There is a sidewalk restoration project going on at the city I work for, and when the contractors were trenching for new irrigation lines we discover what these odd visible pieces of metal were that surrounded most of the trees.
The city does not have records of landscape plans that go back far enough to know exactly when it happened but our best guess is somewhere around the early 1920S. It seems like the trees that were there at the time (same trees that are in these pictures) were surrounded by corrugated metal cylinders to protect them from a grade change (maybe?). We think the trees were established well enough at that time so the buttress roots weren’t buried as the trees were trying to develop but were ultimately buried but haven’t been suffocated. Through the decades the area within the cylinders filled with dirt to match the grade outside of the cylinders.
The trees are not in the best shape, but they are all alive and more or less as vigorous as you would expect that size of tree to be. We considered removing the cylinders but figured it would not only be a massive pain in the ass but also might disturb the roots more than is necessary. I think it just goes to show that you should definitely never bury a tree’s root flare, but sometimes I guess you can bury a tree’s roots and nothing severe will come from it, but only if you also bury 2 feet of metal cylinder with it.
by YTFORD0wn3r
3 Comments
It is indeed impressive when trees that have been compromised in this way like for a century! But! They may have been there for centuries to come were they not buried like this.
Pretty amazing they are even alive
Reno?