thurmanconsult@xxxxxxxxxxx.com Thursday, December 23, 2004 10:40:50
am >>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Thurman [mailto:thurmanconsult@xxxxxxxxxxx.com]
Sent: 23 December 2004 10:18
To: 'Ian MAY'
Subject: RE: Arboricultural euthanasia and phallic trees
Ian
In reply:
Of course isolated quirky specimens, full of character are important
but God
help the look of urban areas if that's all we end up with and have to
rely
on.
<<< Why's that then ?>>>
Because I hate the idea of tree museums. To understand what I mean here
-
change the word isolated to scarce or rare.
We need green bulk with a good-age class distribution and that may
involve
the slightly premature culling of some individuals or species - every
year.
<<< again why, the urban environment is hardly natural is it ?>>>
Drive
between Esher and Hampton Court in Surrey to see a classic example of
initial dodgy tree selection (mainly Prunus Kanzan) that have all been
half
dead for 20 years yet still have not been completely replaced.
Surely, Prunus Kanzan (1000's of which were planted in urban areas in
the
50's, 60's and 70's) cannot be described as "special" or memorable in
any
way whatsoever.
When I said Green Bulk you have presumed I meant natives. Far from it.
Few
of ours have a role in urban areas. I'm all for Liquidambars and
Ginkgos
even along our motorways. The mind set (or fact of life?) I'm scared of
is
token tree planting - the odd one here and there that doesn't keep up
with
losses. I wonder how many urban LA's are planting more trees than they
are
losing? If you want quirky specimens in 50 to 100 years you've got to
keep
planting them. If there's a lack of space you may need to create some
by
culling some knackered Kanzan. That's all I'm saying.
<<< Maybe what irks is that they were planted in their thousands by
people
who
dared to try something new and at that time didn't understand the
implications. Granted Kanzans are a bl**dy awful waste of space, blousy
for
two weeks per year, and wreck hard surfaces, but had they not been
planted
in
their thousands then you may well have to reconsider whether they are
"special
or memorable in any way whatsoever". And God help us, the punters seem
to
love them because in my experience they don't want "forest trees" next
to
their house. Whatever your subjectivity, too much of anything is a
poison
apparently.
So planting 1000's of Kanzans was nothing to do with the fact that they
were
heavily marketed by the Dutch - top-worked on to wild cherry, rapid in
growth and dead cheap. The punters like them because we haven't offered
them
anything better.
Who said anything about replacing these with 'Forest Trees?'
Be inspired, be outrageous, be contentious, be creative, think outside
your
comfort zone, just don't settle for bland mediocrity in the Urban
landscape
or the population will lose whatever interest it has left. IMHO if you
must
insist on planting natives with a good age class distribution, do it in
the
countryside. We need to pick our fights because we have more or less
lost
the urban battle with the advent of PPG3 and the death of common
sense.
Sadly, many people responsible for urban tree planting are NOT
inspired,
contentious, creative etc etc - that's my gripe.
As I said before, I'm NOT talking about natives but yes, I do think
good age
class distribution is important.
Perhaps you need to pick your fights carefully because of the scarcity
of
trees in urban areas. If we had more green bulk we could afford to lose
a
few more.
Peter
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