This is so weird
Jun. 20th, 2006 11:19 amHere is a question for any budding botanists out there -
I have this tree in my front yard.

Sorry that it is from the underside of the leaves because the City of Berkeley just came out and trimmed it. Since we have lived in this house, we have noticed several people stripping the leaves off of the low hanging branches. At first, we thought it was because the branches were hanging low enough to bop people in the head if they weren't paying attention. Then it kept happening and we just watched from the window because it seemed so strange. The more often it happened, the more curious we were. However, we have failed in our efforts to make it out the front door to ask the picker "why are you picking the leaves off that tree?" A few minutes ago, I look out the front window and see a woman standing in front of the house looking up into the tree. For the record so you bunch don't think I'm a freaky "spend all my days peeking out the window" kind of gal - I don't have much of a front yard so the distance from the window to the street is about 15 feet with nothing obstructing the view. A clear shot from the front rooms. For this very same reason, I try not to parade around the front of the house in my birthday suit. Anyway, back to the woman looking up into the tree. I probably would have gone back to my cleaning if it wasn't for the fact that she had a pruning implement in her hand. Not a little handheld snip-snip, but this was a heavy duty probably would clip 2 inch diameter branches pruner. She then opened the back door of the car, stood on the backseat and raised her pruner to the tree. Still couldn't reach so she climbed on top of the car!!!!!!!! and proceeded to start clipping away. At the first clip, I went to go put on some shorts (don't ask) because I was going to find out what is up with this tree. Sadly, in the few seconds that it took me to dash to the back bedroom and grab my shorts, she was getting into the car and driving away. I guess I could have chased her down while she was pulling away but then I really would have looked like a freaky window peeping gal.
So, the question is what kind of tree is this and what is so special about it that everyone wants the leaves?.
Edit - I believe that the tree is a Linden tree. Not positive, but the pictures look very much like my tree. Now, I just want to understand what is so special about this tree and its' leaves.
I have this tree in my front yard.
Sorry that it is from the underside of the leaves because the City of Berkeley just came out and trimmed it. Since we have lived in this house, we have noticed several people stripping the leaves off of the low hanging branches. At first, we thought it was because the branches were hanging low enough to bop people in the head if they weren't paying attention. Then it kept happening and we just watched from the window because it seemed so strange. The more often it happened, the more curious we were. However, we have failed in our efforts to make it out the front door to ask the picker "why are you picking the leaves off that tree?" A few minutes ago, I look out the front window and see a woman standing in front of the house looking up into the tree. For the record so you bunch don't think I'm a freaky "spend all my days peeking out the window" kind of gal - I don't have much of a front yard so the distance from the window to the street is about 15 feet with nothing obstructing the view. A clear shot from the front rooms. For this very same reason, I try not to parade around the front of the house in my birthday suit. Anyway, back to the woman looking up into the tree. I probably would have gone back to my cleaning if it wasn't for the fact that she had a pruning implement in her hand. Not a little handheld snip-snip, but this was a heavy duty probably would clip 2 inch diameter branches pruner. She then opened the back door of the car, stood on the backseat and raised her pruner to the tree. Still couldn't reach so she climbed on top of the car!!!!!!!! and proceeded to start clipping away. At the first clip, I went to go put on some shorts (don't ask) because I was going to find out what is up with this tree. Sadly, in the few seconds that it took me to dash to the back bedroom and grab my shorts, she was getting into the car and driving away. I guess I could have chased her down while she was pulling away but then I really would have looked like a freaky window peeping gal.
So, the question is what kind of tree is this and what is so special about it that everyone wants the leaves?.
Edit - I believe that the tree is a Linden tree. Not positive, but the pictures look very much like my tree. Now, I just want to understand what is so special about this tree and its' leaves.