When the Wind Blows...

No turtle crossing...
Just the tag ends from the palm
fronds blown in the wind.

~carliewired

Palms are really not my favourite trees. Yes, they look nice on the horizon. They make an interesting feature in a photo, especially with a sunset or sunrise in the background. They do provide some habitat for birds. But they do not function as a shade tree. I call them 'sticks with feathers'. They stand so tall that your own palm shades the neighbours' yard two houses over, but not your yard. I have five in my yard. They require 'pruning' each year to trim up the trunk and the leaves and branches or they turn into tattered bottlebrushes which can encourage all manner of pests to take up residence there. These are not the kind that produce anything useful like dates. These are strictly ornamental.

A group of residents on our street annually hire an agile tree trimmer to deal with all the palms we own collectively. It is a saving in cost for us and a saving for the trimmer too. He works the neighbourhood until all our palms are looking neat and tidy. Trimming up a palm requires some skill (and equipment) as these darlings are 50+ feet in the air.

Today, driving home, it looked as if there was a turtle crossing in front of the house. The dried remnants of the old palm fronds from the neighbours' palm had blown across the road when the wind came up. Our neighbour has been the one exception to the palm trimming regimen on our street. When the wind blows in our direction these lumpy chunks fall on our truck like drum beats and litter our driveway. Last week, we filled half of our garbage bin with what we scooped out of our yard!