We have once again been hit by a late summer storm, which has caused much despair to the landscape and an unfortunate palette of colour for us to live with through the autumn and winter.

I was in New Hampshire when the storm struck, admiring the autumnal colour change that is the norm for this time of year. However, Mother Nature was a little fickle in parts of the east coast, bringing late high summer temperatures, which slowed down the impact of colour by a couple of weeks.

This is, of course, neither the first nor the last time we will be hit by such storms, the question is, have we learnt from the past in order to preserve the future.

There has been much controversy in the press of late regarding the pruning of plant material in general around our Island roads. Two points immediately come to mind in such a situation; first and foremost is why are the trees, etc., being hacked back and in many cases so severely, and the second point is the poor placement of the material in the first place, and lack of or in many cases non-existent maintenance.

To this could also be added choice of material. We suffer the same pattern every year; most storms arrive late in summer, which invariably means that much lush growth has been developed on all our plant material, an ideal situation for storm damage.

This storm in my opinion `may' have had twisters in its body, as one very mature Ebony tree out of a row of six, was blown over in front of the Clock Tower building in Dockyard, and three Washington palms had their heads twisted off sic to eight feet from the crown. Other damage was caused by the severity and strength of the salt laden winds, as witnessed by the scorched earth effect.

All the above points lead to the direction of being the core issue as to why many of the problems occurred and will continue to occur. Let us look at choice of material as a suspect point. All fast growing material, especially those plants that grow during the summer months, have all summer to develop new growth, which is invariably, soft and luxuriant.

Such growth creates an umbrella effect with their heavily laden branches, which when hit by heavy winds are easily blown over, if the root system cannot anchor it in the ground; broken and torn limbs usually accompany such damage.

Therefore in exposed areas, it is wise to seek counsel on the preferred type of material for such a location. The hacking or pruning of plants in general, may not appear to be, but is, a science unto itself.

Knowing how a plant grows, its branch structure, root growth, flowering habit, wind hardiness etc., are all key factors, on determining location and more important how it is pruned, and why. Constant hacking produces lots of new growth, usually too much for the development of a well-structured branch system.

The regular occurrence of hacking back to the same point each time the plant is `trimmed', creates spur growth, with all the growth emanating from four to six inches from the cut area. Similarly, cutting large branches all back to the same demarcation line, (usually the boundary line) creates a new flush of growth, this is as I state earlier, especially so in the growing season, with the result that a `sail' effect is ripe for a battering from any storm.

In conjunction with this exercise, if one viewed the other side of the tree, it would be obvious that the symmetry is totally out of kilter, with the untouched side being much denser in habit. This configuration can also cause movement in strong winds, due to the uneven spread of the branch system, with the result that the tree could well topple over from the force of the prevailing wind.

As to why plants are planted so close to a boundary or road, is not really a mystery, but by the simple fact that the growth rate and habit of the plant is not understood. In fact, a perfect example of this was recently seen in Somerset, where an hibiscus hedge was planted approximately eighteen inches apart in the row and about twelve inches in from the edge of the road.

Needless to say this is a problem waiting to happen, as both dimensions are incorrect for the success of a good solid hedge that will grow in naturally. The other problem with such an exercise is the fact that as the hedge was certainly planted as a screen effect, the constant need to prune to keep in bounds will reduce the flowering habit of the hedge as well as creating a strong root system with which to develop a sound framework of branches.

Hibiscus are usually partially to completely leafless in the fall months, especially after a storm, thus the concept of creating a solid hedge is rendered useless, due to the deciduous habit of the plant. All plants have symmetry and large trees quite distinctive shapes; therefore, size and symmetry are important factors to take into consideration when locating the final planting spot.

The pruning of large mature trees is the job for a professional tree surgeon, who has the knowledge and understanding of what is required to reduce the head to a manageable size, or carry out corrective or replacement work. Maintenance is not a weekly or monthly haircut, reducing a flowering hedge or plant to a state of apoplectic misadventure; it is the ongoing programme of developing a healthy plant(s), by encouraging strong healthy growth.

Malcolm D. Griffiths