Drought Tolerant

There is an arresting picture in this morning's paper. A very big tree, perfectly upright, is suspended from a huge crane above a flatbed truck. in nearby Cotati. There is a railroad crossing sign in the foreground with its arm lifted, almost a mirror image of the angle of the crane. They reach toward each other over the middle of the street. Men in orange vests and hard hats stand around looking up at the tree, which is hovering about 20 feet above the street directly over some electrical wires.

The 56 foot tall tree, weighing 90,000 pounds is an extremely rare chimera redwood which was growing too close to the proposed route of a SMART commuter train service planned for opening in 2016. The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit initially planned to cut the tree down, based on its original arborist report that said the tree wasn't particularly rare and that moving it would kill it.

Chimera redwoods are chlorophyll deficient trees, and arborists who study them say there may be only about ten similar trees in the world, which exhibit normal and albino traits in the same branches, evidence of multiple sets of DNA. The Cotati tree is the only known specimen that has grown to maturity, producing pollen and both male and female cones. A hermaphrodite albino tree? I'd call that rare….

After community members raised concerns and produced evidence of the tree's uniqueness, the rail agency finally agreed to relocate the tree and care for it at a cost of about %150.000. SMART spokesmen and community members alike are patting themselves on the back for doing the right thing. "It's important to make choices based not just on the costs, but on the value", said a SMART spokesperson. A bit smug, given the eight month battle that preceded the move, but the right result, nonetheless. The tree moving company said the tree has a 95% chance of surviving the move.

We have decided to call a moratorium on new living plants until the drought is over. Instead, we bought a metal cactus sculpture. Considering the fact that it is on a rocky hill surrounded by agaves, aloes and other cactus like plants, I think its rather amusing…don't you?