Southampton Civic Club Inc.

Trees For Southampton Street Tree Planting Campaign

Letter from Hugh Rice Kelly, Chairman, Trees for Southampton

Dear Southampton Neighbors:

This tree letter has two parts: new tree planting, and important advice about the dangers that home improvements and construction pose to existing trees.

  1. TREE PLANTING

    Tree planting season is here. Conditions are ideal in January and February for planting, so please consider donating to this year's campaign. If you would like a street tree planted between the sidewalk and curb in front of your home, or in any other specific place, identify the type and size tree on the attached form. Or donate to the tree fund and we will apply the funds to general neighborhood tree planting. This year our plan includes planting of Greenbriar from Sunset to Rice Boulevard. We know this will make a lovely tree arbor for the entrance to our neighborhood. Go to order form and follow the directions.

    Past campaigns have left a legacy of which we are all beneficiaries. Even the comparatively recent plantings of the 1980's now shade many areas of the neighborhood. Folklore to the contrary, even oaks grow surprisingly fast in this neighborhood. There is no need to think of fine trees as legacies benefiting only your children. Indeed, the care, water and fertilizing most residents expend on their front yards can be relied upon to transform a skinny 6 to 8 foot deciduous oak tree into an imposing 25 foot specimen in only ten years.

    Should you and/or your immediate neighbors wish to organize a block planting or any other ambitious project, please give me a call at 713-524-1930. In the meantime, you might find the following information about tree care useful for preserving your existing trees.

  2. PREVENTING DAMAGE TO EXISTING TREES

    • Trenching kills trees. Well-intentioned home improvements projects kill and severely damage more trees in Southampton than all other causes combined. The principal activities that endanger our trees include any that require trenching or paving. Here are some trenching threats:
      • Circular driveways and lawn sprinkler systems have killed at least two dozen magnificent live oaks in Southampton-Boulevard Oaks area over the last decade, and have severely damaged dozens more.
      • The construction of masonry walls of any height may have a similar effect unless the concrete foundations needed to secure the structures are specifically designed to eliminate trenching damage to root zones.

      Because the damage and deaths caused by man normally take a year or more to become obvious, "live oak decline" is frequently cited to explain the problem. In Southampton, "live oak decline" is a catch-all term that, upon investigation, always turns to describe the slow death of a tree triggered by man-made damage. This is not the oak wilt fungal disease noted in Central Texas. Only one case of the Central Texas "decline" has ever been documented in the Houston area - in Pasadena.

      Most vulnerable are street trees, because feeder roots derive little help from areas under the street and therefore are able to draw air, water and nutrients only from the lawn side of the sidewalk.

      A simple trenching machine making a single 18 inch cut across the font of a yard always seriously damages and frequently kills adjoining street trees within a year or two.

      While landscaping companies and advisors sometimes know how to avoid damaging trees, if you are planning a risky project, retaining a specialist tree preservationist, such as Steven Anderson, would be a prudent step. He may be reached at: 713-622-2531.

    • Tree pruning can maim or kill. Pruning is an area heavily afflicted with misunderstanding, harmful practices and voodoo.

      • The most common harmful practice is removing the inner branching from oak trees, especially live oaks.

        One hears that these branches are "suckers" or that the tree is somehow attempting to strangle or impoverish itself by growing too many branches and leaves. This is almost always nonsense. When growing in a natural setting, native live oaks thrive with dense, twiggy crowns.

      • If more light is needed under your trees, retain a qualified tree surgery company and cross-examine the tree surgeon carefully.

        If a tree surgeon tells you that major (and expensive) surgery such as topping, radical thinning, or stripping the tree's major inner limbs "invigorates" the tree or corrects some suicidal instinct in the tree, call someone else. Trees need prefrontal lobotomies no more than people do.

      • If you want to reshape or improve your trees' cosmetic appearance, tread lightly.

        Forcing trees into artificial configurations is no more sensible than Chinese foot-binding. The cosmetic trimming of oak trees of their inner branches can precipitate a mature tree into a long period of decline. Moreover, the cosmetically improved tree immediately attempts to replace the lost wood, sprouting new, profoundly unattractive "suckers", which the original surgeon will be happy to keep trimming off year after year - for a fee.

While any tree company will hack your trees into yard sculptures if you insist, listen carefully to their advice before you proceed. Selective removal of branches, removal of lower branches and other trimming will allow the light or improved appearance you want with much less damage to the health of your trees.

Yours very truly,
Hugh Rice Kelly

General Tree Information

Trees will be fully planted, mulched, staked and guaranteed for a year for healthfulness. Trees are container-grown, first-class nursery stock and average 1-1/2" to 2" trunk caliper, 6' to 8' in height. Each of the six species noted below are native to this general area and are classified in the highest quality category by relevant urban forestry professional guides.

Tree Descriptions

  1. Live Oak: Broad-spreading evergreen shade tree, with a moderate growth rate which can be accelerated with plenty of water. Live oaks are the species that line Sunset and Rice Boulevards. It is an extremely long-lived, desirable tree planted throughout the deep South. Good below utility lines because of relatively low spreading growth habit.
  2. Water Oak: Tall, fast-growing, graceful, deciduous to semi-evergreen native oak. There are hundreds of water oaks in Southampton, but a good comparison can be made at the southeast corner of Wroxton and Kent, where one very old water oak on the corner can be compared to three handsome specimens on the Kent side planted in the 1984 Southampton tree campaign.
  3. Shumard Red Oak: Very tall, fast-growing, large-leafed deciduous oak. This species shows beautiful fall color in the orange-red range, plus and elegant growth habit. A full-grown specimen, somewhat marred by power line pruning, can be observed at the northwest corner of Shepherd and Albans.
  4. Nuttall Red Oak: Substantially similar to Shumard Red Oak but considered by some experts to be better suited to our local soil conditions. (The evidence is so far inconclusive in Southampton.)
  5. Cedar Elm: A tall, fast-growing, small-leafed, graceful shade tree. Has beautiful yellow to gold fall color and a handsome, open shape at maturity. Not subject to criticisms leveled at many other elms. A full-grown specimen as well as a young tree can be seen on the Shepherd side of the southeast corner of Shepherd and Sunset.
  6. White Oak: Very large, elegant shade tree. Though rarely seen in Houston, this native tree is one of the longest lived and most valuable shade trees of Southern and Eastern states. Fall color. Mature specimens may be observed in Hermann and Memorial Parks, and two thriving 12-year-old trees can be seen at the southeast corner of Stockton and Swift in Southgate.

Other Alternatives

We will arrange to plant, on a tax-deductible basis, other street trees, including larger trees and other appropriate species, on request. Prices vary but are competitive in the local market. Write or call Evalyn Krudy at 713-523-7422, PO Box 540331, Houston, Texas 77254; or Hugh Rice Kelly at 713-524-1930.

Tree Locations

Locations must be between the sidewalk and the curb, or otherwise on public property. Neighborhood volunteers, in consultation with donors when locations are specified, will drive stakes to mark tree locations.