New Trees Coming To Downtown Street

Fairhope, Alabama



Chinese elms to be replaced ...

... with Chinese pistache.

SECTION STREET FIRST

The city council authorized spending $22,480 to replace 55 overgrown Chinese elm trees along Section Street (from Oak to Morphy) with Chinese pistache, "red blush" variety.

Public works director Johnson said the city's horticulturist Paul Merchant and tree committee members selected the new species to be used ... which turns bright orange in fall.

The new trees will vary in size per location; replacement is planned for September.

Bradford pears were the city's original ornamental street trees beginning in the 1980's but they became too big and were replaced with the current elms about twelve years ago.



Original Bradford pear trees circa 2000.







Comments

Anonymous said…
Why always chinese. why not use american trees? Live Oak is so pretty.
Anonymous said…
Live Oaks are gorgeous but they grow much too large to work in that area.
Guy said…
Root system varies and the location dictates choice.
Anonymous said…
The Chinese Pistache were not originated in China, lets keep some civility and not add racist overtones to this post as this town is not used to and I hope will never.....
Anonymous said…
So how many times do they have to do this before they get it right? Third times a charm, I hope.

And how does someone read a racist overtone to a comment like that above????

Everyone knows Chinese Pistache originated in Tupeolo, MS not China.



WG said…
Use artificial trees so they will not grow to big.
Anonymous said…
First the Bradford Pear and that didn't turn out well. Now removal of the Oaks from 20 years ago because they've gotten too large. The City is currently offering a replacement of a "potential" invasive tree. How about something a bit different like fruit trees? Offers fruit and shade. But I suspect it's been chosen because of the color change in the leaves which will also make it easy to light them in November. I am dealing with too many invasive plants in my yard now. Neighbor decided he wanted to plant bamboo around his pool which is now fully ingrained in my back yard. So if I start to find Chinese pistache seedlings in my yard I'll know who to see. I am sure those who wanted to plant Kudzu was saying something very similar...
Anonymous said…
Fairhope should do a better job of researching a replacement tree than an article in Southern Living. The Chinese pistache is invasive if not managed properly. Texas has it on their list of invasive species. It is native to China and should not be planted just because it has pretty fall colors, is drought tolerant and grows quickly. A native tree should be chosen and planted. Don't jeopardize our ecosystems. There are to many invasive plants already.