Great Park trees are rooted in history


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But more difficult to quantify was the historical value of the leafy giants, which are considered heritage trees because their age, size or history makes them irreplaceable.

As runways and houses on the base were demolished in 2006, hundreds of trees deemed healthy enough were dug up and placed in nurseries.

Lennar Corp., which bought the base in 2005, launched the largest tree-rescue project the county had seen.


Several 2-story-tall ficus trees shade the parking lot of the Heritage Tree Warehouse off Irvine Boulevard. Each boxed tree weighs 16 tons.

An irrigation line sneaks over the side of each 6-foot-tall box made of recycled pine and cedar and then burrows beneath the pavement.

Every day, a team of three or four people from ValleyCrest Tree Co. checks the trees for insect infestation and dead limbs. Trees are grouped together in nurseries by type to undergo the same watering regimen.

So far, only three transplanted trees have had problems. Two sycamores went into shock, entering a state of dormancy to conserve energy. One tree was blown over by a gust of wind.

FivePoint Communities spokesman Aaron Curtiss would not comment on how much water is used and how much it costs to keep the trees alive.

Though the heritage trees were pruned, they don't look like the uniform trees lining median strips throughout the city. But that's the point.

They're irregular, misshapen, often with interesting limb structures from undergoing stress on the old base or because they grew to avoid a nearby structure, said ValleyCrest principal Brett Park.

When they're about to replant, designers and architects decide which direction each tree should face, usually highlighting the most eccentric parts of the tree.

The overall goal is to get away from the look of an engineered landscape so that spaces develop more organically, even chaotically, Park said.

Designers match deciduous with deciduous, evergreen with evergreen. Diverse plant areas called ecotones are used as transitions, mimicking chaparral habitats.

The design group intends to figure out how and why each tree got to the base and hopefully tell some of those stories, possibly on plaques by the trees.


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