This I dislike about Irvine - Horrible Trees

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CapitalismWorks_IHB

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Being a renter after owning a home is like being single after a long relationship. All of a sudden the world teems with opportunity and promise. While evaluating the many possibilities for my future home purchase, I have begun to reconsider aspects of Irvine. There are some (most in fact) characteristics that I like, and I will not focus on them here as they are well-worn topics on the blog. Instead, I have identified a number of things I particularly dislike about Irvine. I have begun to catalog my complaints and have come up with the following on trees all of which are ubiquitous in Irvine:



Eucalyptus trees have got to be the most God-awful trees ever conceived. They are virtually colorless, with small washed-out leaves. They are messy, constantly shedding bark, and their soft wood makes them prone to breaking. They are destructive in that they are tremendous topsoil water users. Finally they have been known to explode in fires due to the high oil content. And yet, they are EVERYWHERE in Irvine.



Hideous Pine trees. Does Don Bren have a hideous pine-tree fetish? I was driving the Turtle Rock the other day, and that place is effectively ruined by overgrown shedding pine trees, covering everything with red-brown needles. Aliso Viejo seems to have picked up on the whole pine tree thing, though I much prefer the species of tree they selected in AV.



Olive trees. QH is overrun with these crappy trees. Messy alergy inducing monstrosities. The trunks are gray and the leaves are tiny and nearly gray.



Increasingly I am determined to live in a place away from these awful trees.
 
Gosh, a tree hater instead of a tree hugger.



You don't know about malelucas. Awful trees, imported from Austrailia into

Florida to suck up the swamps. Now not thought to be a good idea!!



Do your olive trees have olives?



Do pines grow there naturally? What does?
 
I went up Jeffrey the other day for my hair appt and one of the things that I admired on the way was the lovely Jacaranda trees. Went to a doctor's appt in Woodbury or Woodbridge? (Barranca around the lake) a few weeks back and remember thinking how nice the trees in the area were... they were reaching levels of maturity. One of the things that I dislike about new communities is the lack of mature trees, but could live without eucalyptus. Although they remind me of home, their acorns smell exactly like cat urine. I love olive trees and they do well with our mediterranean climate. In fact, I almost brought one home the other day as Armstrong had 30% off trees and shrubs.



I guess even trees are a matter of personal taste.
 
[quote author="stepping_up" date=1214285215]



I guess even trees are a matter of personal taste.</blockquote>


Except for Eucalyptus! I think we can all agree they are a scourge.



I do agree that mature trees are nice. I always thought that one of the main appeals of places like Pasadena is the trees.
 
Funny, I love the eucalyptus and olive trees. Eucalyptus smell reminds me of my happy childhood summers. I do agree about the pine trees though at least if you are refering to the cypress pine - long spearlike trees that look shaggy unless they are clipped frequently and need a support pole even after they are fully grown. They overdid the cypress pine thing going for the Tuscany look.
 
I actually like the Eucalyptus trees--nice tall mature trees give character to the city. Not a fan of the pine trees--just look ugly to me. The olive trees I see in the new shopping centers in Woodbury & OH look too small. Hopefully over time they will grow and look nice like this one:



<img src="http://www.arborday.org/trees/graphics/trees/158/158_lg_1.jpg?" alt="" />
 
I love the olive trees in the new Orchard Hills shopping center and the new OH apartments, of all the olive trees I've seen I like the ones in the OH center and apartment the best. Does anyone know what kind of olive trees they are? For example, IAC's pic above is a different kind of larger olive tree.
 
What I hate about Irvine is completely the opposite. I hate the lack of trees and how they never let the trees grow tall. I prefer neighborhoods <a href="http://www.arcadiahousingblog.com/2008/03/24/community-profile-santa-anita-oaks/">this one featured on the Arcadia Housing Blog</a>
 
[quote author="ABC123" date=1214295589]What I hate about Irvine is completely the opposite. I hate the lack of trees and how they never let the trees grow tall. I prefer neighborhoods <a href="http://www.arcadiahousingblog.com/2008/03/24/community-profile-santa-anita-oaks/">this one featured on the Arcadia Housing Blog</a></blockquote>


<img src="http://www.arcadiahousingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/sao_house_ex-4.jpg" alt="" />



<img src="http://www.arcadiahousingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/sao_house_ex-1.jpg" alt="" />

A pound of tree and landscape can cure 10 pounds of bad architecture. They are oversized CRIB like show-off Mcmansions used for reality TV filmings. Arcadia's wider lots and sprawling ranch home properties are good preys for McMansions builders.
 
