We literally just went down the street and around the corner to captured. . . trees. I took oodles of pictures of them but culled about 80% of them to avoid boredom.
Then we drove around aimlessly, found Canadian grown potatoes but skipped the coffee because we were later than usual and nothing had room.
Here's what Google-AI had to say about them:
"The trees in the photo appear to be London Plane trees (Platanus × hispanica), which have been deliberately pruned in a style known as pollarding. This specific cultivation technique creates their distinctive, gnarled trunks and the "club-like" shape where branches regrow each season.
And just to show how smart it is it threw this in:
"London Plane trees are among the most common street trees in Vancouver, British Columbia, where this photo appears to be located, due to the visual search results of similar street scenes.
And how could I NOT just copy and paste the other neat info AI was happy to share with me:
- Safety and Infrastructure Protection: The main reason for pollarding in cities is safety. Regularly cutting back the upper branches prevents them from growing too large and heavy, which significantly reduces the risk of limbs falling during storms or high winds and damaging property, vehicles, or injuring people. It also ensures that branches do not interfere with power lines, street lights, or obstruct traffic signs and pedestrian walkways.
- Size Management: Pollarding effectively controls the height and spread of fast-growing trees, making them suitable for confined urban spaces where they would otherwise quickly outgrow their location.
- Enhanced Health and Longevity: By removing older, potentially diseased or damaged branches, pollarding can help prevent the spread of pests and pathogens, encouraging the tree to focus energy on producing healthy new growth. This can actually prolong a tree's life in a challenging urban environment by reducing overall stress and structural weakness.
- Aesthetic and Light Control: The technique creates a distinctive, formal, and uniform appearance along streets and in parks that some find visually appealing. It also allows for more sunlight penetration during the winter when the trees are bare, while still providing a dense, cooling canopy during the summer months.
- Habitat Creation: The swollen "knuckles" that form at the pollard heads can create natural hollows and cavities over time, which provide valuable habitats and nesting sites for insects, birds, and other small wildlife in the city.
I'm really like pollarded trees!
Now remember the accurate disclaimer used by photographers the world over . . . Pictures just don't do them justice.
Photos:
