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Acrylic-bob · 14-12-2005, 13:38

I happened to be wandering along Broadway just the other day and noticed that trees have now been planted. How nice, how colourful and just the thing to soften and break up the ugly monotony of the buildings which line the street.

On stepping closer to inspect, I was more than a little dismayed to realise that the trees were Oak.

Ok, I can appreciate the moronic associations which informed the choice, but I cannot help feeling that a tragic mistake has been made here.

Consider the facts:

The average oak tree has a lifespan of up to 200years (depending on environmental conditions).

It generally prefers to spread it's branches and can do so for a distance of up to forty feet from its trunk, in all directions. It's root-run is similarly prodigious, and, as its roots grow and develop they tend to thicken, often quite dramatically, lifting pavement, walls, foundations and anything else in their way.

A mature oak can be expected to grow to be over 100 feet tall and it's trunk can be as much as ten feet thick!

A mature oak will take upwards of fifty gallons of water out of the ground per day, causing localised subsidence as the subsoil dries out.

The trees planted on Broadway while still maintaining the juvenile habit of retaining their leaves through the winter are, nevertheless, about fifteen years old. Replanting will knock back their development by a year or so, but by the time the trees are old enough to celebrate their twentieth birthday they will start to produce acorns, by the bucketfull! A single mature tree can produce 2500 per year. Very nice, but what do you do with them? Unless we have a sudden invasion of squirrels or the council intend to start grazing pigs on Broadway they will become a hazard to life and limb. One only has to look at the mess the horsechestnuts in front of the Market Hall create every autumn to realise the truth of that statement.

Oak trees are planted primarily to provide shade and with an eighty foot leaf spread they are really good at doing that.

So, we can look forward to a Broadway perpetually cast in stygian gloom, where the buildings are subsiding and the pavement lifting, and a very interesting shopping experience each autumn as irate shopkeepers battle to prevent herds of pigs and squirrels running amok in their stores. That is, of course, if the vandals don't get to them first!

Well done HBC! It's nice to see that so much thought is put into planning our resurgent town centre.

14-12-2005, 13:38	#9
Acrylic-bob God Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Tragic Conn Posts: 4,007 Blog Entries: 15 Liked: 3 times Rep Power: 2473	Re: Blue 'n' white Broadway. I happened to be wandering along Broadway just the other day and noticed that trees have now been planted. How nice, how colourful and just the thing to soften and break up the ugly monotony of the buildings which line the street. On stepping closer to inspect, I was more than a little dismayed to realise that the trees were Oak. Ok, I can appreciate the moronic associations which informed the choice, but I cannot help feeling that a tragic mistake has been made here. Consider the facts: The average oak tree has a lifespan of up to 200years (depending on environmental conditions). It generally prefers to spread it's branches and can do so for a distance of up to forty feet from its trunk, in all directions. It's root-run is similarly prodigious, and, as its roots grow and develop they tend to thicken, often quite dramatically, lifting pavement, walls, foundations and anything else in their way. A mature oak can be expected to grow to be over 100 feet tall and it's trunk can be as much as ten feet thick! A mature oak will take upwards of fifty gallons of water out of the ground per day, causing localised subsidence as the subsoil dries out. The trees planted on Broadway while still maintaining the juvenile habit of retaining their leaves through the winter are, nevertheless, about fifteen years old. Replanting will knock back their development by a year or so, but by the time the trees are old enough to celebrate their twentieth birthday they will start to produce acorns, by the bucketfull! A single mature tree can produce 2500 per year. Very nice, but what do you do with them? Unless we have a sudden invasion of squirrels or the council intend to start grazing pigs on Broadway they will become a hazard to life and limb. One only has to look at the mess the horsechestnuts in front of the Market Hall create every autumn to realise the truth of that statement. Oak trees are planted primarily to provide shade and with an eighty foot leaf spread they are really good at doing that. So, we can look forward to a Broadway perpetually cast in stygian gloom, where the buildings are subsiding and the pavement lifting, and a very interesting shopping experience each autumn as irate shopkeepers battle to prevent herds of pigs and squirrels running amok in their stores. That is, of course, if the vandals don't get to them first! Well done HBC! It's nice to see that so much thought is put into planning our resurgent town centre. __________________ Enough is ENOUGH Get Britain out of Europe Last edited by Acrylic-bob; 14-12-2005 at 13:56.