Category: neighborhood

aesthetics, geomorphology, impacts


On a deeper, literally fundamental level, landscape (in the broader sense of environment) bears study because it is the ground of our being, the material basis of our existence. As geographers and environmental scientists remind us, our lives “take place”;  we live in particular locales that affect us enormously–physically and psychologically–in ways that seldom rise to conscious awareness.
Where we are helps determine who we are and how we interact with our world.–The Best & Worst Country in the World Stephen Adams

Liriodendron tulipifera

November 2006, west lawn, Monticello
Tulip trees on the west side of Monticello.
leigh trigg and Th. Jefferson's tulip tree
This is an old tree. There is evidence it was planted April 16, 1807. I have five tulip trees to plant this weekend. This tree is 22 feet in circumference, the trees I am planting are 3/4 of an inch in circumference.
This tree affected many lives. One was my neighbor Mike Van Yahres grandfather’s. (Visit Monticello’s podcast section and search poplar for that story)
The tree was removed. Profound health issues. I am pleased that the grounds people are leaving the stump in place for awhile. It is a memorial.

See Patterson Clark’s excellent article in the Washington Post about tulip trees.

sky junk

storm of doom starts, night of February five, 2010. This is a view looking east down Woolen Mills Road.
here in the hinterland we run our utilities in the air. It is the cheapest way. Akin to keeping our inventory of used motor parts in the front yard. After a big snow-storm, some trees fall on electric lines. The solution? Cut down the trees. We are cheap. If we could run the sewer lines in the air we would.