Love for home rooted in palm tree
House Keys
By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, October 6, 2009.
Flickr photo by the sun hums.Editor's note: This is the final installment of the "House Keys" series of columns by Marcie Geffner.
My palm tree is doomed.
The palm tree in question is a lovely specimen of the species that lives in the backyard of my house in West Los Angeles. The palm tree is not exceedingly tall and skinny, but it's unmissable and majestic. It's leafy, shady and inviting -- everything, indeed, that a palm tree of this type should be.
I fell in love with the palm tree the second I saw it, and it was a principal reason why I wanted to buy this particular house. I've been told that's an unusual reason to choose a house. Apparently, most homebuyers are more interested in the interior of the home and perhaps the size of the backyard than they are in the landscaping, even though mature trees and plants can be quite valuable.
Unfortunately, my palm tree happens to be directly beneath the electrical power lines that bisect my block, as if whoever planted it had no notion whatsoever that one day it might grow tall enough to touch the lines that hang above it. Even more unfortunately, such misplaced palm trees are a notorious fire hazard. And as if those two misfortunes weren't misfortune enough, the local Department of Water and Power (DWP) has the legal authority (due to an easement) to enter my backyard and trim, top or even entirely remove my tree.
I was told about this threat to my tree at the time that I purchased my house. But just as people in love are said to be blind, I was all but deaf to this information. It wasn't until later that reality sank into my mind, and I realized that one day my tree might be killed, uprooted and carted away.
In the early days after I bought my house, I made dozens of telephone calls to local authorities to try to find out more about the likely future of my tree and any options I might have to protect it from the powers that be. But alas, all of my efforts were in vain as I was just another homeowner worried about just another palm tree.
The only facts I found out were that my neighbor's palm tree had been summarily removed by the DWP some years earlier and that the DWP hates palm trees. ...CONTINUED
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Submitted by John Rakoci on October 6, 2009 - 5:42am.
It is funny how people can get attached to trees. I built a home in NC last year and had 15' - 18' palm trees planted. One did not make it so the replacement is being babied along in hopes it does not meet the same fate. Once established there is little other than hurricanes that will give them a problem but the 1st few years can be difficult.
Submitted by Patrick Veling on October 6, 2009 - 6:04am.
Marcie:
Like you, we bought our tear-down house because of the trees on its lot. We have three 100-foot Monterey Pines in our front yard, which shade our house from the fierce western sky sun. The house we built was built to take advantage of every minute of shade. I pay handsomely for arborist and pest control services, but consider them very good investments.
At a nursery many years ago, I saw a sign with words I remember to this day: "The BEST time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. The NEXT BEST time is today."
Sorry to read this is your last installment of this series. It has been nice to enjoy your musings on ownership and the "less intense" side of real estate news during recent market and industry turmoil. Thanks for all you do!
Submitted by Elizabeth Bolton on October 6, 2009 - 9:50am.
Hi Marcie ~ I totally relate to this and can easily see myself buying a house because of a tree - though around here it would more likely be a beech tree.
Trees are hugely important - for aesthetic reasons, property values, and for our health and happiness. People are way too quick to chop them down nowadays - paying little heed to the fact that it will be decades before they can be replaced. I love the sign that Patrick mentioned.
I too have enjoyed these columns very much and am sorry to hear this is the last.
Liz
Submitted by Barry Noble on October 6, 2009 - 11:26am.
If it means that much to you - I know there are landscape contractors here in the desert (Palm Springs area) that frequently move mature palms to and from landscape locations - but it costs!....They should be able to move your tree 10 feet or more in the garden area if you have enough room to do so. Not hard to do and not hard on the tree.
I haveWHAT I CALL the most beautiful palm tree in Palm Springs - in front of my house - with a natural undamaged skirt - an enormous tree. We are lucky, we are one of the few lots in the tract without overhead power lines. You can see it in the top left photo on my website. Good luck with saving a beauty! http://www.MyPropertyIsWorth.com
Submitted by Red Hot Atlanta Homes - Kathy Kirby Seger on October 6, 2009 - 1:49pm.
Marcie, You are not alone in buying a home for a tree. In my case, it was all the trees. Having grown in North Lousiana with lots of pine trees, living in Western suburbs of Chicago with not a tree in sight and then moving to green Atlanta, the house I feel in love with had a forest in the backyard. It was a great place to live.
Hope your tree has a long life.
Red Hot Atlanta Homes - Kathy Kirby Seger
Associate Broker, SRES, ASR, GRI
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta
Submitted by Marcie Geffner on October 6, 2009 - 2:53pm.
Thanks for all the Tree Stories. May everyone have a very shady day!
Marcie Geffner
www.marciegeffner.blogspot.com
Submitted by Ken Lampton on October 7, 2009 - 9:18am.
I own a 1928 Tudor cottage in Dallas, Texas. Regrettably, I have no trees in my front yard, although I'm sure whole generations of trees must have lived and died in my yard over the decades. I meant to plant a tree when I bought the house five years ago. Your fine article has convinced me I need to get going on that project!
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Ken Lampton, CRS
Certified Distressed Property Expert
www.m-street-dallas.com
Submitted by Richard Fryer on October 7, 2009 - 1:05pm.
Richard T. Fryer, ABR, CSP, DREI, GREEN, SRES, MBA
P O Box 2642
Winter Park, FL 32790-2642
mrifrec@aol.com
I too have Canary Palms in my yard. Before selling my previous home where they were located I had them transplanted to a tree farm and then had them moved to my new home when it was being landscaped. This lady should call an arborist or tree moving company and find out about relocating the tree to a more suitable location in her back year.