I swear I wasn’t sniffing glue or doing anything of that nature when I spotted this tree. Tell me you see it? The eyes, the nose, the mouth? I’ve walked past this tree 1000 times and never noticed it before. It is located between Mt. P and Cleveland Park on Porter Street. So cool. It’s nice to report some happier tree news…
“Dear PoP,
I came home from work to find our own little tree cut down. I found it laying on its side next to the little stump, the sharp angle of the cuts clearly visible on both trunk and stump. So far I haven’t had any neighbor tell me s/he saw who did it, but then everyone’s in out of the heat right now.
I am thoroughly irritated that this has happened. The tree was clearly not a weed. It was beautifully flowering up until the moment it was cut down, and the tree lawn around it was cared for (not beautiful, but cared for). I can only be grateful that I did not plant it in honor of anyone, or I’d be thoroughly ready to wring some necks. As it is, I’m just feeling deflated and disheartened. What the hell is wrong with people?!”
This is the strangest epidemic. I know there are worse things in the world but for folks to just cut down trees. Ridiculous.
Thanks to the readers for sending. For the photo above:
“Witnessing a whole slew of firemen/fire trucks outside a smoking rowhouse on 1118 Columbia.” I’m also hearing that the road has been closed for a while.
A description of the above photo:
“No wind, no nothing, this tree outside my apartment at 1800 Clydesdale just decided to fall over at about 11:30 tonight. Nobody was anywhere near it, but it managed to total a Mercedes and scratch a few other cars. It was on the Ontario condo building’s property and wasn’t dead or otherwise in obvious need of removal, but they just cut down about four or five in front of my place so maybe it was mourning its fallen comrades.”
One of these showed up around a tree in front of my house yesterday, with no context or explanation. I’ve noticed quite a few of these popping up throughout the neighborhood around the young trees and I’m curious if others have noticed them or had any experience with them. The side identifies them as “BioPlex Tree Rings.”
At first I thought these were something that you would plant in the ground around the tree to keep the roots at the right depth or use as a planter of some kind. Then I went to their Web site and it seems these are some kind of water collection/slow-drip system from keeping the baby trees properly moisturized.
My biggest concern is that these are going to end up making the mosquito situation even worse than it already is this time of year. Having large buckets of water sitting around is kinda asking for trouble.
Is this worth it?
Ed. Note: And speaking of trees there will be a community watering – from an email:
“There will be community tree watering this Saturday (8/8) @ 7am for the trees that have been planted by DDOT/UFA in the Medians at the Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro Station. We will be meeting at the the Petworth Station Metro Statue at 7am for a safety meeting. Please come out and join us as your schedules permit. Hope to see you there…..
Again, THANK YOU to Donatelli Development, who is providing access to water from the Park Place building by Donatelli Development.”
Never underestimate the power of trees. I thought this was such a wild sight. It looks like the roots just busted through the brick wall. Totally wild.
These trees make me so happy. Particularly when they are found on very urban streets. This one is from 13th Street, NW. Be sure to send me photos of your fruit trees if you have some.
I have a well known fondness for tree stumps for reasons that are still not exactly clear to me. Anyway, I found this one particularly cool. It looks like they tried to carve it up with a chainsaw but eventually gave up.
Despite my love of tree stumps I did have one that was obstructing a gate that I had to remove. I tried everything to kill it and was unsuccessful for quite a long time. A neighbor told me to drill a whole in it and pour salt down it. I’m not sure if that did the trick but like a year after the salt treatment it finally died.
There is a whole new row of trees going in behind the Petworth metro. There is other landscaping on the side which also looks good.
Speaking of trees I received a number of emails about trouble with the new trees going into the New Hampshire Ave medians. Apparently the median is not deep enough to support trees and DDOT is not being helpful in correcting the situation. Rather than post the same thing twice – you can find out how to help at Petworth News.
While you are at PN you can also find out how to ensure the YES! Organic Market gets a beer and wine license.
This is the worst part of all this rain. I hate losing these great trees. Thanks to a reader for sending this photo from Upshur & Mathewson in Crestwood.
So the rain related question is – can too much rain be bad for a vegetable garden or am I gonna have a bumper crop as a result?
Thanks again to Wayan Vota for sending. He writes, “New Hampshire Avenue is getting raised medians with trees from Grant Circle to Georgia Avenue.”
It’s so awesome to see the things we’ve been hearing about for so long actually become a reality.
Remember the discussion we had about Church parking?