Heard a tree service guy complain about 'lawn ornaments' and it clicked for me

I was at the diner last week and overheard this arborist telling his buddy that he hates when people plant trees like they're decor pieces. He said he pulled a Japanese maple out of a tiny yard where it was 3 feet from the house and already rubbing the siding. That got me thinking about all the Bradford pears I see crammed into little strips by mailboxes. I deliver mail in a neighborhood where someone planted a silver maple right under power lines, and now it's a mess every storm. Made me wonder how many of us see these bad placements daily but just shake our heads. Do you ever point them out to homeowners or is that crossing a line for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

irisowens13d ago

Yeah I see it every day doing parcel delivery. There's this one house where they planted a weeping willow maybe 4 feet from their foundation. I actually did mention it once when I saw the guy outside, just said hey you might want to move that before the roots find your pipes. He shrugged it off, but two years later I saw a plumbing truck there. You really gotta think about what that tree's gonna look like in 10 years, not just when it's a cute little stick. If you're gonna say something, make it about the house value or safety, not how the tree looks, they're more likely to listen.

samk7713d ago

Can't believe he just shrugged it off like that. You literally warned him and then bam, plumbing truck shows up two years later. People don't get how fast those roots grow underground. It's like they think pipes are made of steel or something. Four feet from the foundation is basically inviting the tree into your basement.