Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Los Robles Nightfall

Los Robles is the name of the street. "Los robles" is also Spanish for "the oaks," which these obviously aren't. Maybe not so obviously. It was dark. I'm working on my dark photography. These are palmas--uh, palms.

I understand certain trees are protected in Pasadena. I've heard if you cut down a Live Oak, even if you planted it yourself, you're subject to legal action. Anybody know the answer? I couldn't come up with the search string that would tell me.

We have a Tree Protection Ordinance which isn't specific about which trees are protected, so maybe they're all protected. That's more trees than people. Our population is under 150,000, yet Hometown Pasadena estimates 205,000 trees in Pasadena. I know it's at least 205,001 by now because the book came out in 2006 and John and I have planted a Chinese Elm in our yard since then.

Palm trees are not indigenous to southern California. But I ramble on.

15 comments:

Vanda said...

I think it's great that there are so many old growth trees in Pasadena.

Laurie Allee said...

I love this dark shot with those tall shadow palms. I tried to shoot a similar one the other night against a dappled cloudy sky but it didn't work. This is so Los Angeles, to me. The crisp night with ubiquitous palms.

I swear, I'm part Druid or something. I just LOVE all the trees around here. We have a giant oak as well as a giant camphor tree at our place. The camphor leaves smell like Vicks Vapor Rub when it rains. I love that.

Tanya Breese said...

We had a beautiful old oak once and during a really bad El Nino, the thing fell over, miraculously landing next to my house, right up against my daughters window, without breaking a thing except knocking our deck out of wack! It was so sad to see that grand old tree down.

Anonymous said...

California Fan Palm or Washingtonia California are our natives. I once designed a palm garden in Santa fe Springs so I studied up on the subject. Maybe LA Trees has the answer. Now I know the translation of Los Robles. Rather romantic.

John Sandel said...

Night weaves its mantle into the fabric of our days with stealthy hands. Hunting or gathering, we fail to notice the dark’s encroach … ’til a twig snaps beneath the monstrous paw beyond the firelight. Then it’s hotfoot back to the cave—to gum our uncooked tubers, or upload our photos RAW.

Anonymous said...

I have read in the paper about people in CA being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for removing trees from their own yards. I don't remember the types of trees, but it is VERY worth it to look into these laws before you go trimming your trees. I think even if you just cut branches larger than some size you can be fined.

USelaine said...

PA nailed the Washingtonia. I love the photo. Looks like a classic silkscreen for a poster or greeting card.

I love the music too. Thanks for that.

Christie said...

Great job on the photo. I'm still working on night photos with my camera, but they never come out this good!

I do love trees, but I have to admit, we're cutting some down in our backyard (we have several hundred, if not thousands) and we would like a little more room to roam and garden.

Virginia said...

Yeah, we can't catch millions of illegal aliens or criminals of other sorts, but they are hunting down folks that cut down a tree they planted??? You betcha. Sounds like a bunch of mavericks on the loose to me.

And I am CRACKING UP at Druid Laurie out sniffing camphor trees after it rains. Clears up those sinuses eh!
Great night shot !

Anonymous said...

For real? That's the total # of people in Pasadena? That's all -- I thought there were a million or more. I feel like I can breath again. (Trees help, they exhale oxygen.)

Petrea Burchard said...

New growth too, Vanda! Trees galore.

Laurie, we have a couple of camphors, too. I love how the trunk gets black when it rains.

Tanya I hear when a tree comes down if it's not actually dead it will start a new little ecosystem where it lands, if you let it.

Are these Washingtonia, PA? These look skinnier and taller than the ones in the link from Elaine.

Bernie, you're a linkin' fool.

Elisabeth, there's one in front of our house (some kind of holly) where the branches got so wild and wacky we couldn't park the car. I called the city for two years and nobody came. Finally, a car knocked a branch off. Yup.

You're welcome for the music, Elaine. Miss Havisham gave it to me and I thought I'd share it. I like to think of Led Zeppelin as mine but that can't be right...

Christie, a tripod makes a lot of difference. I don't know what kind of camera you have, but you can mess with the settings, too.

Speaking of cracking up, Virginia, you are funny.

AH, glad I could help.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

Led Zep is yours for sure. I love this photo.

Here's something from the Palm Quartet.

b.c. said...

more trees than people = cleaner air, enjoy! hey nice link! haven't heard that in a while, makes me think of road trips and gabe kaplan, haha that's weird i know...

Thérèse said...

For a while we lived in Folsom CA and had oak trees in our backyard. Each one of them was tagged and registered and if one of them was sick we had to call a "doctor" if one disappeared we had to prove that it was of natural causes otherwise we had to pay a fine of $ 2000.

Petrea Burchard said...

Ha ha, Havisham!