COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUMPER CROP “I wish acorns could be sold. I would be a filthy rich millionaire. Unbelievable how many my 2 oak trees produced and they keep falling. this past weekend, I filled my black trash can 4x to dump in the back. There are still a lot more.” [robin varner, commenting on Headlines: Mall of the Mainland Discount; Houston Raining Acorns]
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Gardening
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INSTALLING THE SAGO PALM HOME SECURITY SYSTEM “But I guarantee that a burglar will bypass your house if you have the palms near windows. They do not want to get stuck anymore than you do. Granted, it will be more difficult to clean the windows, but I’ll take that any day.” [PYEWACKET2, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Against Law]
For almost 2 years after it caught fire in October 2008, the 2-story home at 803 Kipling St. in Audubon Place stood vacant on the property as a burnt skeleton. Now the recent purchaser of the lot that remained after the property was demolished has plans to turn the land into a community garden.
- 2010 Hewitt Dr. [HAR]
A second Swamplot reader sends us a pic of another Burger King sporting what appear to be recently hacked-up live oak trees — this one at the corner of Scott St. and Cleburne. That’s far away from any freeway feeder roads, but across the street from UH’s Robertson Stadium. How recently were these trees guillotined? The reader isn’t sure, but the cuts look kinda fresh, and Google Street View is ready with images from last June showing how the sidewalk-side residents looked with their limbs still bushy and intact.
Spot any further Burger King beheadings around town? Snap a photo or 2 and send them in!
- Previously on Swamplot: Mysterious Oak Beheadings at the Yale and 610 Burger King
Photos: Swamplot inbox
A graduate of the crape myrtle school of chainsaw insta-pruning appears to have gotten a little creative with the oak trees surrounding the Burger King at Yale and the 610 North feeder sometime over the last 2 weeks. The oak trunks are still standing tall, but all its broccoli-like heads have been knocked off. Is this the work of a rogue landscaper, or a concerted action meant to send a message to any other oaks that dare raise their leaves near power lines, feeder roads, or fast-food signage? “Its the most bizarre thing, and one can only presume it will get more odd appearing once they start to sprout out,” a Swamplot reader notes. “I know there are regulations to plant parking lot trees, but I guess there are none to make sure that they remain? There must be a story behind this odd act, but I can only drive by and drop my jaw each time I see it.”
More closeups of the oak hackery, and a “before” view, courtesy of Google Street View:
CRAPE MYRTLE MAIMING SEASON HAS BEGUN 
“I ventured out into the burbs this past weekend (Katy) and witnessed the unthinkable — crape murder!” reports a reader. And here’s a photo, sent in from the scene of the triple-massacre aftermath, near the intersection of Pintail and Spoonbill streets in Hunters Terrace. Just a little off the top, please. [Swamplot inbox] Photo: Swamplot inbox
Over the weekend, volunteers placed reclaimed clay tiles next to the I-45 overpass at the northern end of Downtown to create raised beds for a new city garden, Houston’s third. The garden is meant for employees of the city’s new permitting center at 1002 Washington — there’ll be one raised bed for each floor.
- How to Build a Raised Garden Bed: City of Houston Edition [East End Escapades]
- Houston Permitting Center Employee Garden (PDF) [Houston Permitting Center]
- Previously on Swamplot: Pods Appear on Downtown Building, Grab Solar Panels with Wrench and Garden Hose
Photo: Lauren H.
MISSOURI CITY GROWS ITS OWN TRAIL MIX 
Missouri City forester Paul Wierzbicki tells reporter Cory Stottlemeyer that he expects the Jujubes, Mexican plums, Mexican persimmons, mulberries, pomegranates, figs, pears, and kumquats he began planting along the Oyster Creek Trail last fall to survive through the year. The 70 fruit- and nut-bearing trees now growing along half of the Missouri City section of the trail between Mosley Park and FM 3345 were selected for their tolerance to local conditions, including drought and Gulf Coast pests. Planted in 7 separate groves and interspersed with signage bearing descriptions and the corporate logos of sponsors, they constitute the region’s first-ever edible arbor trail. By next fall, Wierzbicki hopes to have the city’s entire portion of the trail lined with tree bounty trailgoers can reach out and eat. [Fort Bend Sun] Photo: Missouri City
The original greenhouse in Memorial Park — birthplace of thousands of plants sent regularly to city properties around town — lasted from 1946 until 3 years ago, though it was in bad shape even before Hurricane Ike blew away the makeshift plastic put in place of some missing windows. The new greenhouse — designed by local landscape architecture firm Clark Condon Associates, opened officially late last week, and paid for in part with federal hurricane-recovery funds — measures 8,600 sq. ft. and includes a cistern and automated watering and shading systems. A separate headhouse was also renovated as part of the project, and a brand-new prefab restroom set up nearby.
