Do landscaping standards expire once the development is complete?

[RecycleMichael]

Couple of big problems with trying to landscape a large slab of asphalt or concrete, besides that fact that it ain't gonna work!

3 feet is nowhere near enough room for a tree to live.  Can't get the water and other nutrients it needs and cannot have root growth to physically support the tree.  Good way to torture and kill a young tree.

Rule of thumb; the ground around the tree should be as large as the expected size of the canopy of that tree.  The root system of a healthy tree will be about the same diameter as the canopy.  Maybe a little "flatter" underground due to so much clay in the ground around here.

Second, and almost as important.  Notice how many times you see new plantings of trees and there is this little "volcano cone" shaped pile of wood chips at its base.  Somewhere along the line, someone sold the unknowing an amazing bill of goods.  That is another excellent way to torture, then kill a young tree.

I generally agree with you but there are many exceptions. Through Up with Trees (I am on their Board of Directors) we have planted all kinds of trees in all kinds of places. If anything, the sides of highways are terrible planting locations and the ground is in large part, fill concrete and debris.

Some trees have a much smaller needed root area and can be planted along sidewalks, driveways, etc.

Your wood chip comment is spot on. It is real important to leave a exposed area around the trunk of a young tree. At Up with Trees, we use a small section of flexible guttering to keep chips from touching the trunk. We mulch in the rest to keep moisture, heat etc. around the root area.

[Red Arrow]

RM

At some locations, I think along 169, I've seen plastic fencing around the trees.  Is that to keep animals away?

[RecycleMichael]

No. Those are to protect off a construction area to build a new bike/running path.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Side of highway as with Up With Trees, is a VERY rigorous place to put a tree.  Actually, brutal!  Most of the time there is no actual soil structure left.  It will be either clay or rock with a skim coat of soil - just enough to put some sod down for a quick "green".  It never ceases to amaze me how well your trees do (with few exceptions).  Amazing!

Mulch - let me clarify a part of that.  I am absolute believer in mulch.  Besides placing the little volcanoes next to the tree, the biggest failing of most tree plantings is NOWHERE near enough mulch!  And the right kind of mulch!  Chipped up trees/shrubs etc is a lousy mulch unless a considerable amount of nitrogen is added over an extended time.  The break down of woody materials requires so much nitrogen, that the mulch can actually "starve" the tree (or shrub) that it is used to help.  And one application the first year is not enough.  Takes some of those chip pile 3 to 6 years (or more) to decompose, and it needs supplement every year.

Hay mixed with manure (see 'horse poop' thread) is magnificent!!  Best of all possible worlds.  And as much as can afford to put on.  This applies to any garden situation, too, flower or vegetable!!  More so to garden!

After the mulch consideration, once a tree is started and growing, the rain it gets will be the major source of nutrients, with ongoing "mulching" by the materials (grass, weeds, etc) growing around it.

Side note; in the yard, NEVER pick up the grass.  The clippings falling onto the earth and decomposing are what the rest of the landscape need to thrive.  There is NO SUCH THING as "thatch"!!  (There are however people who probably let their grass get a little too long between mowing.)  It is an imaginary construct by many in the landscape industry to sell you chemicals or tools.  It is a lie!

Love the trees!!!!!

[Red Arrow]

There is NO SUCH THING as "thatch"!! 

Where do thatch roofs come from?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Corning.  GAF.  CertainTeed.

[Red Arrow]

Corning.  GAF.  CertainTeed.

Artificial thatch.  Is nothing real anymore?

[PonderInc]

Back to the original topic...

It looks like the landscaping requirements were added to the zoning code in 1994. 

One development that I always notice for its shocking lack of landscaping (even by our minimal standards) is the Target/Reasors, etc at 21st and Yale.  I know that it's zoned CH, but I can't remember when this development was built.  (I remember the Sears from my childhood, but I can't put a date on when the Target and Reasors went in.)

[patric]

One development that I always notice for its shocking lack of landscaping (even by our minimal standards) is the Target/Reasors, etc at 21st and Yale.  I know that it's zoned CH, but I can't remember when this development was built.  (I remember the Sears from my childhood, but I can't put a date on when the Target and Reasors went in.)

The current Sears store is actually newer than the Target/Reasors, since it replaced the original one you probably remember.  Also, because of caves in the area, there are only so many places to put a large building.

[Red Arrow]

The current Sears store is actually newer than the Target/Reasors, since it replaced the original one you probably remember.  Also, because of caves in the area, there are only so many places to put a large building.

Are there natural caves there or are they mostly abandoned mines?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Both I suspect.  I know there are a lot of strip mines around there. 

Landscaping for the probably grandfathered in since the original Sears was mid '50s (just after Mayo Meadows).
That lot was scraped down pretty hard at that time and there probably is only rock (slate and coal?) under that concrete.  Trees will not be happy.