Lightning damages town's beloved tree
06.07.11
The brand-new severe storms may have dealt a death blow to the large cedar tree in the mid-point of Matthews' Stumptown Park. It's a shady spot for picnickers and a resident favorite during the burgh's summer festivals, movie screenings and live concerts. But now the tree's canopy is sternly damaged - like a piece of broccoli sliced in half. The once lush cedar has gaping wounds where the bin was struck by lightning and large branches were ripped from their sockets. The recent strife is just one of several to take chunks out of the tree. Matthews' Landscape Manager Ralph Ramsaur, a certified arborist, estimates the Stumptown Park cedar tree is 60 or 70 years old. He said cedars thicken extremely slowly and don't recover well from serious damage. "The growth doesn't flush back out," said Ramsaur. "It takes forever, if at all, to bloom back in. So what you've got is skeletal-looking." The tree has been a part of the town for more than 20 years. Matthews officials acquired the acquire along South Trade Street (now Stumptown Park) in 1990, said Worldwide Works Director Ralph Messera. The cedar became the town's official Christmas tree. In 2000, former Mayor Lee Myers poverty-stricken ground on the new town hall and library, and a few years later, the Village Immature in front of the town hall became the town's centerpiece for holiday celebrations. Then, a new official Christmas tree was cut every year, set up and decorated in the Village Unripe. But the multicolored lights continued glowing from the old cedar tree in Stumptown Put. The tree had been struck by lightning several years ago, and in 2009, the town decided it was too threadbare to turn on the lights. Now the recent storms have caused the once-bright Christmas lights to junk the ground among shards of cedar bark. The ends of the cords are severed and mingle with limply from the branches. "It's going to be difficult to ... clean up (the tree) with that fix in the side of it," said Lee Tillery, director of Parks and Recreation for the town of Matthews. Ramsaur checked out the tree premature last week to see if he could salvage it through pruning. He said he thinks the damage is too great. He gave his soup to the town board, which will make the final call. Ramsaur said they might vote in favor of salvaging it for its drippy value. "That little area is used for concerts and events, so it gets a lot of job around there," said Ramsaur. "Maybe that's the reason they'd be hesitant to take it out ... Around here they take the trees pretty soberly." It could be a couple of weeks before the town board makes a decision on the Stumptown Commons cedar, Ramsaur said. But in the meantime, the tree does not pose a threat to park visitors. "Cedars can last hundreds of years," said Ramsaur. "That tree isn't current to fall down."
Source: Charlotte Observer
Artificial Trees are Greener Choice as Real Christmas Trees Become Unfit as ...
04.07.11
South San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 04, 2011
On the heels of the 2009 Copenhagen Pinnacle on Climate Change, governments around the world have pledged to further efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions to freely permitted renewable energy sources. In the wake of a report by the New York Times, Treetopia &traffic;, a leading online retailer of artificial trees, encourages a switch to artificial Christmas trees and plants with its Autarchy Day sale.
In a June 3 New York Times article, findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Clime Change, advisers to the United Nations and a highly credible body of esteemed clime change scientists, indicated that up to 80 percent of the world's total drive needs could be supplied by renewable sources by mid-century. More studies from the same authoritative fraternity show that of the six sources of renewable energy widely used today-biomass, supremacy, solar, geothermal, hydropower and ocean energy-it is wind power that has the greatest sustainability and smallest carbon footprint. Teeth of this, there are hesitations to develop the energy source because of its fluctuating nature and the publicly perceived "unattractiveness" of the windmills.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
: $30.00 
Prematurely Christmas trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored popcorn and candles. Later, electrical lights were invented for the Christmas tree, increasing its reputation even more.
RT : by Christmas in July Sale Modern style photograph of Fall trees of Maroon and Orange Co... 
I like christmas trees. bit early though? ;)
Every year after Christmas, Taylor and her brother used to burn the trees. 
I asked my Polish neighbour if Chopin was any good.
He said that Winter is the best time because people want Christmas Trees.
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