- Houston gets a new greenhouse, 3 years after Ike destroyed original [Memorial Examiner]
- New City Greenhouse Bigger and Better Than Old One [KUHF News]
Photo: KUHF News
HOUSTON’S MORNING BUZZ WILL START AN HOUR LATER Among the changes included in the revised noise ordinance that city council approved today with only a single “no” vote: An extra leaf-blower-free hour in the morning. The go-ahead time for yard work using lawn mowers, weedwhackers, and other powered equipment in residential areas has been moved from 7 am to 8 am. The penalty for all noise violations has been doubled, from $500 to $1,000. [Rocks Off]
WHERE THE GRASS IS ALWAYS NEATER 
“I used to walk to school everyday and I used to pass by the home of the richest man in the area and he had a square block that was magnificently trimmed at all times and in the back of my mind subconsciously I considered a lawn like that as ‘success.’ So when I bought me a big house here in Houston the weeds were growing all around my trees and everything and i couldn’t get anybody to do it. Finally I found somebody that’d do it and he reached down into the grass and he got bit by a snake and I spent the rest of my day trying to save his life rather than get my yard done.” — dance instructor George Ballas, inventor of the Weed Eater, who passed away over the weekend at age 85. Ballas came up with the idea for his transformative product after watching spinning bristles clean his Cadillac at a car wash near Houston International (now Hobby) Airport. Until he sold the company to Emerson Electric, the company’s worldwide headquarters stood at 10515 Harwin. The company got a major boost from commercials shown during David Frost’s interviews with former president Richard Nixon in 1977. [Business Makers; obituary] Photo of Ballas’s West Houston lawn: Corky and Shirley Ballas
SUMMARY REPORT FROM THE RECENT URBAN GARDEN SUMMIT “There is a 2 acre plot of land beside the parking lot at the Houston Food Bank’s new headquarters on I-10 east and that organization is looking for someone to build a demonstration garden there. Meanwhile, Covenant Community Capital is assisting a group of chefs including Randy Evans from Haven who are looking for a spot for a cooperative restaurant garden. Last Organic Outpost and the Harris County AgriLife extension office are looking for ways to help both groups. One idea under consideration is to turn the Houston Food Bank lot into a composting facility — at least to get that project started. The search for a restaurant garden is focusing on vacant lots in the Fifth Ward.” [Texas Eats; previously on Swamplot]
Galveston County Sheriff’s deputies, La Marque and Texas City Police, and officials from the Texas DPS Narcotics unit gathered for a garden tour yesterday in the back building of the purported cabinet-making business of Gregory William Stanley, at the southeast corner of 5th St. and FM 519 in La Marque. Thanks to careful attention to air flow and insulation, Stanley had been able to keep law-enforcement officials off the scent of his 240-plant greenhouse for a while:
The pungent aroma of marijuana was evident only upon entering the metal building.
The building had an extra ridge vent to help push the marijuana smell through the roof, sheriff’s office Lt. Tommy Hansen said.
“It’s all insulated,†[Capt. Barry] Cook said. “Foam board on the walls, silver insulating materials on the ceiling, and ultraviolet lights to help these plants.â€
Oscillating fans still were blowing air through the rooms as authorities photographed the evidence.
“There’s a ventilation, heating and lighting system, and they’ve got fans moving the air to keep it cool and damp in here,†Cook said.
- 4 charged in marijuana raid [Galveston County Daily News]
Video: Galveston County Daily News
A reader writes:
There is an overgrown 12 foot wide city-owned “alley” behind my house in Riverside Terrace that due to weeds and trees is no longer navigable by anything larger than a “mini hydraulic excavator.” I know this because Centerpoint drove one back there when they put in my new gas meter in October.
My busy-body retired neighbor informs me that I am responsible for maintaining the alley by keeping the weeds and grass down, though when I look a few houses down in both directions from my house, I see a forest – and no one other than my neighbor complaining about it. So I quit mowing it 2 months ago, much to her chagrine. I’d like to treat it more like a green belt. Occasionally I’ll see a screech owl hunting back there during the late evening from its perch on my wooden fence. IMO the more trees, the better.
Am I really legally bound to mow back there? Mowing that small strip of grass would equate to another 2 pints of sweat lost, according to my experiences this past month.â€
Photo: Swamplot inbox
