May 19, 1983 - The Importance of TreesPage,14A ; The, Suf f olk Times
May 19;,1983,
The Importance of Trees
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
How can it rain again? Yet if you talk
to a grower, he still welcomes it. At any
rate it surely has turned our world green
overnight. Where we could see our
neighbors through the woods is now a
mat of green and we've become isolated
from everyone. Even the sounds of the
highway are almost muffled out by this
green buffer.
This insulating effect of plants, trees
and shrubs is used by the landscaper in
today's world of man -made develop-
ments and; of course, this coupled with
the green plants goes a long way in
making a place more presentable. I feel
sorry for those who build in the open.
Their faith for the future is shown in their
plantings of small trees. The problem, of
course, is that much time will have to
pass before they can enjoy the shade and
beauty from their trees.
The importance of trees cannot be
underestimated. We all know towns that
are a joy to pass through. The trees that
line the walkways make a pleasant
surrounding for man's workplace. Before
the 1938 hurricane many of our towns
were graced by handsome trees lining
their streets. That giant wind really
changed their image. The wide road that
leads down to where I once lived was lined
with huge poplars that went down like a
row of dominoes under that hurricane's
blow. The people who owned much of the
land along that roadway knew all too well
the importance of trees and quickly
replanted so that today when you drive
down Pequash Avenue you're under an
umbrella of greenery.
Those were people who thought differ-
ently than some do today. If they were
going to have a development, they were
going to have it done right. Being all local
people, they were going to live here, not
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like some of today's developers who
come from the unknown and after selling
out go back into the unknown, caring
little for what they leave behind. You can
tell those developments. They look stark
and naked. The houses will take 20 to 30
years before they start to blend into the
fabric of our land.
You Are Your Yard
Why is it some have their pride? I guess
it's like the individual homeowner. Some
care about how their place looks, others
couldn't care less. They say in Maine
you can tell the kind of person by the
way he keeps his woodshed. To some
extent we can say that about how a man
keeps his yard. That surely doesn't mean
that the lawn must be free from every
weed, and every bush trimmed to perfec-
tion. No, sometimes that gives a place an
over - manicured look or one where you're
afraid to even walk on the lawn.
I can appreciate the limitations some
of us have to put up with with respect to
landscaping our places what with the
high cost of shrubs, trees and plants but
there are ways of getting around that
also. Bushes can be separated, plants can
be started from slips or even seeds or
trees planted when very small. There's
always a way to skimp and still do the
job. Swapping is one of the best. You
have three or four extra evergreens and
Joe down the block has some extra of this
or that and in no time you work a deal.
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WISTERIA - -Once started, this handsome, climbing vine never ceases to
stop expanding. Even after man has left his home, it does its part in
trying to add charm and beauty to what is le photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
The rhododendrons along our driveway
were a gift of someone who said that they
had too many. "Take all you want;" he
said, and in no time the back of our
station wagon was bulging with small
rhododendrons which by now tower 10
feet in the air.
The green world that surrounds our
home does much to make our lives more
enjoyable. Not only in the visual sense
but in the inner spirit we gain by having
plants around us. More and more people
are enjoying gardening or just working
around the home. There's no better place
to relax than on your hands and knees
weeding the garden. Here troubles are
lost and the upturning of an earthworm
becomes important. We've gotten our
hands back into the earth with which we
once were so closely connected and we
feel good about it.
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