we can pull up a photo on our Smart Phones.

Spread the word, if you. Thanks.

Planting a tree is like shaking hands with the future.

There is actually an annual Jewish celebration for trees...

...Tu B'Shevat (the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Shevat). This year (2015), Tu B'Shevat began at sunset on February 3, and ended at sunset on February 4th. It is often referred to as "the New Year for the trees"---and, in Jewish law, the age of a tree is determined from any particular Tu B'Shevat forward.

If early Februrary seems very early to be planting new trees (which, around the world, is one of the main activities of Tu B'Shevat), remember that in the land of Israel, where this holiday began, it is definitely warm enough to plant new trees which will thrive.

In contemporary times, Tu B'Shevat also may be celebrated with a special seder (dinner) which emphasizes nuts and fruits (some fresh, some dried).

In Israel Tu B'Shevat is widely celebrated (the best non-Jewish analogy I can think of is Valentine's Day)...

...in the diaspora (all of the world which is not the land of Israel), not so much for most Jews, with the exception of Jewish children and teens who, if they are members of Jewish groups or congregations or schools, often make this one of the really happy annual Jewish celebrations (sometimes with trips to far or really interesting places to plant new trees).

It is indeed Elder Olddog.... why cut a tree down? The clean our air, they look pretty and give shade. I don't get it.

I have a number of tall, fragile tulip trees in my back woods. Over the past few years, lightning has been felling a number of them. I'm thinking of planting some oak and maple trees there, and some evergreens as well. My brother has also planted a several trees in recent years. It amazes me how quickly they grow.

Ash trees grow fast and are well-adapted for Utah climate.

When I mow the lawn, I'm always amazed by how much cooler it is under and around that tree. It shades about 1/2 of the back of our house. I'm sure it must cut down on our cooling costs. And it's beautiful.

I wonder how having trees affects climate. I do know that asphalt and tile roofs increase temperatures.

When I used to live in NYC, the summers were unbearably hot -- all of the asphalt and concrete for sidewalks and streets, and precious few trees. The city would just bake. I quickly learned to escape to the shore on the weekends.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2015 09:18PM by summer.

I love trees and everywhere I have ever lived we planted lots of trees. Maples, ash, willow, oak, cypress, redbud ,dogwoods. Crab apples. We are in a new house once more and are planting a pink dogwood this weekend along with a Camilla. You cannot have too many trees.

What the hell. A little inconvenience taking care of a tree that will improve your property value and quality of life?

Just to toot my horn, I'm trying cloning of some old, old, heirloom fruit trees and planted 100 bare root trees in the last year.

Oak trees are very protected around these parts, and a few years ago I called one of the local tree guys with trepidation, because I wanted to fell an oak that really was growing in a bad place. He said: "You've got plenty of trees around there, don't worry about it."

including a Cox's Orange Pippin and a Ben Davis. I hope they made through our tough winter. I plan to espalier them along our fence, so it might not be much of a carbon offset, but Philadelphia is going around planting sidewalk trees right now. Whether you want them or not, had a neighbor rip out the one in front of her house and brick in the hole. right now in the East, we have to worry about the Emerald Ash Borer. The Ash trees in the woods across from my house have all been tagged for watching.

By any small chance are any of the heirloom trees Session Plums?

I intend to try a pyramid shape with that one. Need to get a few pears next. A Dame du Comice and maybe a Conference.

Weird. That’s been happening in my neighborhood too. Someone moved in up the block, and proceeded to have three very old poplar trees completely removed. They must have been 50 feet tall. Now I look up the way and see condos, where I used to see beautiful green foliage. The birds were freaking out that day too, flying all over in a panic, ‘Our tree! Our tree!’

There’s been a rash of that around our neighborhood recently, that’s not the first old poplar to be removed around the same few block radius in the past two years. It’s like these things have been there for the past 10 years I’ve lived here (probably been growing for fifty years) and now, suddenly now, they are suddenly in danger of falling on someone’s house. Tree panic.

People are strange. Who knows what they are thinking. At least my yard still has trees, and they won’t be going anywhere. And yes, trees affect the climate. They are a carbon sink … they remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it in their mass as they grow. They scrub CO2 from the atmosphere. They also oxygenate the air when they exhale oxygen at night. Not to mention provide a home for all the little critters that live around us … although some people appear to dislike those creatures as well.

Sorry about your trees Carol. I almost cried last summer the day that guy killed all three of his. I imagined them screaming, and in a few hours, they just didn’t exist anymore. Huge old trees, older than him. :(

I planted 2 lilacs against the fence after those trees left. Someday I won't see those condos again. Don't kill trees!

Also, did you know if you ever have an apple tree die in your yard … it can be because someone two blocks away cut their apple tree down that your tree depended on for pollination? Interesting how things are connected like that. If you get rid of your apple tree, you might be taking another one out as well. Fascinating chit!

Trees can die of a broken heart. They care about each other in their little communities.

What a horrible dumb-arse. That fast-food eating idiot will be dead in a couple decades with no lasting impression on this world, but those trees would have lasted many more centuries (perhaps.)

You'll be happy to know i've planted 52 trees in the last 3 years. Not including hundreds of shrubs, bushes, vines, bulbs, perennials, ground covers, and two vegetable garden raised beds.

It pains me to see people cut down trees. Many times it's because the trees were planted in the wrong place to begin with. Pine trees drip sap on cars that ruin the paint and make a horrible mess. Some trees are planted too close to buildings and cause a mountain of trouble with roof,gutters, drains, and where I live, moss. Sometimes certain trees attract bugs or critters that aren't people friendly.

