We live next door to a guy who will stop me on my way to the mailbox to tell me that my two perfectly healthy Ponderosa pines should be cut to the quick so as to fit into his notion of "Fire Safety." He cut down three huge pines on his property, and they were all diseased, probably from all the pesticides he uses.

Then he made two of those trees into benches, so there are these totally dried out "benches" that are about four feet in diameter, with seating cut into them, and about fifteen feet long. If dried out lumber like that isn't a fire danger I don't know what is.

You and I share the cedar thing-ee two. We have one in our side yard, and one in our back yard. They are something the birds like very much. I think mine are only about 40 feet high right now, though. They are both such beautiful trees.

But, then I saw that you live in Florida. The only difference is that, in my neighborhood, they don't just take out the pines. Some of them take out the oaks, too. Then they put in a damn lawn. I have several slash pines on my small property, as well as Southern red oaks, water oaks, and a nice magnolia tree. They make so much shade in the back yard, that no grass will grow there. My back yard is all pine needles, as is the side yard on one side. And, I am sure my cooling bill is lower than all those people who are cutting down their trees.

and, they think it will be less maintenance. But trees with extensive and/or deep root systems fare better in hurricanes than palms, which have tiny root systems. Although palms have a tendency to bend, not break, they are also easily uprooted. I have very little grass that I absolutely refuse to water or fertilize. I call the back yard 'the Mojave.' Your yard sound like it's right up my alley. I had a huge (messy) silk oak in the back when we bought this house 25+ years ago but it was sick and we had to have it taken out. We replaced it with a water oak which survives but isn't thriving, even after eighteen-twenty years. They have a tendency, I've been told, to rot from within. But it stays because the squirrels and birds like it. Someday, my yard might be their only nearby habitat and refuge. BTW, my yard is less than 10,000 sq. ft.

Not as rapidly as pines, anyway. The water oaks in my yard are in a spot where the soil is like concrete. Yet, they're doing just fine, but they haven't really grown tremendously in the 12 years I've lived here. But, neither have the red oaks. You are in the southernmost end of their range, so the growing conditions are likely not optimal for them. And, yes, they do rot from within, as lots of oaks do. If it's a big enough cavity, and has an opening to the outside, there is a possibility certain species of bats might roost in them. And that's a good thing.

We have one of those types in my neighborhood. They took out all of the trees and put in a lawn and an above-ground pool. They planted all sorts of tropical-looking plants, and I believe a a palmetto tree. This was a couple of years ago. They have to replace half of the plants every year, because the winter kills them. To each his own, I guess. I just hate it when people take out the native vegetation and put in non-native plants.

It felt like murder to me.

before this country was settled when a squirrel starting out on the eastern shores could travel to the Mississippi without ever setting foot on the ground, or so I read in a book on trees that I had. That's how dense the forests were.

I wish I could have seen it. I love trees.

Cutting down a tree for no reason is, IMO, a crime. What is this penchant people have for getting rid of the very thing that modifies the climate and clears out large quantities of carbon dioxide from the air? Often, when the people in the city are suffering in stifling hot temperatures, we are five to ten degrees cooler.

One example of tree murder which never made sense to me was when we sold our former home to people who had really wanted a brand new home, but settled for ours. The yard was full of trees...conifers, shade trees, fruit trees, etc.

The new owners had ALL of them cut down. AND...they covered the beautiful wood siding with crappy-ass yellow vinyl siding. To make it look like a home that had just been built in some kind of cheap development.

I cried.