Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Should You Do This to A Tree?

I have been meaning to post for a while now, though I have been out of town.  That is my excuse, but photos of the July garden shall be taken soon!

However, in my wanderings about Canada, I spotted these trees on the waterfront promenade in Penticton, BC.  They had some new walkways created along Lakeshore drive on Okanagan Lake and they replaced some trampled and hopeless lawn with a rubberized surface similar to the stuff you see at oval running tracks. 

I'm not sure what the tree thinks about this. I guess time will tell.  The rubberized surface is supposed to be permeable and allow water and air through. 

Has anyone seen this in their area?  I assume most of these types of rubberized surfaces around trees are quite new, so we don't know the long-term impacts.  I wonder if the city staff will eventually cut out some rubber around the tree to allow new growth and prevent stem girdling?  Who knows.  Otherwise, I learned a lot about xeriscaping in the Okanagan.  Penticton has a great xeriscape demonstration garden, with the plants names and water requirements all indicated on signs. 

1 comment:

Wendy said...

I don't know what that'll do to the tree long term either, however, at least they left the tree in.

The city I grew up in had lovely trees spaced on the edge of the sidewalks of the main street. The trees got too big. They cut them down. They planted new ones. They cut them down. They planted new ones. I imagine they're still repeating the cycle.

Both options are probably better than the alternative- taking the trees out to make room for more concrete.