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May 12, 2008
Jacarandas: Friend or Foe?
Photo by sauvagenoble via Flickr
It's May, which in Southern California means the onset of jacaranda season -- that magical time of year when trees across the city erupt into purple splendor. It's a romantic sight, to be sure, and one of those oft-overlooked reasons why living in L.A. can be so very beautiful sometimes. Anybody who's walked through the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on a sunny spring morning knows the feeling of pure aesthetic bliss as you take in a lavender-carpeted vista of long-limbed, fragrant trees.
But as today's LA Times points out, those flowers you see gently falling to the ground do have a sticky side:
...if smashed, the liquid inside the pods emits a sticky substance -- aphid waste in the bloom, not sap -- which can cause slippery pavement. Bug remover can usually get rid of stickiness once the sun bakes it onto cars, sidewalks or even the soles of shoes, [horticulturist David] Lofgren said.As much as I love those trees, I've had a few spills myself on those slippery leaves. But is it enough of a nuisance to restrict planting them? Or do you welcome the sight of these beautiful blossoms every year, as they usher in another long, hot summer in L.A.?The juicy flower has made the jacaranda controversial at times. In 2004, Garden Grove officials put restrictions on planting them near a planned senior citizens' housing development, saying the blossoms cause conditions that could endanger elderly residents.
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My poor car certainly thinks they're a foe.
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But really... ANYTHING is dangerous to the elderly right? Why blame the pretty flowers?
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I don't park under them if I can avoid it, but I love them.
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hahahaha!
I was wearing cowboy boots once and nearly ate shit like sixteen times walking on those g-d flower petals. fuckers are slippery! but then again, those trees are seriously the most beautiful things I've ever seen, so I'm conflicted.
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They're the anti-car tools of the devil, I swear.
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They're splendid. People need to learn to live with nature as it is. Jeesh.
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No way, If nature gets in the way of our cars (and our elderly) nature goes. That's the way it is.
Then we can have the clear, clean and safe roads that do more to beatify our streets than these damn purple trees ever will.
Cheers,
James
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Wow, I can't believe people would actually consider removing these trees. They are one of my favorite ways to mark the seasons here. They are only in bloom for a month, walk around them and dont park under them.