Right tree wrong place?

Sean Freeman

Ok, so following on from my expressed desire to have large trees in urban areas where possible, here's some prime examples of it not working because of initial failures in species selection and planting location.

The trees in these photos are the same species Peltophorum pterocarpum
The first one is planted on the side of the street without tranmission lines some 12m from the kerb...beautiful

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Here's a closer shot of the spread over the footpath

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Now a little closer to where I actually live, remember same species....

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Under transmission lines, actually against the kerb and in the worst shot did you see the car and the seat for people waiting for buses and presumably to be clocked one on the head by the dead top

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The point being this species of tree is planted throughout my town, and there are only 2 examples of the tree showing all its beauty, and providing all the benefits to everyone in the town that we should by now be all very aware of....yes only 2 out of literally 1000's.

Look back at the 1st photo how could you ever expect such a tree to fit under any power lines?
How could you ever concieve that such a tree would be suited to kerb edge plantings?
and lastly I know utililty companies are paid to protect the electrical asset, and their guys have to stick to the cutting sheets and timetables, but seriously who the @#%! would cut a tree leaving the dead top over the road edge and a seat!!!! Yes they did because I went past these trees just after the cutting was done, I stupidly thought yeah well they'll get it when they come down the other side and see it.

SF

Ekka

Yellow poinciana eh, beautiful when grown full.

Many Leopard trees under the wires here get valleyed out, look terrible but better than topping.

On the other end of the scale lets talk vines and shrubs.

Why are councils making rods for their own backs and increasing the cost of vegetation management by planting and maintaining hedges?

You see miles of that purple junk Alternanthera dentata, that yellow junk golden duranta and the ole green murraya. Then they have people continually hedge trimming it???

Hows the Southbank project. I was gob smacked when I saw they planted a kilometer long bougainvillea vine over an arch.

http://www.brisbanecitylife.com.au/bcl/views/g026.htm

Now they have to prune it and watch out for thorns. If you have ever had to prune bougy you'll know what a process it is, also reaching over that arch to stop the antenna like growth (fast at 1m a fortnight in summer) is costly with specialist equipment required.

I wonder who'll be the winner to take it down in 2017?

So lets say you wanted an arch covered wouldn't you maybe consider something else ... alamanda, jasmine, rose etc

Also the highway between Brisbane and Gold Coast was planted out with natives that are hedged now ... like 30kms of hedging. They do it at night with a machine ... like a mango tree pruner just drive along and whip the tops and sides off.

Man, some real clever people spending wisely in government.

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bctkj

I will have to get some pictures of the samething done out here in the US. I am not an arborist or a professional in tree trimming, but I have often wondered why they just trim the trees so the power lines, cars, buses ect... can fit, instead of planting something maybe smaller or in a differant location. I do understand that sometimes powerlines are brought in after the trees have already been planted (20 years ago in an older town), but lets plan a little!

Ekka

The other day I was standing on the footpath with a customer at the front of their house.

The customer had lived there 30 years and was pointing out the mutilated trees beneath the power wires and how council refused to remove some of the real bad mutilations.

Anyway, he told me the story of how the council planted all the trees along the footpath on his side of the road under the power wires.

And on the other side of the road where there's no wires they planted nothing!

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treestyle

murraya is being investigated as an environmental weed, it's popping up in bush land all over the place. Melaleuca bracteata "Revolution Gold" would be a suitable replacement for Duranta. and types of Syzygium would out do Murraya. local native Breynia oblongifolia has nice purple tinge to it and would replace Alternanthera. up here on the north side alot of the new estates are using natives which is good to see. Native Jasmine is beaut at the moment, out in flower, Pandorea jasminoides. you think it would be a good idea for councils to demonstate the practicality and aesthic appeal of our native species.

Ekka

I like those grasses and rushes too, now that's low maint and drought resistant.

Rev Golds can get big if left unchecked.

I agree with Murraya, they self seed, there's always plenty of little ones underneath the hedges. They might breed a sterile one like that did with that madhatter cuphia stuff.

Nurseries love murraya, easy to strike, grows fast, lush green, cut it anywhere you like etc ... be the biggest selling thing over the last 10 years I reckon.

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vl2007

Here in the keys, our gov. planted Seagrape as a hedge along a busy road. They need to keep it at three feet. Seagrapes are to be grown as a trees. They use hedge pruners on it. looks like grap, cutting large leaves in half, turn brown at every cut. I'll get some pics. Gov. miss spending money goes on everywhere. What can yea do?