I saw this tree on my way home today. This is my idea of a horrible tree.
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ABC, thanks for the link...those are some beautiful houses. I scrolled down to read the comments and found one poster making this profound statement:



"<em>Only a fool would buy now for any reason except they love the house and dislike wealth and money so desire to waste it on a ?want? and not a ?need?.</em>



Well said.
 
[quote author="ABC123" date=1214298537]Here's another example of what i like in San Marino



<img src="http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles32655.jpg" alt="" /></blockquote>


The curvilliner road is Oakknoll with some terrains along the original Wentworth Hotel (no longer managed by the Ritz Carlton)not far from Greene and Greene's Blacker house. I love this road. Thank you for posting this picture. Finally a good design deserving its place on IHB. This picture made my day. Happy Bk is going to celebrate with Happy Panda dreaming of San Marino.
 
During the turn of the century 1900's the Railroad barons trusted a con-man from Australia. He persuade the RR baron to commission him in planting imported Eucalyptus trees towns at closed proximity to the RR. He convinced the baron that the fast growing trees will have excellent harvest for railroad tie repair and replacement. Eucalyptus trees were planted in large groves in Montecito, La Mirada, Lake Forest, Rancho Santa Fe, Escondidos, and San Diego. The wood of Eucalyptus was too soft and rotted out when placed flat on the ground. The wood was bad for the crushing forces and moisture decay. Only a handful of remnant Eucalyptus towns remained today. They are Lake Forest, Montecito, and Rancho Santa Fe.



This tree was also used extensively as wind breaker know as wind row during the agricultural days on the Irvine Ranch. It protected the crops from the Santa Ana wind in sucking up the moisture of plants. As TIC developed the various parcels of land the wind rows were left in place to establish the main road in the various villages including Northpark, Woodbury and the base of Orchard Hills.



Pepper Trees are California natives while Olive trees are from the Mediterranean regions similar to SoCal's climate. They are compatible to the indigenous drought tolerant plants here in California.



They are appropriate to the styles of architecture in Irvine. The more ornamental and flowering trees are not meant for the desert environment and consume a lot of water.



TIC planted the trees sensitively for our environment and appropriate for their water usage.



I wish the tree placements could be in picturesque groupings instead of repetition.
 
Eucalyptus trees are the devil of destruction of trees. Like CW said, they are top soil water sucking devil. They will ruin streets, sidewalks, and can wreck havoc if planted too close to your house. They can shift things so bad, that your contractor will be your best friend after you pay them for all the damage those bastards can cause.



Anyway, what I hate about Irvine is Donald Bren driving around in his limo, hanging out of his sunroof, and doing his Johnny Drama impression. Will someone tell him to chill out?



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[quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1214286291][quote author="stepping_up" date=1214285215]



I guess even trees are a matter of personal taste.</blockquote>


Except for Eucalyptus! I think we can all agree they are a scourge.



.</blockquote>


+ 1000 on the Eucalyptus, I was very happy when the two right outside our Patio blew over a few months ago.



Also, Pine Trees...our Neighbor, foolishly parked under one of them and a Pine left a nice dent on the Roof of his new Car...also, have you ever hit a big Pine on a Bicycle? :ahhh:
 
[quote author="stepping_up" date=1214285215]I went up Jeffrey the other day for my hair appt and one of the things that I admired on the way was the lovely Jacaranda trees. </blockquote>


I used to live in the "Jacaranda City", Pretoria...they have miles and miles of them along the Streets, they look so awesome untill you park under one (they're hard to avoid) they really stain the Paint on a Car...
 
Yes, we can add Ficus to the list of horrible trees. They are more like overly large house plants, with small shrub-like leaves.



Has anyone been to Aliso Viejo lately, and notice how much nicer their pine trees are?
 
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