Company gets permission from city to cut down trees

From LIQCity:

This is the classic battle in urban areas between community and commercial interests. Trees in the park are clearly for public enjoyment and comfortability, but these ones (which were BEAUTIFUL by the way) are blocking a commercial sign. How the sign company was able to get a permit from the city to cut down the city’s own trees for their benefit is actually quite impressive, but at the end of the day of course the community loses.

And this is not the only arboricide happening in LIC. From the same link, regarding Queens Plaza:

All the newly planted trees were full with leaves and the place was transformed. But the NYC Parks Department seems to have forgetten that new and large transplanted trees need regular watering. Over 25 trees as tall as 16 feet were counted with crispy, dead leaves and this is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars for a Department that must know better. Each tree costs several thousand dollars and it doesn’t matter even if the contractor is required to replace any dead trees. Taxpayers will pay for it next time as just a cost of doing business.

The science of winterizing a fig tree

From the NY Times:

As long as there have been immigrants from Greece and Italy in Astoria, there have been fig trees — they dot virtually every block from Ditmars Boulevard to 36th Avenue, between the East River and Steinway Street, in the neighborhood’s southern European quadrangle. The trees are native to the Mediterranean region, where winters are decidedly milder than in New York, but the fig trees of Astoria, like true New Yorkers, have proved resilient.

The immigrants planted fig tree roots they had smuggled from the places they left behind, and then cared for the trees as if they were part of the family, carefully wrapping them in the winter to protect them from the cold.

From November until maybe April, the trees look like hastily made packages of plastic and duct tape, and while they were once a common sight, they are a rare find these days: people have grown too old, too busy or too tired to carry on the tradition.

From a scientific perspective, covering a fig tree in the winter has more to do with protecting it from changes in temperature, which can be more harmful than the cold itself, said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden. Rainwater can seep into a tree’s roots and cells, and if the water freezes, it can rupture the tree’s vascular connections and potentially kill it, he said.

There are two ways to protect a fig tree from winter weather. One is to bury the tree branches, a strenuous days-long process that requires slowly bending the trunk. The other is to wrap it and perhaps place a garbage can on top of the tree for extra protection. It is the more popular and easier method, but can still be time-consuming.