These recommendations represent the thoughtful views of almost 100 residents, The Friends of Original PC Landscaping.
We are concerned with the long range consequences of continuing certain landscaping practices.
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Those practices are:
1. HAPHAZARD REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES
2. LANDSCAPING WITHOUT A SKILLED LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
3. INTRODUCTION OF OVER 700 LARGE, COLORED SHRUBS
We believe if action is not taken NOW to stop them and institute a system of checks and balances, our landscaping will become a hodge-podge within 10 years and there will be no way to recover.
OUR PROJECTIONS
Our projections of what will happen to the landscape AT THE END OF 10 YEARS are as follows:
A) 100 aging trees will have been cut down before their time, depriving us of a canopy that will take generations to re-grow.
B) Over 2000 more oversized, luridly-colored shrubs will have been planted, ruining the beauty, harmony and symmetry of our existing shrubbery.
C) 20 large areas will have been re-landscaped in a manner not in harmony with the original landscaping design. These new areas will represent about 25% of the total landscape. Our beautiful, irreplaceable landscape will have become a hodge-podge.
THE LUSH ORIGINAL LANDSCAPING
These estimates are projections based on what has actually taken place over the past 3 years:
1. Attempted removal of 10 aging trees from Boathouse Circle that. were in excellent condition during the last 2 years.
2. The planting of over 700 large, colored shrubs throughout the shrubbery of PC during the last 3 years.
3. The landscaping of two large areas (Brookhouse Circle/Vamo and Butterfly garden) without the aid of a skilled landscape designer over the past 2 years.
OUR RECOMENDATIONS
We respectfully submit the following recommendations, which we believe will correct the situation. We welcome any comments or additional suggestions from the committee.
1. REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES
The Problem: HAPHAZARD REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES.
Our most precious resource is our trees. They are irreplaceable. A tree removed before its time will take 35-75 years to reach its former height. Old trees should only be removed when they are truly old to the eye, and not merely because they have been tagged as “old.”
Once a 75 foot tree has been cut down, it will take 75 years for the new one to reach that height again.
In replacing old trees, there has been a continued tendency to remove large numbers of trees before they actually have to be removed. Many are still in good shape with 5, 10, 15 years worth of life in them despite their “old tree silver” tags.
A CASE IN POINT: The unannounced, planned removal of almost half the trees on Boathouse Circle in Nov 2008 was one recent example of a plan that would have completely destroyed the look of Boathouse Circle with its majestic 75-90’ trees.
The rationale was it would look better with all the trees being the same 25 foot height.
Fortunately this was blocked by Boathouse Circle homeowners. Only 5 of the proposed 15 trees were removed.
A good landscape designer would tell you exactly the opposite: that it would look far worse with all 15 trees removed and that both shade and the high loft beauty would be lost for years to come.
OUR TREE REMOVAL RECOMMENDATIONS
A BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL GROUPING OF TREES
FEATURING DIFFERENT SPECIMENS
1. As far as we know, and as evidenced by the continued confusion at the recent February 19, 2009 Harbor Club meeting on TREE REMOVAL, no concrete plan for sensible removal of aging trees exists at this time.
We suggest the Grounds Committee recommend the one we are proposing and that the General Manager sees it is enforced.
2. The Tree Replacement Method That Should be Adopted
A. Any tree proposed for removal should be wrapped with a red ribbon for 3 months so the residents can examine them.
That plan should include the General Manager setting up a neighborhood meeting to allow the homeowners enough time to attend, discuss and vote on the proposed tree removal.
We suggest that an initial neighborhood meeting be set up be set up by the General Manager (using bulletin boards and email) no later than 2 weeks after red ribbons are placed on trees, and that the meetings be continued until there is a satisfactory agreement as to which trees are to be removed
B. We should also budget a small amount of money each year to plant saplings to replace middle-aged trees that have not yet been tagged. Currently this is not being done. This is the accepted landscaping practice, where new saplings are planted 10-35 years ahead of time so as to provide replacement trees down the road.
This practice should also be undertaken here now. It is not only smarter but cheaper. A sapling at $100 is a fraction of the cost of a $3000 20’ tree.
2. LANDSCAPING DESIGN PRACTICES
RECOMMENDATIONS ON LANDSCAPING DESIGN PRACTICES
The Problem.
Over the past 3-4 years massive re-landscaping has occurred in PC without the advice and guidance of a skilled landscape architect. The PC landscape is an irreplaceable jewel.
If this continues, our magnificent landscaping will become a hodge-podge. This degradation of the landscape can currently be seen in three areas:
1) The newly landscaped areas at the Vamo end of Brookhouse Circle and the Entrance to PC (The Butterfly garden). Any trained eye will immediately see they are not up to the standards of the original landscaping.
2) The massive introduction of over 700 large colored shrubs throughout PC that clash violently with the existing shrubbery.
3) The premature cutting down of aging trees before their time.
Our Recommendations:
Establish a landscape sub-committee of 3-6 members skilled in design and /or gardening to advise the Ground Committee on the suitability of any re-landscaping plans submitted by:
a) an outside landscape architect; b) the grounds manager c) any resident wishing to re-landscape their unit d) any other PC committee
3. COLORED SHRUBS
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ON COLORED SHRUBS
The problem: The massive introduction of over 700 colored shrubs (Purple Thai plants and various red and orange Crotons) over the past three years has severely degraded the color scheme, proportions and harmony of the original PC shrubbery.
