CIUDADELA DESTROYS WHAT SHOULD THEY PAY?

THE 36 Murraya paniculata, planted by some wise, intelligent unknown person in Calle del Parque, Santurce are priceless.

Of the total, 5 in the sidewalk in front of Ciudadela's new 25 stories tower have been damaged by construction workers and scaffold.

Murraya paniculata is one in the top five species  for tropical urban contexts. Their size, shape, flowers, fragrance, beauty, lacking any need for maintenance and above all their age, over 40 years. 

Here is the formula to be used to determine how much Ciudadela should pay for destroying these priceless trees, until you find a better way....

Reference 

 Pirrone's Tree Maintenance

Oxford University Press/2000

Pages 8-11

 

 

Tree Size

 

Tree size is expressed as the number  of square inches calculated for the area of the trunk cross section at 4.5 feet above ground. A price based on cost per unit of trunk area can be determined by calculating the cost per square inch of a transplantable tree. For example, if the cost of a 3-inch diameter tree (cross sectional area of 7 square inches) from the nursery is $300, then

the cost per square inch is about $42.50.  The size based value of a large, 16 inch diameter tree

 (trunk cross section area of 4.5 feet above ground is 201 inches) can be determined by multiplying $42.50 times 201, which computes to $8,545. When trees reach a certain size, additional trunk diameter does not add appreciably to the value, so adjustments need to be made in these calculations.  Also, trees with multiple trunks or low branching require special consideration. These issues are addressed in the guide. The tree value one obtains will need to be adjusted for species condition, and location to make the final appraisal.

 

I am not going to get into,  Tree species, Tree condition and Calculating the Value,  since  Isla Estrella de estatura galactica, Puerto Rico lo hace major, all the above information is irrelevant, meaningless, but for yours truly is an exercise of discipline,  critical, pragmatic, biocentric horticultural practice.

 

Get the book in amazon if you will, you will never regret it..



 

 

 

THE SOUTH SIDE

THE SOUTH SIDE, is narrower than the west and north side gardens, making it one with much more depth with the vegetation in both sides framing it perfectly.

A couple of trees were eliminated for different reasons but  no one can tell the difference...

INDIVIDUALITY IN FRANGIPANIS/PLUMERIAS

I HAVE NOTICED after some time that these trees flower at different times even if in the same urban context, residential, parks, gardens.

Ours are no different the first photo shows the only Frangipani I have seen with seeds every other five years. The flowers remain all the time.

However the following 3 flower in order.  February, March, April...The leaves fall, as the flowers twice a year. 

The cycle is completed with the visit of Seudophinx tetrio, a moth, twice a year. One, weird habit is that those munching in the yellow seem to like only yellow flowers.  And so on..
 The problem with these nice looking caterpillars is that in the absence of leaves, they will munch on the branches...destroying some of the beauty...

At any rate, these trees are among me favorites...Only the first, flowering the whole year, was bought in a nursery, the rest propagated at home...every flower has a different scent...the yellows for example remind yours truly of peaches.

Diseases? Rust...is the only one detected so far in almost a decade...that is that...

AGAVACEAE NORTH & WEST SIDES

YOU probably noticed climatic change in your eco-region/garden, high temperatures and/or drought. Here are some tokens of plants that may be useful in your garden in terms of resistance.

Thick leaves are perhaps your best bet.

Cryptostegia grandiflora FINAL RELOCATION

This vine was originally planted from seed in the north garden for privacy, noise reduction in 2014.  Some time later, I noticed too many  branches  growing mostly towards the next door property.

I decided to relocate it 30 days ago in January 2016.  The task was not as difficult as I thought,
however, I had to cut a great amount of thick roots, the most I have found in this kind of project so far.  A clean cut, with a hand pruner, increases significantly the possibility of survival, fast recuperation.

The need to cut every branch is also a difference from previous relocations, since it leaves the patient in absolute stress, decreasing the possibilities of recuperation, at that point I gave a 55 percent chance of total recovery.

The appearance of leaves 15 days later, gave me lots of joy, since it was the fastest recovery of any tree, vine or bush I have relocated.

Here is now in the east side garden, Cryptostegia grandiflora, with the Antigonon leptopus and a dead Bouganvillea.

WEST SIDE GARDEN FROM THE GROUND AND AIR

OUR GARDEN is really four as in cardinal points, rectangular with a different feeling/atmosphere in each side by the selection of plants in one hand, light exposure and width.

With climatic change some species have been relocated from one side to the other with more shade, but about the same temperature, others have been eliminated.

