The LA Times had a piece on
street tree planting in NYC that reminded me of conversations I've recently had with friends about tree in Trinidad. Trinidad has lots of female ginkos. Sometimes they drop very smelly fruit on the ground. This is a huge problem that gets worse when people step on the fruit. The City tried injecting the trees with something to stop them from producing the fruit, but it didn't entirely work. For this reason (and possibly others) some people called to try to have some trees cut down. For reasons, that may, or may not have been related (I don't know) several trees were cut down, and have yet to be replaced.
12 comments:
Gingkos are awesome. Don't cut them down! I wouldn't call their smell a 'huge problem.'
Hilarious.
You either don't live with one, or the one you do live with is a female.
I'm in the process of having the one in front of our house cut down as well. Ever notice how you *never* see a female gingko in any of the wealthy parts of town?
"...live with is not a female" that is...
the city cut down BUNCH of female Ginkos in 6A last summer. (Just south of H Street.) We're happy to see them gone, but are still awaiting new tree plantings!
They created a huge mess that got all over your shoes and the residue was easily tracked into your house. It smells like vomit mixed with maple syrup. Nasty.
Once you get that smell going, it's all you can think about.
Used to have a smelly ginko outside my apartment. It was so bad that I ended up having to move.
And let's be honest. The smell is a lot like bad sex with hideous people gone horribly wrong, then left out to bake in a pile of clown vomit for a few days.
Are those the trees that produce that cum smell? I've smelled them in Fairfax.
I'd be all for cutting down nuciance trees... as long as they were replaced by other trees. It's one of the things I like so much about Trinidad - it's one of the few places left in DC that's not completely devoid of overhead foliage along the streets.
@oboe - There are most definitely smelly slimy ginkgo blocks in Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and other "wealthy" parts of town. They're nasty, no matter where they're located!
@anon 12:48 - I hope the city replaces the trees too. But the care of the new trees is usually up to neighbors on the block, so someone has to "adopt" them to make sure they're watered enough and protected from dog pee, etc.
oboe: to second what's been said before, there are female ginkgoes in the wealthiest parts of DC, so you might want to restate that never bit there.
that all being said, i met with the arborist for ward 5, and we're getting new trees on the 1200 block of oates very soon. the thing the city needs is community buy-in. you have to prove to them that you're going to have people there to water these trees for the first two years so they can get established.
(by the way, we're not getting ginkgoes—probably london planes or something similar)
The tree replacement system is this city is pretty dysfunctional.
Step 1. You have to call to have the tree removed. You can't use the online system because they don't read those reports. If they decide to remove the tree, it will take a year.
Step 2. You have to call to have them remove the stump because they apparently don't have an internal followup system. This takes an additional year.
Step 3. You have to call them again to have the tree replaced. This has taken another year to get done in the past; however, it may take longer these days because they are going to spend the money on banners with tree graphics.
Anyone know the number to have these trees removed?
Thanks!
Learn more about the curious ginkgo tree at Casey Trees blog Tree Speak.
You just may come to appreciate if not love the ginkgo tree.
http://bit.ly/4nQ978
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