Gust meets gum
Mother Nature paid our neighbor's sweet gum tree a visit over lunch hour today:
That long limb was about a foot in diameter at the base. Good thing no one was underneath. The thing fell straight onto the sidewalk.
That tree and its twin next to it really were a bad choice for street trees when they were planted, who knows how many decades ago. They were cute when they were small, but now they are big and dangerous.
| Posted at 5:03 PM | Permalink |
|
Comments (9)
It's hard to beat the gorgeous fall display of a sweet gum, but they are very fast growing and the wood is very weak. Doesn't take much to splinter and break them. Glad nobody was in the way.
Posted by PDXNative | November 16, 2009 5:29 PM
Must have been a big kookaburra.
Posted by benschon | November 16, 2009 5:30 PM
Sounds like you should have kept that tree better trimmed. Rather than attempting to scapegoat tree-planters from two decades ago! Trees get big, trees need maintenance!
Posted by Tony choad | November 16, 2009 8:16 PM
Out of curiousity, did he ever ask CoP if he could trim it? I'd be curious, I have a friend in Ladd's Addition who has a tree that needs some fixing, but CoP won't let him touch it.
Posted by Steve | November 16, 2009 8:22 PM
Oh boy. The house I grew up in (and where my parents still live) over on Thompson has two giant sweet gum trees on the front parking strip. During the big snow storm in '96, any branch of less than two inches in diameter came a-tumbling down, in rapid fashion. They're great trees (sooo much shade in the summer time), but bear watching as fall turns to winter.
Posted by John | November 16, 2009 8:59 PM
I just drove through Skyline Boulevard in SW Portland and it is covered in downed branches and a couple of downed trees.
Posted by none | November 16, 2009 11:20 PM
Trees get big, trees need maintenance!
Gum trees are too fast growing and unstable for maintenance to prevent these huge limbs from dropping off. This is the third big one in less than a year. There's a grammar school across the street. Eventually, some kid is going to get whacked.
The neighbor has asked the city to let her replace the trees with something more suitable for city sidewalks. The denial she received was dripping with arrogance.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 17, 2009 6:20 AM
Sounds like it's time for that pick-up to back into the trunk of what's left of the tree - oops, guess the tree will have to go now! Or, maybe the midnight chain saw?
I would think any tree company in town could vouch for the need to replace the tree, and secure the permits to take it out, so long as a replacement or two is planted.
Posted by umpire | November 17, 2009 6:01 PM
I have a pair of sweetgums on "my" parking strip too. The CoP doesn't/won't take care of them -- I do. About two years ago the trim cost just under $1000. This year -- on two separate occasions -- I lost limbs that were about the size of your neighbors' in the pictures above. But the worst thing about them is that the leaves don't fall in time for the final city streetsweep each year. Not that I would ever rake "my" leaves into the street . . .
Posted by Alan Cordle | November 18, 2009 7:31 AM