Seriously, don't do this!

Our City is serious about our trees, sort of. Our neighborhood in particular has some very fine old growth trees. On my street we have Deodars well over 100 years old. There are native Oaks on some streets that are far older than that. When those trees were planted, many of the roads were dirt and there were no paved sidewalks. Trees thrived in spite of drought and Santa Ana winds. With the proliferation of cars came the infrastructure improvements for their benefit. Unfortunately, that has left some of the trees struggling. The parkways on some streets are so narrow, they barely contain the trunks of trees now trying to survive. This poor tree is surrounded with concrete: the street, the driveway, and the sidewalk. Now the people who live there are trying to help out by putting large rocks around the trunk, presumably to keep water in. Alas, this particular effect is actually bad for the tree. It does keep moisture in, but not deeply in the soil. It holds moisture right on the tree trunk and roots, allowing for rot and insect activity. In other words, it is slowly killing the tree, not helping it. It's basically a form of volcano mulching, which is taking chips or mulch and surrounding the trunk like a volcano. Trees actually need open space to about the mid-point or edge of their canopy.

Add to that, some homeowners don't want to be bothered with weeding or mowing, and have boxed in trees with cement blocks, allowing for no water to get to the roots. Actually, this is not exactly sanctioned by the City, but too often goes unnoticed. The sad thing is, it took years for this tree to finally die of thirst and is designated to be cut down. I shake my head in sadness each time Nellie and I walk by.