By Megan Wong
MORGAN HILL
– We have heard of orange trees, gum trees, even rubber trees.
But in Morgan Hill, there is a female gingko tree known as the
”
dog poop
”
tree.
By Megan Wong
MORGAN HILL – We have heard of orange trees, gum trees, even rubber trees. But in Morgan Hill, there is a female gingko tree known as the “dog poop” tree.
When passersby step on the pods that drop from the tree, a scent is released that smells a lot like … well, dog’s droppings, said a city official.
Sometimes, there is more to consider than just shade and looks when it comes to picking urban foliage. Selecting streetside trees and shrubs takes careful consideration.
A variety of factors go into the selection of trees for city streets including a tree’s tendency to break streets and sidewalks with their roots, the amount of fruit, pods or flowers that drop onto sidewalks, growth patterns (up or out), presence of insect or disease problems, a tree’s resilience to heat reflected off asphalt and buildings in an urban environment and aesthetics.
The crepe myrtle has become a favorite in Gilroy, because it meets most of the tree selection criteria, said Chris Weske, senior maintenance-landscape worker for the city of Gilroy. Along Monterey Street between Sixth and Eighth streets in downtown Gilroy, one sees mostly hackberry, crepe myrtle, Chinese pistache and magnolia trees.
For more than two decades, Gilroy has been designated a “Tree Capital” due to the abundance of trees found throughout the city.
Prior to a few years ago, the downtown area was mostly lined by Australian willow and magnolia. However, during the harsh freeze of the early 1990s, most of the willows succumbed to the extreme weather.
So, the city began replacing the lost trees with crepe myrtle, a tree with a less-aggressive root system that was not prone to breaking sidewalks.
Personally, Weske has a penchant for large, mature trees, like the elm on Fifth Street between Princevalle and Miller streets. The shady sycamores on Sixth Street between Church and Miller streets also appeal to him. Weske noted that in those locations, large trees are appropriate – there is not sufficient space on all streets for elm and sycamore.
Weske remembered selecting a liquidambar tree for the city more than two decades ago. Although it provided spectacular fall color, the tree’s root system was too aggressive and the tree dropped spikey seed-balls, potentially imperiling pedestrians.
In general, shrubs in medians in Gilroy follow the same basic criteria as tree selection. In addition to factors mentioned above, city officials try to place, in proximity, plants requiring similar amounts of water. Drought-tolerant plants with few insect problems are preferred for medians.
In Gilroy, medians are often landscaped with sycamore and oak trees as well as shrubs like Rhaphiolepis (a smallish bushy plant with pink flowers) and barberry, another small to medium-sized bush.
While Gilroy gets the distinction as a Tree Capital, Morgan Hill takes streetside foliage seriously, too. Morgan Hill has a master plan for trees and recently also developed design guidelines for landscaping in medians.
Similar to Gilroy’s criteria, undesirable tree characteristics include a tendency to break easily, shallow root systems and what Mori Struve, deputy public works director for the city of Morgan Hill, called “dirty” trees – ones that frequently shed flowers, branches, leaves or drip sap.
“Eucalyptus would be an awful choice. Way too big, real brittle, fire hazard at times,” said Struve.
Currently, the streets of downtown Morgan Hill are mostly lined with honey locust and sycamore.
Struve said the city will continue planting these species as older trees die out because they exhibit desirable characteristics.
Still, it is not just up to the city to determine the look of the downtown district. Other groups, such as Morgan Hill’s volunteer plant caretakers, are also involved.
Margaret Johnston is the founder of the Adopt-a-Planter program. For the past six years, this group of locals select and care for the flowers found in the 90 planters between Main and Dunne streets in downtown Morgan Hill.
“They feel that they’re a part of contributing to the beauty of downtown,” said Johnston of the volunteers. “I always have people stopping and commenting on (the planters). There were some people from Australia the other day that told me how wonderful it was.”
The plants planned for Morgan Hill’s new medians will reflect the identity of the city. According to the guidelines released in October, native plants, like grasses and oaks, are to be planted at the center of medians, reflecting the unique identity of Morgan Hill.
“The center theme would be something looking kind of native to the area – oaks for trees, and grasses. Then moving toward the ends, there’s a variety of plants. We try to leave it kind of open so we don’t get a cookie-cutter type thing all over town,” said Struve, who noted that no medians have yet been completed since the release of the median design guidelines. “Hopefully that center theme will tie it together and make it look somewhat unique to Morgan Hill.”
In the end, try as city officials might to make educated selections, nature has the final say.
“There is no perfect tree or shrub,” said Weske. “Everything has its pluses and minuses.”
