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Monday, December 5, 2011

If Many Trees Fall in a Crowded Urban Setting

Trees

On Saturday afternoon, the Franklin Avenue Quartet decided to head over to the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino to enjoy their annual holiday festival. Of course, we should have checked beforehand to see if they were even open -- and sure enough, due to last week's windpocalypse, the Huntington was still closed on Saturday. (It re-opened on Sunday, and will hold a makegood day for its holiday festival next Saturday, Dec. 10).

But even though we missed out on the Huntington, it gave us an opportunity to finally try out Pasadena's Slaw Dogs (review to come) and drive around town to witness the jaw-dropping tree destruction first hand.

The visual of this collapsed massive oak, off Hill, was enough for us to stop the car and snap some photos. They still don't do justice to the sheer size of this toppled tree and its roots.

Thankfully for the home owner, somehow the tree knew exactly where to fall -- in the driveway. But nonetheless, it did some serious damage, destroying the driveway and ripping up both the sidewalk and the street. How even a fierce gust of wind can topple over such a giant is fascinating to me. A friend of ours suggested that all of these non-native trees in L.A., because they rely more on watering than on any deep water under the surface, have shorter roots and are less entrenched in the ground than in other parts of the country.

It's going to be a good Christmas for the San Gabriel Valley's tree trimmers. More pics of that tree:

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

Trees

1 comment:

akhil said...

Hi Mike, did you see the one in our yard? Well, it's in our yard _now_.