Another specimen over in the Ledgewood Condominiums complex off Washington Avenue is making a nuisance of itself, shedding snow in a unit’s driveway. Get it out of here, says the condo association.
In North Deering, the Egan family voted 3-1 to reduce their yard-cleaning chores by getting rid of the blue spruce that towers over the house and storage shed on Abby Road.
These trees and a few others are contending for the honor of becoming this year’s official City of Portland Christmas tree, to be festooned with lights and displayed in Monument Square.
Jeff Tarling, the city arborist, says he hopes to select a tree by Friday. By tradition, the tree is put up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving week, or Nov. 14 this year.
Tarling has had a tougher time than usual finding a tree this fall. The Patriot’s Day storm wrecked a lot of blue spruce, he says, so the city used the media to solicit nominations from a wider area.
Tarling now has a list of about 25 trees to consider, including one as far away as Casco. Utility is the bottom line for choosing a tree, Tarling says. The city has to rent a crane and a big flatbed truck to move the tree, and the job has be done in one day to keep costs down. So he looks for trees that are close to the street, away from overhead wires, and easy to cut down and get onto a truck.
But aesthetics play a role, too. “I usually hear from my mother if the tree is a nice one or not,” Tarling says.
Folks who offered their blue spruces to the city often see the trees as a nuisance, like a house guest who has overstayed his welcome.
Joyce and Alston Wood dug up a blue spruce in Danforth, their hometown in Washington County, some 40 years ago and planted it in their yard on Warwick Street.
“It’s on the front lawn and it’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” Joyce Wood says. “We must thought it might be a good thing to do to give it to the city.”
Brian Hawkins has a potential Monument Square spruce on his property line on Deblois Street. The tree stands 80 feet tall and was damaged when another tree toppled onto it during the Patriot’s Day storm.
“Now it’s like the Leaning Tower of Pisa,” he says. “We’re going to have to take it down one way or the other.”
The only person who may be reluctant to see his tree go is Frank Egan, the Abby Lane resident who was outvoted 3-1 by his wife and sons to offer their blue spruce up for sacrifice.
“I was wanting to keep it because it’s a nice tree,” he says. “But I’m not the one who cleans around it.”
Staff Writer Dieter Bradbury can be contacted at 791-6329 or at: dbradbury@pressherald.com
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