Showing posts with label historic Willow trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historic Willow trees. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2011

Workers take out the downed willow tree in La Plaza Cultural

Ugh. Workers are removing the Irene-damaged willow tree from La Cultural Plaza on Avenue C at Ninth Street this afternoon...



Photos by EV Grieve reader Jill Woodward.

Read more about the history of the tree here.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Local 'blogger' wrong about 'butchered' willow tree

Last Dec. 10, a local (hyperlocal?) "blogger" reported on a willow tree that workers cut back on Eighth Street near Avenue C. ("Butchered" was the actual word.) Several readers assured the local blogger that the tree would, some day, come back.



Meanwhile, seven or so months later, EV Grieve Willow Tree Correspondents Bobby Williams and Dave on 7th have noted that the tree is looking healthy again.


Not quite back to as it was before, but on the way, perhaps.



Previously on EV Grieve:
The willow trees of Loisaida

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Monday, March 21, 2011

Signs of life on the Eighth Street willow tree

Back in early December, we noted that workers had butchered cut back the willow tree here on Eighth Street near Avenue C... going from this...


... to this...


Anyway, we were assured by some willow tree authority types via e-mail that the tree would be just fine, that this was a healthy pruning, etc. (Not in such friendly terms though!) Anyway, we thought we'd check back in on it yesterday on the first official day of spring...


...showing some signs of life...



Melanie has some more willow tree shots at East Village Corner.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Willow wood

Last Friday, a local East Village hyperlocal blogger became a bit hysterical, nearly causing his readers to storm city offices to demand why workers savagely hacked cut back the willow tree on East Eighth Street near Avenue C ...



Well! Since then, several readers have told me, er, the blogger, that — despite the appearances — this is actually just fine for the tree. So, in the sober light of day... Several readers passed along links to willow pruning forums and self-help groups... As one willow tree forum member said, "willows are very tolerant of massive pruning (you could cut it back to a stump and it will still re-sprout)."

Meanwhile, during the weekend, I took a walk by to see the tree for myself... there was a stack of firewood for the taking... (not to mention some random mail — oh look, Discover Card!)



...and workers hacked down the other tree on the lot...



We'll come back for a look in the spring

Friday, December 10, 2010

Shit Week continues: Majestic willow tree butchered on Eighth Street

An EV Grieve reader out walking his dog this morning was shocked to find that the majestic willow on Eighth Street near Avenue C....



... had been hacked down... seemingly overnight...





Per the reader: "maybe it was diseased, but it looked perfectly healthy to me."

Melanie just posted a photo of this willow at East Village Corner. In the comments I said that I loved this tree.

UPDATE:
A reader sends along another photo, noting that "it looks worse in the daylight."



Ugh.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The willow trees of Loisaida

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The willow trees of Loisaida

After my post Friday about a possibly endangered willow tree on 11th Street... I decided to photograph a few of the other willows near Avenue C...






Enjoy them while you can... you never know when one will be removed...

Previously on EV Grieve:
11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Friday, November 12, 2010

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree




A group of condo owners at 613-617 E. 11th St. between Avenue B and Avenue C are discussing removing a 60-foot tall willow tree in their backyard because, according to residents, they don't want to pay for pruning it. It has been claimed that the underlying reason may be simply that they don't want to clean up the tree's leaves.

Older neighbors want to preserve it. There are also a lot of community gardeners on the block.

This tree has an interesting history. It belongs to a willow tree seeding effort throughout Loisaida in the early gardening movement. You can see many of the remaining willows in gardens along Avenue C ... and on the streets between Avenue B and Avenue C. (For example, there is a nice one on Eighth Street near Avenue C ... and several in the La Plaza Cultural de Armando Perez garden on Avenue C and Ninth Street.)

This particular tree was cared for by a long-time Ukrainian woman who lived for about 50 years as the sole occupant of an abandoned five-story tenement — long before the squatter movement — without electricity, water or heat.

Maria agreed to vacate her building and move to another nearby apartment in the late 1990s. She left on the condition that her two willows not be destroyed. In the process of construction around 2000, workers sawed down one of the trees. A local gardener prevented the remaining willow with his body. That tree is now being threatened again.

It's a story of newcomers with little history destroying local history for their convenience and comfort. And for their backyard amenities, which, of course, are a staple of urban living, as distinct from suburban style.

One concerned resident said that the condo board president will re-evaluate the decision to have the tree removed. According to the resident, the condo owners want to prevent any possible risk of the tree falling. The playground for P.S. 61 is in the space adjacent to 613-617.