Sad…. Another ancient oak felled for no good reason

[rockm]

What a weird thing to do. In the grand scheme of things the USA (as is) is a fledgling country still, with those trees being older than the country itself. You would think someone in their wisdom may recognise the historical importance or at least interest in the fact that they were imported a couple of decades BEFORE the declaration of independence was even drawn up. Bonkers attitude.

Well, not bonkers. I understood the reasoning. It is the reasoning museums face--teach or simply preserve. The plantation opted to refresh the garden to return to how it looked when the house was built and the Mason family was still in residence. To return it to show what was not was is.

The old boxwood were monstrous in scale and overshadowed and overpowered anything else in the garden. The garden itself had been altered reshaped buried and sometimes neglected in the last 250 years. It needed something.

I just wish someone had realized they could save and preserve some of the boxwood by transplanting them elsewhere.

 

[BrightsideB]

Well, not bonkers. I understood the reasoning. It is the reasoning museums face--teach or simply preserve. The plantation opted to refresh the garden to return to how it looked when the house was built and the Mason family was still in residence. To return it to show what was not was is.

The old boxwood were monstrous in scale and overshadowed and overpowered anything else in the garden. The garden itself had been altered reshaped buried and sometimes neglected in the last 250 years. It needed something.

I just wish someone had realized they could save and preserve some of the boxwood by transplanting them elsewhere.

It’s about the people with the power caring to preserve what they want and not anything else. It’s weird to me they’d not see any value in relocating some. But that hits at the core of the problem in the first place about my previous statement. It’s easier to say we don’t want them, get rid of them. I know a man who buys older perennials or trees he finds around on properties. He resells them. You’d think these would have a lot of value to someone. They look really cool. But it does seem like quite a lot of work. But guaranteed there are people up to the challenge. They’d probably do it for free.

 

[rockm]

It’s about the people with the power caring to preserve what they want and not anything else. It’s weird to me they’d not see any value in relocating some. But that hits at the core of the problem in the first place about my previous statement. It’s easier to say we don’t want them, get rid of them. I know a man who buys older perennials or trees he finds around on properties. He resells them. You’d think these would have a lot of value to someone. They look really cool. But it does seem like quite a lot of work. But guaranteed there are people up to the challenge. They’d probably do it for free.

It’s more practicality and cost. To remove those with. Are enough to transplant them would have required time and extra budget. Budgets for public lands have always been tight. This isn’t one of the Presidents old houses. Mason was instrumental in crafting the Bills of Rights but he's no Washington or Jefferson —so smaller budget. Less wiggle room. Believe me this kind of thing is an issue here in the Capital region for historic sites. It’s gotten harder in the last several months too.

 

[BrightsideB]

It’s more practicality and cost. To remove those with. Are enough to transplant them would have required time and extra budget. Budgets for public lands have always been tight. This isn’t one of the Presidents old houses. Mason was instrumental in crafting the Bills of Rights but he's no Washington or Jefferson —so smaller budget. Less wiggle room. Believe me this kind of thing is an issue here in the Capital region for historic sites. It’s gotten harder in the last several months too.

What has gotten harder? The funding for the sites?

For the sake of a thought experiment. Say someone removed one successfully and put it into a large container. What do you think it could be sold for. It has prestige and character. Plus the age that developers like to add to new builds. And what about bonsai? Do you think they would have been suitable? Just curious. Plus I understand the window for removal is a work around.

 

[rockm]

What has gotten harder? The funding for the sites?

For the sake of a thought experiment. Say someone removed one successfully and put it into a large container. What do you think it could be sold for. It has prestige and character. Plus the age that developers like to add to new builds. And what about bonsai? Do you think they would have been suitable? Just curious. Plus I understand the window for removal is a work around.

Funding for every public Park has gotten harder. Things have always been tight for a lot of them particularly “secondary “ not well visited ones out of the beaten path

 

[rockm]

Funding for every public Park has gotten harder. Things have always been tight for a lot of them particularly “secondary “ not well visited ones out of the beaten path

Don’t know what they’d be worth if they were removed alive. They could have been relocated but all that costs money and property at a historic site

Who knows if they could have been sold. I don’t think people understood what they were. As I talked to the site owners and to a few bonsai folks. Couldn’t get enough interest in saving them.