Folks on Garlock Way are cotton pickin’ mad. Really. A cottonwood tree in the front yard of Ruben Gonzales is shedding little balls of the white stuff all over the neighborhood.
Here is the tree. It’s pretty obvious where Gonzales trimmed branches to try to reduce the fallout on his neighbor’s yard.
Snow in summer! Actually, those are huge clumps of cotton covering the yards on Garlock Way.
Experts say it is common for cottonwood trees to go into hyper-production mode. There doesn’t seem to be a reason. One tree will pump it out like dandruff while others nearby do nothing. The production last for a couple weeks and subsides.
Anyway, here is a map of Garlock Way.
The towering tree is visible from far above, as seen in this aerial photo from www.FlashEarth.com:
You can’t tell it today, but when Springs founder, Gen. William Jackson Palmer, arrived in 1869, tree dandruff wasn’t a problem. Mostly, the land was a treeless prairie.
In the years after Palmer’s men drove the first stake to plat Colorado Springs in 1871, the town company started planting the first of 10,000 trees which would become the urban forest we now enjoy.
Check out these photos taken from a city forestry presentation which show Colorado Springs as it looked before Palmer embarked on his aggressive tree-planting program.
Actually, Colorado Springs forestry folks don’t recommend anyone plant cottonwood trees.
Here are some more slides from the city forestry presentation.
More detailed information about recommended tress is available on the Colorado Springs city Web site at www.SpringsGov.com. Go there and click on ”Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services” on the left column. Then go to “Forestry” where you will find an assortment of topics.
Under “Colorado Springs Trees” you will find a “Suitable Tree Matrix” which offers lists of trees deemed, well, suitable for the city.
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