I'd love to have a magnolia tree. They are sooo beautiful. I can't imagine
someone ever bulldozing one down. There's a little bar/restraint close to
here, that had probably a 100 year old tree struck by lightening, that's bad
enough. It had the most beautiful branch structure, and the blossoms in the
spring were to die for.

Some people seem to have little respect for trees. My small back yard is
dominated by (my guess) a 50+ year old black walnut tree. The squirrels love
it, it's a pain to figure out how to garden under. I've been told - just cut
it down - but I won't. It's a strong, healthy tree, good form even though
it spits walnuts everywhere - and I figure eventually I'll figure out what
besides creeping charlie is compatible with jungalone.

Carlotta

"madgard" wrote in message
...
Yeah, since I'm inside sick and aggrivated because I am sick, I'm writing
way too much. I went to Wally world today to return some merchandise. On
my way back since I wasn't in such a hurry (I wanted to get home before
the
garden shows on HGTV..........small comfort for me on a dreary Saturday
when
I am sick and would rather be outside). There is a brick ranch house that
stood vacant for a long time at the cross roads just behind where I live.
I
always kinda liked the house. It sits on a LEVEL lot, which is almost
unheard of unless you build a house on pasture, which IS common. Behind
this house is a marshy, swampy, boggy area. Full of cattails, and other
stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few ducks hanging out in
season. But originally the area behind this house was supposed to be a
fish
hatchery. Enough detail. The house has been there for a good amount of
time. There was a spruce? (the trees get huge and their branches look
pagoda
like. I love them and always get their name wrong, sorry) well actually
two
of them that were planted on this lot, you don't have these come up by
accident here. Not native. There WERE two of them. I noticed a few weeks
ago when I started seeing signs of people living in the house again that
the
first thing they did besides mow the five foot of grass on the 3 acre lot,
was to cut down a struggling apple tree and a diseased peach tree on the
corner of the front/side yard.

No problem yet with them. Then I noticed last week that they had
completely
removed a huge spruce ? tree and it had been well over 140 foot tall and
glorious. I was starting to cringe and started taking an alternative
route
to Wally (this is my back road route).

Then I noticed that they'd limbed up a beautiful magnolia tree at the
corner
of the side yard near the back portion of the huge yard. It wasn't too
bad
at the time, and despite that I really wish they'd left the magnolia
alone,
alot of people don't appreciate the habits of these awesome old Southern
trees with their ground sweeping branches you can step under and between
and
find solitude and fragrances. I've seen benches and seats put under old
ones in yards in Nashville before.

I adore and realize that magnolia's are slooooow growing trees, and I've
seen my share of knuckled and brutalized trees too. It always has been a
sore spot with me since I protested with several old ladies on my street
in
Inglewood over the removal of 6 magnolia's that were in front of six
houses
behind my old Kroger and that they wanted to remove when they built a
super
Kroger. These magnolia's were over 150 years old and their fragrances
could
be smelled for blocks and it is still a memory that I hold to myself as a
child first smelling them walking to school when we moved to that street.

The bulldozer drivers assured me and the five old ladies who'd chained
themselves to the bulldozer when they were taking a break, that they were
NOT going to 'doze the trees, since they grew in the grassy median next to
the sidewalk across from the houses that were sold and being razed. When
we
unchained and went to Mz. Inez's house to celebrate the victory with a
lunch
and some homemade raspberry tea, we were horrified to discover that no
sooner had we gotten out of sight, the construction boss told the drivers
to
level the trees before we came back to check on things. Assholes. Six
magnificent trees, pruned by the Historical Women's Society to ensure they
never bled to death from their wounds, and carefully limbed up to three
foot
so that the houses they lived in front of would have a view of the street.
The flowers on most of those trees were larger than plates.

Fast forward to me now here in Eastern Tennessee in a rural area that
until
the interstate cut through, the families owned land of for over 100 years
or
more. The trunk of the magnolia is about 3 1/2 foot or more. I had kept
hoping the knuckling I was seeing would cease. I was wrong. The other
spruce? has been butchered UP to a height of about 7 feet.

I almost wrecked my car as I slowed down for the stop sign at the corner
where the house is and glanced to the magnolia tree. It's been destroyed.
They have limbed it up over 8 foot in height, and then got a ladder and
have
TOPPED it and pruned the tree into a CIRCLE shape...................maybe
the screams of agony I felt were the trees they were butchering in their
sleep. Come spring time, the rising sap of those trees will probably be
the
demise of them. The magnolia for certain. You can't prune one of these
old
slow growing beauties so brutally and have it survive. As for the spruce?
I
will smell the scent of her when true spring comes and hope it doesn't
send
out invitations to the pine borers. Not sure if they attack spruce or
not,
so don't flame me about this statement. I learn by reading, listening and
mis-speaking sometimes.

But I am sickened by the stupidity of these new residents butchering not
only the evergreen trees that took probably 50 or even 100 years to attain
their magnificent stature and shape, but I LONG for a magnolia tree of the
size these idiots had. And I would have never limbed it up in the first
place. I'd cleaned out underneath her boughs and put a bench or a chair.
To
sit and enjoy the fragrances of her blossoms. But then again, that's just
me, now. These trees were planted with love well over 90 years from what
I
understand. The evergreen trees might not take such a long time to grow,
but they were quite old, never the less. The magnolia was just butchered
and it's just wrong......it wasn't blocking any view, it sat well away
from
the house on the large side yard where the cross street runs, in fact it
was
perfectly positioned in the yard. The front evergreen they cut down they
might not have liked it so close to the garage, but it too, was well over
15
feet from the house or building. And just past the field across from them
is an abandoned fish hatchery and then I-40 where it splits off at I-81.
Not like their view is blocked of seeing the mountains.

sorry about the rant. But as it's not my tree, doesn't mean I can't feel
for
the loss of them. To have a tree of that size would be impossible to
plant
and see a fraction of the growth before I died. Such a loss and waste of
a
wonderful Southern tree.

madgardener slipping back into the bushes again..........