This Week In Tree Mutilation

Rich people mutilate their trees, too.  You would think they'd have the money to grow them properly, but not always.  This Agonis was topped at 10' and allowed to grow into a wide, parasol-shaped structure.  

Photobucket

It looks quite nice--in a way--though its natural shape is completely lost.  

Photobucket

It is mutilated because if it was allowed to grow to its natural height, it would mar the ocean views (Gasp! The horror! ) of the houses behind it.   Still, it is alive.  That's something.   

The same people who tastefully mutilated the tree buzzed the elderly boxwood nearby into an odd shape I like (sort of).  Like a fuzzy green mushroom.


Photobucket

Despite the fact that the mushwood has just about outgrown its planting bed, it is still underplanted with wax begonia.  Funny.

Compare this buzz job:

Cheaper gardener:
Photobucket

One is a little more artful than the other--though they are both rather...funny.

And now something not funny at all.  Something worse even than mutilation:  murder.

 I'm sincerely distressed to report that I stopped to visit the magnificent ~120 year old Italian Cypress that I blogged about here.  To my complete horror, I discovered it was gone.  Completely totally gone.  Poof!  All that was left was a little pile of mulch chips.  

Gone!
Italian Cypress



Photobucket
 

Photobucket

Now that's just a damn shame.  
 



Comments

  1. Tragedy - and truely sad. It's Orange county's loss.
    But but but. Here in the south island of New Zealand I have 40 Italian Cypress to plant. My beautiful daughter grew them until they were 100 mm high. And they are now 800 mm high in 10 litre buckets. (that's hip high)
    As each and every one of these will be planted out, there will be a thought by me about the lost cousin in Orange County.
    Italian Cypresses will rule.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reshaping our landscape ... that's what humans do ... and not always in a good way. That last example of bush shearing looks like someone was trying to make a mohawk.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your blog post titles are almost as good as your posts! The sarcasm does sound like the name of an esteemed journal for people who like plants to vent!

    Some of those shapes are nice in a limited way, I suppose. In our deep freeze-drought-summer progression of things here, the more sheared plants are more damaged - most of those are more dead now than they were in Feb!

    And views - few in the US get what Asian gardens do much more - scale and framing views, not just put them all on display.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh no! What a beautiful Italian Cypress it was!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks to all for your comments!

    @Field, it cheers me and gives me hope to think that 40 Italian Cypress are alive and growing and in a century will be as grand and glorious as this lost giant. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Always interested in your thoughts.

Any comments containing a link to a commercial site with the intent to promote that site will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.