Trees

I always have a lot to say about the landscaping of wherever I'm living. I hated the way BYU's landscaping crew would rip out the beautiful summer gardens in mid-September only to replace them with rows of pansies until May when the tulips FINALLY came up. That's more than 8 months of pansies, and when they're in rows, they're NOT THAT CUTE. And then when we lived in White Rock, everyone's overgrown bushes, low-growing trees, and generally unkempt yards drove me to taking gardening clippers with me on walks. Chances are, if your sidewalk was covered with branches and I EVER walked past, you'd probably find a pile of branches tossed out of the way somewhere. 

It's because I care.

So Shenyang has been interesting. There's not a lot of green anywhere. Even the park is more pavement and dirt than actual greenery. And recently, even where there WERE trees lining the streets, many of them got hacked down and dug out. 

And now they've been replaced:

This tree may be thick enough to be 5-10 years old, but it's brand new to this spot. These teepee structures are all over town, indicating which trees have just been planted this year. Last spring I ripped a skirt on one as I walked by. An old man laughed at me. I'm obviously not over it yet.

It must be some sort of fertilizer, but I think it's weird to have bottles sticking out of your tree trunk. 

And if bottles of fertilizer aren't enough, they also hang IV drip bags to fertilize the tree.

I still think watering the trees more often would help probably more than these chemicals... but I guess this is how they do it in China. And 1.3 billion people can't be wrong, right?