Yes, the tree’s ugly, but there’s a solution

For all the good they do, trees can be a pain in the backside.

A Concerned Reader named David wrote recently to complain about some trees in his neighborhood that have been excessively trimmed. Mutilated, in fact, was his assessment of the tree trimming.

“Recently a new bunch of trees in the Charter Oaks area off Moon Road have been mutilated by a tree service to clear limbs so they don’t interfere with the power/phone lines,” David wrote. “Many of these are large old oaks, and the limb removal is either in the center, or on one side. The result is a very large UGLY tree.”

David points out that the trees are near enough to the street to be on the city easement, rather than on private property.

“Why doesn’t the city take them down instead of leaving them to look like crap?” he asked. “It’s bad enough when home owners/renters don’t keep up their property.”

I rode out that way, turned off Weems Road onto North Oaks, and right away was welcomed by what could be a poster child for Ugly Tree Syndrome.

A co-worker saw the picture and suggested it would be good for practicing kicking field goals, though it was lacking in the aesthetic department.

But the fact is, trees planted beneath utility lines are destined for this treatment.

Think about it. Those utility lines bring all kinds of stuff to all kinds of people. All the tree does is sit there and look nice, maybe throwing some shade around and soaking up carbon dioxide. The folks in the neighborhood will gladly give up the shade and other stuff for electricity, phone, cable, internet and whatever else goes on up there.

And it’s Georgia Power, not the city, that does the trimming. But before you go tree-hugger on the power folks, they have to keep the power lines clear of the trees. And on top of that, they have a heck of an offer for people whose trees get mangled like the one pictured here.

Bob Watkins, a spokesman for Georgia Power, told me if a homeowner is dissatisfied by the utility’s tree trimming, they and the city will remedy the situation. They will come back out and cut the tree down, cut it up and haul it away — grinding the stump and everything.

Then, around the first of the year, which is apparently the time when you should plant trees, the homeowner can choose from several kinds of low-growing trees, which the utility will pay for and the city will plant. (The city has trained arborists who know what they’re doing.)

So you get a new tree for free and the city and utility get a low-growing tree they don’t have to worry about trimming ever again.

So if you have a tree that’s been mangled (by Georgia Power) and want a new but low-growing replacement, contact me as instructed below and I’ll put Bob in touch with you.

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Yes, the tree’s ugly, but there’s a solution."