SOME OF THE NEW SOME COLORED SHRUBS (CROTONS)
There are currently 742 of these new colored shrubs:
Harbor/ Bay houses 182, Grove houses 141, Tree Houses 105, Glen houses 182, Brook houses 132
Here are some hard facts:
1. These new colored shrubs will grow to a height of 8 t0 10 feet or more. Their size will eventually destroy the harmony of the surrounding shrubbery, whose normal height is 3 to 6 feet.
2. There are simply too many of them. 742 colored shrubs is ten times the TOTAL COMBINED COUNT of all the naturally flowering hibiscus, bougainvillea, alamanda, and oleander shrubs currently in PC.
The original PC landscape design used naturally flowering green shrubs (like hibiscus) for color because they elevated the emotions.
THE BEAUTIFUL, ELEVATING COLOR OF BOUGANVILLEA
3. The new colored shrubs do not elevate the emotions. Use this simple test: take a small cutting from any Thai plant or Croton and hold it directly against any of the hibiscus or oleander or bougainvillea plants in PC. Then ask yourself the following question: which of these would I bring to a friend as a gift?
Your emotions will immediately choose the hibiscus or oleander or bougainvillea because their colors elevate the emotions while the Crotons and Thai shrubs don’t.
This emotional depression is very subtle but it is repeated every time you look at one of these colored shrubs. It is an unconscious emotional reaction.
When these new colored shrubs mature in 2-3 years to 8-10 feet and overwhelm the surrounding shrubs, this unconscious reaction will be multiplied.
You can see what the future will look like right now in the shrubbery leading to the Brookhouse pool. (1677 Brookhouse Circle).
In two more years, the rest of PC will look like this. Judge for yourself if this is the look you want in PC.
This is what happens when changes are made to the landscaping without the advice of a skilled landscape architect.
Our Recommendations:
1. STOP any further planting of these colored shrubs. 700 is ten times too many.
2. TRIM all of these colored plants down to the height of the surrounding shrubs.
3. Introduce future color in accordance with the original PC landscaping plan by planting naturally flowering green shrubs and vines such as tropical hibiscus, alamanda, bougainvillea and oleander.
THE ELEVATING COLOR OF TROPICAL BOUGANVILLEA
IS SUPERIOR
END of recommendations
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Assumptions behind 10 year PROJECTIONS
Our projections of the landscape AT THE END OF 10 MORE YEARS are as follows:
A) 100 aging trees will have been cut down before their time, depriving us of a canopy that will take generations to re-grow.
B) Over 2000 more oversized, luridly-colored shrubs will have been planted, ruining the beauty, harmony and symmetry of our existing shrubbery.
C) 20 large areas will have been re-landscaped in a manner not in harmony with the original landscaping design. These new areas represent about 25% of the total landscape. Our beautiful, irreplaceable landscape will have become a hodge-podge. “
Explanation
A) AGING TREES
I based my estimate of 100 aging trees being cut down before their time on the fact that 10 aging trees that had 5-15 years of remaining life in them were scheduled to be cut down in Boathouse Circle in 2009 because no adequate aging tree removal process is in place.
Unless a foolproof process is put in place that involves red ribbons and approval by the residents, I project that an additional unnecessary trees will be cut down each year.
10 trees/year x 10 years = 100 trees cut down unnecessarily.
B) .COLORED SHRUBS
Despite the Grounds Manager’s claim that he had only ordered 600+ crotons and thai plants, I counted 700+. Either way it is an extraordinarily high number to plant. I suggest the Chair get in his car as I did and count them as I did. Two other explanations are as follows: the count on the bill was per pot and not per plant and that some pots contained two or more main stalks. There is no way to tell if it is one or two plants once planted.
My estimate of 2000 more crotons and thai shrubs being planted over the next 10 years were based on the fact that 700 were planted over the past 3 years.
700 shrubs/every 3 years = 700 x 3. = 2100 new shrubs over 10 years.
C) NEW LANDSCAPING
Clarificatiion: I based my landscaping projections on the potential target land area that could be re-landscaped.
I excluded harbor and docks, all roads, sidewalks, nature walks, the mangroves, the wild areas between the Brookhouses and those that border the brooks and harbors. I also excluded the entire Wilbanks Complex ( land and buildings) as they are landmarks and would never be targets for re-landscaping. I also excluded all pools, tennis courts, and recreation centers. What remains is the target land area upon which my projections were based.
Here is a summary of the re-landscaping that has occurred over the past 3 years. IT is a good indication that after 27 years of no change, Pelican Cove is going to be in constant change. :
2007 Clower Creek Swales behind Grove houses
2008 Vamo Rd /Brookhouse re-landscaping ( invasive plant)
Brookhouse pond re-landscaping
2009 interior Glenhouse area re-landscaping
Phase 1 Boathouse Circle
Phase 3 Boathouse Circle
South end Pelican Cove fence re-landscaping
In coming up with an average I omitted year 2007 as not being representative of the full forces for change being exerted by invasive plant removal.
Invasive plant removal is a major force behind re-landscaping and is likely to continue to request that new areas to be re-landscaped and thus 2008 and 2009 were better sample years.
An example of this force can be seen in the two areas currently being targeted as containing invasive plants (that I am aware of) :the entrance area adjacent and just west of the Butterfly garden and the interior area between some of the the Brookhhouses.
My estimate of the total 2008-2009 re-landscaping area is that it was 4-5 % of the target land area, thus giving an annual rate of 2-2.5% annually., which I conservatively downgraded to 2%
I did my estimates based on a visually mapping the re-landscaped areas onto the target land area.
Thus my projection:
2%/year x 10 years = 20% new additional Landscape area.
Note: I had based my 25% projection based on initial estimate the 2008-9 average land area change being 2.5% (of the target land area). I decided on a more conservative estimate of 2%, but forgot to change the projection( 25%). A clerical error.
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