For the love of trees, and walking

Updated September 29, 2010 11:54:52

What does it take to go for a pleasant walk in the city? (do people still do this?), dappled light, a gentle breeze and possibly some scenery or a continuous lawn, even paving and an uninterrupted view?

Or has it come to just two possibilities: an early morning walk or a late evening stroll?

As a young teenager one of the worst things that could happen was to have a "stack" on your skateboard caused by a gum nut, although a quick survey and discussion of each others' fresh wounds and scabs (dabbed with Mecuricrome), would provide a safe passage through the mine fields that these small hardy nuts would create.

As bad as they were the trees they came from were the reason that we were outside in the first place. Shade. In summer it was all about shade and lying about in it.

Climbing and retrieving balls, playing cricket on the street hobbling in bare feet, it was all about trees. Even swimming pools without sun relief would have to be abandoned during the heat of the day.

The streets without them or the sections with just gardens would be passed through quickly, probably much to the residents' relief. But they seem to be disappearing - replaced with smaller waterwise natives or simply paved or turfed over. At times the landscape seems to be swallowed whole by fresh turf and polished stone.

Perhaps life without trees is simpler, easier: no branches to fall, no leaves to clog the drain, the footpaths straight and neat, all our rooves safe, no pruning and no pesky shadows cast upon our lives. Just inside, blinds down, air-con on, TV games galore.

As they come to the end of their natural life these old trees are not replanted or even replaced by a comparable species but swallowed whole by fresh turf or trowled smooth to match the ever widening pathways.

Here and there a single old gum dominates, but Bottle Brush and scrub Mallee seem to be the street planting of choice in my area and by the look of the age of them this has been the case for some time too. But that doesn't make them larger, just grayer, harder and if possible, skinnier. Nice flowers though.

The sun is unrelenting block after block. Small signs saying "bore water in use" in front of luscious green lawns are just taunts to the pedestrians. The verge is neglected raggedy and dry.

Heat is a major deterrent to life outside during summer and a large tree with moving parts creates a fluid environment of breeze and shade and (not to be overlooked) sound. Compared with this shade cloth is stale, stilted, even breathless.

Minor hardships like raking or mowing over gum nuts or looking at flaking bark or (heaven forbid) sweeping, have all passed by in favour of a treeless shaved lawn.

Streets can be more than just fire breaks or conveyer belts in fact they were before our priorities changed.

Occasionally residents of streets are drawn together and their community spirit often builds after meeting while gardening.


First posted October 02, 2009 13:30:00