I missed a tree walk by Nizhal last weekend, the need for sleep overcoming my love for the trees, and am told that i missed quite a few trees - The walk started at the intersection of Kothari Road and Sterling Road and continued in the neighbourhood. Apart from the usual suspects - the gulmohar, copperpod, raintree etc, the walkers came across rows of the arjun tree (terminalia arjuna), queen's crepe myrtle (lagerstromia speciosa), purple orchid tree (bauhinia purpurea) and the palmyra palm (borrasus flabellifer). Each row had about 10-15 trees of the species.
Which made me wonder - how good an idea is it to plant a row of trees of the same species? I can understand why that might appeal to the aesthetic sense of the town planning folks (if such a group exists in this city!) but from an ecological point of view, what are the pros and cons?
If a disease struck one tree would it not strike all others on the same road ?
Does this not compartmentalize the ecological diversity of the area? What are the consequences of doing so?
Do you live in a city with one species of tree planted along a road? What do you think of it?
Share your thoughts - comment away!
1 comment:
I came via the tree festival.. this is a very good point. People like to have their yards very tidy even though it's not the best for the native animals or the trees and especially that so many ornamental trees are planted...Michelle
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