Monday, September 27, 2010

The tree surgeons came today


they were dressed in gloves and wore mask over their mouths and noses. By the time they left I was thinking of them as barbers. You know as in shave and a haircut. The leaves  got chopped off and the older dead leaf attachments got shaved away.
A year ago as I remember, during the very week I moved here, which by the way is coming up on a year this Friday, the tree surgeons came.  They trimmed back the palm trees the same as they did today. Last October, not being familiar with palm trees, I watched  the crew move from one tree to the next of the ten palm trees in the garden in well coordinated movements.  It was an interesting way to spend 30 minutes or so. This morning watching their activity was no different. The first year I was wondering why they trimmed the the trees back in my opinion "severely".   I really did like the look of them as they were. See picture in the upper left frame. When they finished last year, I thought they looked a little odd with only 4-6 leaves sitting atop the tall trunks when they were done.
It's strange how things that change slowly in your life are less obvious to your eye and the palm trees certainly were that. They were just there outside my window, growing taller and adding new leaves as  the year passed. And while I saw them, I really didn't see them growing and changing, they just did.
 I love the crisscross pattern on the trunks and have thought, "can I do something creative with that pattern".  So far, I haven't thought of a thing.
I love color and  I can assure you the color of palm tree trunks "brown" has not influenced me  in the least.
Learning something new is always good: Since I have been here, I learned that palm trees are healthier if trimmed back yearly. And leaving 3-6 leaves is best. All of the well tended palm standing throughout the area are trimmed and groomed  treated just as the ones in the garden are. I have decided that for the next year, I will take a picture of one of the palm trees on the last Monday of each month so I can be more aware of what is happening outside my window right in front of my eyes.
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2 comments:

quiltingnana said...

very interesting...I didn't know that about palms....

ferne said...

Hi! I just stumbled on your blog from the Yahoo Janome Group and I love your petunia quilt, I can see why it won. I was thinking about how you could get inspiration from the palm design...take a picture and put on the computer turn it to gray scale and see if the design inspires you more with color not the issue. It would be a really nice pattern!