Before you plant a tree, do your homework! Find out what issues it may have, how big it gets, think long an hard before you plant just any tree in just any place. Think about what it will shade, or not, think about what kinds of droppings it will have. You don't want to plant a tree that will drop tons of stuff into your pool, hot tub, or gutters. Also, don't plant a tree right next to a driveway or sidewalk unless you know that it's roots won't eventually tear it up. Lot of trees get cut down in the city for that reason. It's considered a tripping hazard for elderly people. Think before you plant so you and the tree will be happy for a very long time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2015 10:30PM by madalice.

I'm with you! I've got 100 fruit, nut, nitrogen-fixers (locusts) and shade trees coming next month for planting. Hundreds of shrubs (peashrubs as nitrogen fixers, elderberry, serviceberry, and others).

I love nature and enjoy seeing things grow.

Cutting down perfectly good trees? Not without a great reason.

I know in Australia if trees can't handle drought and live without irrigation, they die and are replaced with natives or things like yuccas from desert regions of the US.

Water is too expensive to water trees, unless you pipe your laundry water out onto them, which I do.

It's encouraging that some people still do care about our natural surroundings.

I too plant trees. They are man's actual best choice for food production, as they make beneficial ecosystems and produce for decades.

They also require less water than surface crops, something very important in today's west, or anywhere. Their roots often go deep.

Is this thread about what people do on their own property?

Trees give a lot of crap. We have a bunch of oak trees at the back. In the early fall, they start dropping acorns which go right through our shed's roof. They also hurt when they hit you on the head, I can tell you.

After that, the leaves start to fall well into the winter, which must be swept up daily (not to mention my gadget-prone neighbours who prefer noisy leaf blowers all Saturday long). The rest of the winter is spent picking up rotting leaves that are being blown out of the nooks and crannies of the garden by the wind.

In the mean time, everything in the garden slowly turns green from algae: the tiles, the walls, the garden furniture... Every now and then, branches drop into the garden and in a storm, well, them trees can bend like a 14-year old East-German gymnast but if not properly pruned and maintained, sometimes they break!

Come spring, my wife can't leave the house because of the pollen. In some years, the trees "bloom" and leave a thick layer of green dust and general crap all over everything. More daily sweeping.

When that is over, it's time to remove the algae and enjoy the trees for a few months - if there is no oak processionary, that is. Man, those buggers sting and are extremely hard to kill.

The trees also attract birds who shit up the place all summer long. And they take away all the sun until 2 pm, which is fine when there's a heat wave - which there usually isn't.

And then it starts all over again. I personally wouldn't wanna miss it for the world but I can imagine why some people do.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2015 05:25AM by rt.

leaf-mulch is amazing compost. Pile it up, let the worms, bacteria, and fungus do their work, and spread it on gardens in the spring. Free compost!

The lumberjack who lives behind me had a yard full of tall pine trees when we moved in 11 years ago. Since then he's removed about 20 of them, thereby taking away the shade in our yard. I had landscaped according to the amount of shade we got. My landscaping died. He said he wanted to grow grass. I told him if he wanted grass he shouldn't have bought property in a forested area!

Actions have consequences, maybe not directly to you but somebody will pay them. My landscaping died and my electric bill went up in the summer time.

I really despise the lumberjack.

rachel1 Wrote:
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> I really despise the lumberjack.

I would too.

This guy isn't thinking about anything (like the ecosystem HE is a constituent part of), or anyone except himself and his whims.

I live on an acre of dense hundred foot firs. I'm tired of living in fear of death. Two houses in my neighborhood have been hit in the last couple years. I barely have seen the sky since I moved in decades past, and I long for rainbows, stars, clouds.

I will move soon rather than kill the trees. I literally used to go out and hug them, but I have lost all enthusiasm for them now. I pull seedlings regularly. Trees are weeds here.

I live in a place where the hurricanes can come through. That produces winds of up to 100 mph. There was a long row of evergreen trees on the west side of my lot. They were White Pines and Hemlocks. I went online and looked up trees that are in danger of being toppled by high winds and those two types of trees were at the top of the list. Those trees were close enough to the house to pose a real threat in high winds.

About five years ago I had all the White Pines and Hemlocks removed by a professional tree service. Now I don't have to worry about the trees falling on my house during a hurricane.

So even though I appreciate trees there are some practical safety issues to consider.

Get a bumper sticker that says this:

"The trees are the view."



Here in the PNW, people cut down lots of trees. And I'm thinking, if you hate trees, move to the desert.

In Utah, people cut down lots of trees. And I'm thinking seriously, with our hot summer sun, and our dirty smoggy air.

In the High Desert in California, people cut down down lots of trees. And I'm thinking seriously, as hard as it is to get big, mature trees here in the high desert, they are as valuable as gold. And you're cutting them down?



Can't win. Sigh.

> There is an epidemic going on, not only in my neighborhood, but apparently in many places in the U.S. It's called 'tree-itis'.

Here in Germany, where I live, we have the same epidemic. And it makes me so sad, to see healthy trees die for nothing. Sometimes there are good reasons to log trees, but in many cases it's just pure idiocy at work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTvYh8ar3tc

Carol, if you haven't already, you should find and read 'The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss

It was Seuss's favourite of his books. It's a real tear jerker.
One of my fav's of the Doc too.

they "heard the tree fall. The very last Truffula tree of them all."

"Unless"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax

Dr. Seuss was actually a very serious person, who felt deeply about the world's injustices.

When I bought my home, there was a solid wall of tall pine trees behind the houses across the street from me. Besides looking great, they muffled traffic noises from a nearby road. Unfortunately, the city decided to cut them all down. So I got a view of the old power lines and increased road noise. In addition, a new high voltage power line went in with a hundred foot tall tower to support it. It stabs at my sky like a giant dagger. Progress.