too late smart
I was hoping I was wrong. Perhaps the beautiful coastal oak tree in our neighborhood will survive a new owner who has done all the unrecommended things to keep it healthy.
I often saw the previous owner while walking. He was a former antiques dealer who sold all his previously unsold pottery, paintings, and other collectibles at glamorous garage sales. Some are now in my treasure. A beautiful oak tree had a dark green canopy over the driveway and the front door of the house. There were some cracks in the concrete driveway. “Should I remove that pavement and put in a new driveway?” he wondered. “No,” I advised. “Don’t do anything to change where the oak tree is growing. It’s doing well now, and it’s very sensitive. Repaving your driveway can cause major damage to its roots.”
He left it alone, and the oak tree continued to grow. But he put the house up for sale, and the first thing the new owners did was repave the driveway. As I passed by, I shivered as I saw the soil exposed and the concrete already gone. The workers thought they were doing a very good job. A pile of cut roots lay next to it, compacting the soil. Some trees may be able to tolerate it, but coastal oaks are not. The arborist explained to me that the branches and root system work together. The branches are designed to spread out, balance the tree, and protect the roots. When growing in the wild, the branches touch the ground to support the tree. The root system is a near-surface network that collects water dripping from the tree crown. When the root network is disrupted, the tree is deprived of water and nutrients.
This project gave us a long, very smooth driveway, but it was a death sentence for that beautiful tree. I left a pamphlet about proper oak tree care, but it seems to be ignored. The next mess was in the planting area that remained around the tree. Irrigation was installed and ornamental plants dug. Further damage to the roots and, of course, watering this tree, which is adapted to hot and dry summers, is just a way to promote the growth of oak root fungi. The new owner must have loved the tree. A swing is attached to one of his branches, and holiday lights are wrapped around the trunk. But they didn’t realize that it wasn’t a way to express gratitude. Now that tree has died.
Without sounding too preachy, I have to admit that I have killed almost every mature tree in my yard. Despite efforts to move irrigation away from native Toyon species, adding irrigation to areas that previously had no irrigation contributed to the development of oak root fungus.
The first place I went was Toyoung. Once this fungus began to develop, it affected olives and eventually cedar. Around the avocado trunk was piled up the fill produced when the utility was buried underground. I did not notice. That tree has also withered. There are a lot of things wrong and it takes too long to learn.
Now we have discovered a new way to harm trees – planting artificial grass. That plastic grass is more than just a carpet laid on the surface of the ground. There is roadbed preparation.
First, you need to kill your existing lawn with Roundup. Probably 2-3 applications. Next, dig up and remove 2 to 3 inches of existing soil and tree roots. A new subbase of granular material is installed, and on top of it is a “weed blanket,” a fabric embedded with herbicide. Only then will the green artificial grass be installed. Trees surrounding the area now have damaged roots, no watering at all, and will suffer from changes in the gardening environment, including dealing with herbicides leaching through weed cover.
guess what? You will notice that the leaves are stressed and the health of the tree is decreasing. It turns out that’s what may have happened to the eucalyptus tree at the roundabout on El Camino del Mar. Here’s what a consulting arborist noted in a report to City Council on Tuesday:
“We also received information that in 2021, the owner of the home at 387 El Camino del Mar removed the live grass in his front yard and replaced it with artificial turf. A large number of surface-feeding roots could be lost in the turf installation. ”
I hope the damage isn’t severe enough to require cutting down the tree. The decision will be made by the council based on the arborist’s evaluation. There is a temporary reprieve for now as Tuesday night’s board meeting was canceled. Removing that lemon-scented gum would be another loss of life and beauty caused by humans, and another unnecessary grief.
Ann is a landscape architect and served as Mayor of Laguna Beach from 1993 to 1994. He is also a longtime board member of Village Laguna, Inc.