The Information Super-Frog

The noble old Loquat tree growing out of my neighbor's yard, formerly spreading its branches over my and another neighbor's yard, is no more. It was Rendered Into Pieces.

The couple next door decided to have it taken out, as they plan to have a second off-street parking place added out front. I'd objected, hoping it could just be cut back, saying it was the only really good tree on their property (the others being hackberries and similar weed trees). It was the nicest tree on this block of my street, and produced particularly luscious fruit.

Three tree service people in their 20s and early 30s did an efficent job with ladders and chainsaws, and within an hour nothing was left in the front yard but the stump 1 inch above ground.

I asked them how old they thought the tree was. One said, "30 years, maybe". I knew that was wrong before the neighbor on the other side spoke up, saying it was already a big tree when he was a small boy over 70 years ago. Just because someone knows about cutting down trees doesn't mean they have any other tree knowledge. I got some slight pleasure when one of the other tree-cutters spoke up saying "It's got a good age on it", as I don't recall ever hearing that particular turn of phrase spoken in casual conversation by anyone born since the Great Depression.

The tree may have been planted when my neighbor and my houses were built in the 1880s, or it might be a survivor from earlier generations, when this neighborhood commonly had more widely spaced houses with sizable yards with fruit trees. It was still in excellent health, and was brimming with fruit that wouldn't be ripe for another month when it was hauled away. I'm told that loquat trees are known to live 300 years.

It will be some years before the small young saplings in my back yard from seeds of the old tree will start producing fruit of their own.