This is one of the best stories we read in a long time. An arborist AKA a tree caretaker and tree surgeon from Redondo Beach, California had to watch the death of one of his favorite trees, which was ordered by the mayor. Although he lost a great battle, he won the war. Find out how he avenged the death of his 30-year-old pepper tree named Clyde.
His story was recently shared online and has already been shared over 150k times. RIP Clyde.
Part of me wishes this were true, but it’s not. Look it up if you like, but I’m from Redondo Beach originally so I’ll give you some bullet points on why this is fake.
+ California has been in a drought for 10 years. The drought has been SOMEWHAT ended officially, but we won’t really know until the next El Niño. Anyhow, three years ago the drought was still going strong which means those seeds would not have gotten the deep water they’d need to produce viable root systems. Actually the drought killed at least 100,000 trees.
+ Redondo Beach doesn’t tear out trees that are on private property. They don’t stick you with the bill, either. They’ll go up to your property line and saw through the roots, but take it from someone with scarred knees from tripping over lifted pavement being pushed up by the neighborhood magnolias, there’s something decidedly fishy about the impetus for this guy’s revenge.
+ This guy’s posting history shows him to be a troll and a college student, not a troll and an aging homeowner.
+ have you ever seen that movie “Chinatown”? Los Angeles would be a desert if not for the diversion of the Colorado river. Sequoias and redwoods grow where there’s rain. L.A. Is not known for rain.
+ sequoias and redwoods don’t grow that fast.
+ honestly if you want to inflict botany-based revenge on someone just fling some mint into their yard.
And now so that you don’t feel like you wasted time learning about the civic codes of a beach town in Southern California, have some tree trivia. Treevia. :
~ California is home to what is believed to be the world’s oldest non-clonal tree: a bristlecone pine called Methuselah believed to be 5066 years old.
~ the Joshua pine tree found in the San Bernadino mountains smells like butterscotch.
~ General Sherman the giant sequoia is the largest currently living single-stem tree on earth. Two larger trees, cracking the title for ‘largest tree in historical record’ were coastal redwoods from California, but they were cut down in the early half of the 20th century.
~ you think of Los Angeles, you probably think of palm trees. But, only one species of palm is native to California: the California fan palm. All the others are imported, and rely on water pumped in from more generous watersheds to stay alive.
~ California grows the most produce by value of any state. 84% of fresh peaches sold in the US, 94% of plums, 99% of walnuts, etc. come from California trees. $5.33 billion dollars in almonds are grown here annually.
FantasyBoudicca 