Some gardeners, the public in general believe this change is a scam, not true.  If you take gardening seriously, be aware, the high temperature increases transpiration tremendously, a problem not solved with irrigation.

Finally, even when some sides of the garden may seem more attractive than others for the beholder, I collect with biodiversity, the urban asphalt/context, other flora/fauna in mind, not just aesthetics.

At one point we had over 115 species, with the botanical inventory available for those interested and my own use.  It is useful to remember what is there and to solve problems of any kind.

The other important aspect of botanical inventories is the opportunity to understand that some species growing  spontaneously in our garden/yard are not as insignificant many may have think as in our previous post: Datura Stramonium.

INVENTORY
http://noalpendejismopaisajista.blogspot.com/2016/01/shb-botanical-inventory-2016.html
 

http://noalpendejismopaisajista.blogspot.com/2016/01/shb-families-botanical-inventory-2016.html

BETWEEN LONDON AND SAN JUAN: DATURA STRAMONIUM

I HAVE BEEN collecting and propagating plants for many years, however, it was not until the last ten years that I became aware through the practice, reading, investigation and research that gardening for lawns, palm trees, the focus on pretty flowers and or aesthetics/history was rather a sterile proposition.

Two books helped tremendously to change my ways:
The Once and Future Forest,  Leslie Jones Sauer, Island Press, 1998.
The Ecocriticism Reader, , Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm,
University of Georgia Press,1996.

More recently, The Unnofficial Country Side, Richard Mabey, Little Toller Books, 2010,  has given me a lot of pleasure and insight regarding biodiversity and ecology in our environment, urban/asphalt/concrete context, applied to our garden and/or any other garden in terms of focus/perspective, what a garden, landscape and parks should be.

One of the plants in our collection, Datura Stramoniun, is described and discussed:

"Late in 1970, I came across a case not unlike the hogweed scare. I was coming home on  the train one night, and for want of something better to read  picked up a copy of  British's Rail's Rail News that had been abandoned on the carriage floor.. On the news page was this report:

Hard on the heels of the giant hogweed reported in August Rail News, comes another rare and dangerous plant-the thorn- apple.
  It was spotted at New Milton station by retired chemist and local botanist, Bernard Hannan.  He told his next-door neighbor, Llewelyn Trudgeon, one of Waterloo's assistants. 
  The thorn-apple has a strong smell and its flowers are either purple or white. The nasty-looking seed pod is like a horse chestnut with spikes.
  Mr. Trudgeon was told by his botanist friend that the plant was poisonous and contained drugs which produced hallucinations and dilating pupils of the eyes.
  "It is very rare ans was last recorded in this country in 1962,' he added.
  Apparently the drug stramonium, which came from the plant, was once used for the alleviation of asthma. And it is believed wizards in medieval times used it.
  New Milton SM Desmond Mantle was told that the plant was in the station car park and arranged for it to be destroyed.
  After hacking down the 3 ft plant they dug up its roots and burned the lot".

Page 84

The Unnoficial Countryside

 

 

 

"What, then, are thorn-apple's credentials, that might justify it being offered a little more respect?

It was originally a native of Peru, and it was John Gerard who first grew it in  this country, in his garden in Holborn. So delighted was he by its showy trumpet flowers that he dispersed (it) through this land' -  as well as having fun with it in his 'surgery':

 

The juicy of  Thorn-apples boiled with hogs grease to the form of an unguent or salve, cures all inflammations whatsoever, all manner of burnings or scaldings, as well of fire, water, boiling lead, gun-powder, as that which comes by lightning, and that in very short time, as my selfe have found by my daily practise, to my great credit and profit.

The first experience came Colchester, where Mistress Lobel a merchant's wife there being most grievously burned by lightning, and not finding ease or cure in any other thing, by this found helpe

and was perfectly cured when all hope was past, by the report of Mr. William Ram publique Notarie of the said towne."

 

 

Now, it is time to rest. I have only one request, if you have a garden requiring irrigation, gas/oil/propane/electricity...then your garden does nothing to improve the countryside/urban context where you live, therefore, useless, sterile for biodiversity, ecology, landscape and the environment. 

that is that

 

Para quienes practican el asunto

planteado, con algun conocimiento en

Spanish, este solidario/irrefutable argumento

de lo que pretendo, un blog fuera de orbita, consistente en sus argumentos, enfoque/perspectiva . .

http://www.elblogdelatabla.com/2016/02/flora-espontenaea-vs-flora-arvense.html