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Wollemi Pine
On 6/12/06 00:02, in article
, "Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote: "K" wrote in message Sacha writes On 4/12/06 18:35, in article , "K" wrote: "Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" writes I am probably the odd one out but I see nothing wrong with planting a tree you like and accepting that it will have to be removed long before maturity. There are plenty of wonderful examples of Araucaria around here which will eventually have to go. Even the most modest British trees are probably unsuitable for the average garden but they do enjoy a 20/30 year life before the chop. Must go now -I need to check the Sequoia:-) No, you're not. I've argued this line on urg before. I don't see it's much different from growing hedges - better, perhaps, to let a tree have a few years of freedom, than to keep it 'cooped up' at 6ft high for ever ;-) Why grow it at all, if only for personally selfish reasons? Why else are any plants grown that aren't being grown for food or utility? Or do you mean that we grow our gardens to create a thing of beauty for others to enjoy? If so, why not grow a tree for the same reason, even if it has to be removed after 20 years or so when it outgrows its space? Given the range of trees of all shapes and sizes available then that sounds to me more like poor planning (but that comment should be read in context with comments that follow). I'd agree with you but at the same time I can see Kay's point but I simply cannot agree with it. It's too callous for me! We should also take account of gardener's ignorance and some gardeners simply plant in ignorance of eventual size. Also some gardeners are very subject to garden fashions that come and go and plant for the short term. I think quite a lot of people plant trees because a friend has one or they've seen it somewhere in a much larger garden and want one themselves. In my old house there was a young blue cedar and I had the horrible job of cutting it down because it was much too close to the house and when it was fully size, would have prevented anyone getting to the front door! That had been planted because the people next door had a much larger garden and had a blue cedar planted well away from the house but in line of sight with mine. I can only imagine that the original planter thought that two such trees fairly close together would one day look magnificent. But their thinking obviously hadn't gone further than that. And of course given that some gardeners only have a pocket hankerchief sized garden then they have more desire to fiddle and change things as they have less work to do and more chance of getting bored than those who have a big garden. I suspect that Sacha and I both have large gardens and that changes one's focus dramatically. It's all about the long term in a big garden as one doesn't have the time, resources or energy to do gardening that has a short term life and that especially includes tree planting. In a big garden you simply can't keep redoing things all the time. Again, I think that's true and not something I'd consciously thought of. We have roughly 3 acres of garden here and 3 of nursery. It's impossible to keep titivating the garden in a minute detail sort of way, so I suppose we do tend to think in terms of permanence. Apart from my last garden which was the smallest I've ever owned, I've always been involved with big gardens, so perhaps that has influenced my thinking in terms of the life of anything in them. Trees are not animals in the sense of allowing them 'a few years of freedom'. Precisely. Which is why I find it hard to get worked up about planting trees to 'selfish' reasons. Is it possible to be selfish if the only ill effects of your 'selfishness' are on a non-sentient being? Many trees live for a very, very much longer time than any animal, including the human and IMO, should be planted with that in mind. IMO, too, but from a different perspective. I think your splitting up of Sacha's comments has removed the overall sense of what she wrote. I'm of the view of Sacha, but I don't own a pocket handkerchief sized garden and nor can I plant a certain class of tree without being aware that it will grow into a truly huge thing. I can plant pioneer and nursery species but I don't plant for fashion. I plant certain trees with the reasoning that I am planting for what I describe as "posterity". This means to me that the tree will still be there in a hundred or more years. Yup. More years ago than I care to remember, I came across a Japanese Haiku which best describes my attitude to the non nursery trees and although I can no longer put it into the correct Haiku form, it says: "A a man truly understands the meaning of life when he plants a tree under which he knows he will not sit". Having had 2 bouts of primary cancer, I asked myself at one stage, if money was no object, what would be the last thing that I would want to do on earth before dying. I decided that the only thing I would REALLY want to do, would be to buy a large parcel of land, to plant an arboretum and to then protect the land by some sort of covenant so that it could never be be subject to human interference. Like the man in the Haiku, I know I'm not immortal, but certain trees for me have an immortality that is truly magical. The Druids certainly knew a thing or two. Lovely idea. A fairly close neighbour has done something similar and it's known locally as 'the plantation'. I don't know about the covenant thing in his case but it's a marvellous thing to do for future generations to enjoy. In a smaller way, we do the same thing. Having acquired the field behind what used to be the boundary of the nursery, Ray turned part of it into a badly-needed car park and another part is covered in Mypex for the outdoor potted up plants. But the rest is grassland and my stepson has planted an avenue of different types of oaks in it and at right angles to that we put in an avenue of limes about two years ago. In other parts of the field there many other types of tree dotted around here and there and though we can't allow it to turn into a wild flower meadow unfortunately, it is a real wildlife and bird haven and last year we even had a family of ferrets nesting in the vast compost heap up there! -- Sacha http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/ |
