Apparently, every year the Ailanthus tree outside the hospital sends suckers through the foundation and up into the student library radiator. If we didn't pluck them, the tree would rip the side off the building.
Of all the sidewalk-splitting weeds, tree of heaven may be the champion.
I used a stalk of it here as an improvised pole for a stable fly trap:
The wood is sturdy enough for my purpose, and soft enough to cut with the little saw built into my leatherman. And abundant enough to depend on when I don't have the proper materials handy. I also improvised a rat-burrow jabbing pole with it.
I must have missed it in 365 urban species, but now I know the proper name of our neighbors' weed trees (what my husband calls peanut butter trees). Our pear tree and holly tree are pacing them pretty well, and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree keeps growing sideways, leaning on the fence, to catch some rays.
The pollen is so abundant and obnoxious that I suffer the entire month of June, which used to be my favorite month of the year on account of the great weather and long days. I tested negative to various pollen allergies, so I suspect that it is the sheer amount of particulate matter the trees in the neighboring backyard throw into the air.
Besides the sparse shade its skinny leaves provide, the only good thing it can do is annoy someone else even more than it annoys you. My bitchface connected neighbor who complained to the city about branches from my pear tree going over her fence has an ailanthus from a different yard that should be over her fence by next summer. That yard is owned by a negligent condo association that doesn't even cut its grass, so lots of luck tracking down a responsible party to drag into court with a violation.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 02:51 pm (UTC)I'm willing to tentatively accept that there may be some purpose to its existence outside its home-range, but bugger if I know what it could be.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 03:29 pm (UTC)The wood is sturdy enough for my purpose, and soft enough to cut with the little saw built into my leatherman. And abundant enough to depend on when I don't have the proper materials handy. I also improvised a rat-burrow jabbing pole with it.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 08:25 pm (UTC)The pollen is so abundant and obnoxious that I suffer the entire month of June, which used to be my favorite month of the year on account of the great weather and long days. I tested negative to various pollen allergies, so I suspect that it is the sheer amount of particulate matter the trees in the neighboring backyard throw into the air.
Besides the sparse shade its skinny leaves provide, the only good thing it can do is annoy someone else even more than it annoys you. My bitchface connected neighbor who complained to the city about branches from my pear tree going over her fence has an ailanthus from a different yard that should be over her fence by next summer. That yard is owned by a negligent condo association that doesn't even cut its grass, so lots of luck tracking down a responsible party to drag into court with a violation.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-02 10:16 am (UTC)M
no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 06:53 pm (UTC)This is awesome.
Three cheers for the building-shattering Ailanthus!