Since the Monterrey Pine has been taken out, we’ve discussed, but tried to avoid the thought that although we did this AFTER the mating season for birds, that there were many birds (and occasionally squirrels) that we would see in the tree. We’ve tried to not think about the fact that we’ve taken away habitat for some of the animals we like to see in our garden, but cartoonist Joel Hodge was determined to not let us forget about it in his latest cartoon called “Progress.”
As always, Joel’s work is copyrighted…enough said.
I should say that we have plans to get the soil in that part of the yard tested to make sure there isn’t any lead contamination (we do live in an urban environment after all) and if the area is “clean” we are going to plant 2 fruit trees in that spot — a Gravenstein apple tree & a Santa Rosa plum tree. We’ve been dying to have 2 of our favorite fruit trees in the yard that will actually work for the cooler West Berkeley climate (example: On August 23rd it was a “balmy” 74 degrees & it was our first hint of summer this season!). Both of the fruit trees we are planning to put in will work well in that climate, unfortunately my absolute favorite fruit tree (Pomegranate) isn’t an option since they need warmer temps to produce.