#2
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Wollemi Pine
"Sacha" wrote snip I think quite a lot of people plant trees because a friend has one or they've seen it somewhere in a much larger garden and want one themselves. In my old house there was a young blue cedar and I had the horrible job of cutting it down because it was much too close to the house and when it was fully size, would have prevented anyone getting to the front door! That had been planted because the people next door had a much larger garden and had a blue cedar planted well away from the house but in line of sight with mine. I can only imagine that the original planter thought that two such trees fairly close together would one day look magnificent. But their thinking obviously hadn't gone further than that. Another reason gardeners can get choice of trees or spacing/position wrong is misleading info when they do look for advice. One thing that I blame is the tendency of some plant labels, and often also books, to give the height and spread of trees and shrubs as a rough size *after ten years* but neglect to give any idea of mature eventual size. The ten year bit isn't always stated, either. -- Sue |
#3
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Wollemi Pine
"Sue" wrote in message
Another reason gardeners can get choice of trees or spacing/position wrong is misleading info when they do look for advice. One thing that I blame is the tendency of some plant labels, and often also books, to give the height and spread of trees and shrubs as a rough size *after ten years* but neglect to give any idea of mature eventual size. The ten year bit isn't always stated, either. Plant labels! Now that is a subject that makes me very cross! I dunno about the UK, but here the trend in plant labelling seems designed to mislead or keep people ignorant. For example, Alstromerias here are being sold under the name of "Princess Lilly" and nowhere on the label could a mug garden find out it's real name. I was so cross when I saw this that I simply refused to buy some that I would rather like in my garden. Since they cope so well with dry conditions I thought that they'd make a useful addition to my drought ravaged garden but I simply won't encourage the plant producers shoddy behaviour by buying them. |
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Wollemi Pine
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message ... "Sue" wrote in message Another reason gardeners can get choice of trees or spacing/position wrong is misleading info when they do look for advice. One thing that I blame is the tendency of some plant labels, and often also books, to give the height and spread of trees and shrubs as a rough size *after ten years* but neglect to give any idea of mature eventual size. The ten year bit isn't always stated, either. Plant labels! Now that is a subject that makes me very cross! I dunno about the UK, but here the trend in plant labelling seems designed to mislead or keep people ignorant. For example, Alstromerias here are being sold under the name of "Princess Lilly" and nowhere on the label could a mug garden find out it's real name. I was so cross when I saw this that I simply refused to buy some that I would rather like in my garden. Since they cope so well with dry conditions I thought that they'd make a useful addition to my drought ravaged garden but I simply won't encourage the plant producers shoddy behaviour by buying them. You are lucky to get even that info on a plant. Many of the local supermarket plants are just labelled "Herbaceous perennial" or "Houseplant". I once asked for the actual name and the assistant grabbed the label and said it was called Herbaceous. |
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Wollemi Pine
"Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message Plant labels! Now that is a subject that makes me very cross! I dunno about the UK, but here the trend in plant labelling seems designed to mislead or keep people ignorant. For example, Alstromerias here are being sold under the name of "Princess Lilly" and nowhere on the label could a mug garden find out it's real name. I was so cross when I saw this that I simply refused to buy some that I would rather like in my garden. Since they cope so well with dry conditions I thought that they'd make a useful addition to my drought ravaged garden but I simply won't encourage the plant producers shoddy behaviour by buying them. You are lucky to get even that info on a plant. Many of the local supermarket plants are just labelled "Herbaceous perennial" or "Houseplant". I once asked for the actual name and the assistant grabbed the label and said it was called Herbaceous. Snort! If it wasn't so sad, it'd be funny. |
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