What's the worst (and best) thing about living in the Raleigh-Durham area? (Hillsborough: neighborhood, yard)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I'm only asking, it's not as hot & humid as SC, GA, AL, FL though is it? I live near Chicago now and I lived in central FL for 3 years - I was hoping the Triangle summers would be somewhere in between the two...gotta get away from Chicago winters, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I lived in south Florida for most of my life before we moved here 12 years ago, and I can tell you the Triangle summers are a breeze compared to Florida. Sure, it gets hot - but that's what A/C is for. At least you have six months of comparatively cool weather, instead of ten months of heat and a couple that are bearable. There is nothing as miserable as a south Florida summer.
I hate it when people buy a place here and whip out a chain saw before the moving van pulls out of the driveway. If someone hate trees that bad, just move on down the road to an open lot. I guess some people hate the thought of raking leaves or cleaning up a little mess they might make. Others just might have a bad case of dendrophobia
That baffles me. There are plenty of newer developments at a variety of price points where there are few to no trees. Why do the tree haters not move there???
That baffles me. There are plenty of newer developments at a variety of price points where there are few to no trees. Why do the tree haters not move there???
That puzzles me as well. I suppose these people missed their science classes that explained why trees play a huge role in a healthy environment. It's not as if the RDU/Chapel Hill/Cary area doesn't have areas that don't have trees. These areas are all over the place. Over the years, many fields were converted to developments. Go move to a former field, or an already-cleared plot of land. Everyone benefits. You have your treeless lot; the area still maintains its charm and the trees in other areas survive. Pretty simple.
The only reason we've removed established trees was if they were too close to the house and posed a serious danger in the event of severe weather, or if they were dying, and a serious trimming would not do the trick.
I'm a tree cutter (but not a tree hater)! We bought our house and had 13 pines cut out of the front yard. It shaded the entire lot and I wanted grass and flowers in front. I did not want a clear cut yard and I particularly like having the sides and natural area at the back wooded, which I could not get in one of the newer developments. Plus I like older houses and hate HOA's, so newer developments were not really a good fit for us. So...we moved in and the cut trees we wanted gone! I also ripped out every azalea I could get my hands on (hate those things) and dealt with the wrath of the old timers on the street shaking their heads every time I pulled one out of the ground!
Then there's the vegetable garden aspect. In Cary it is hard to find inexpensive housing and almost all of it is older, shaded neighborhoods. I love trees and shade, but I love growing veggies more. Ideally I would have a sunny patch for my veggies and wooded area in another part of the yard. But that means a pretty big yard.
I'm a tree cutter (but not a tree hater)! We bought our house and had 13 pines cut out of the front yard. It shaded the entire lot and I wanted grass and flowers in front. I did not want a clear cut yard and I particularly like having the sides and natural area at the back wooded, which I could not get in one of the newer developments. Plus I like older houses and hate HOA's, so newer developments were not really a good fit for us. So...we moved in and the cut trees we wanted gone! I also ripped out every azalea I could get my hands on (hate those things) and dealt with the wrath of the old timers on the street shaking their heads every time I pulled one out of the ground!
I don't object to the removal of tall, spindly pines if they're close to one's house. Those suckers are a mess. Hardwoods? Ugh. Hate to see folks cut those down.
I also ripped out every azalea I could get my hands on (hate those things) and dealt with the wrath of the old timers on the street shaking their heads every time I pulled one out of the ground!
So funny that you say that. I hate azaleas too and here in Wilmington you BETTER love your azaleas. I rent a house and I feel like I can't rip these things out - but they look awful 11.5 months out of the year. A tree service took out half of one by mistake; wish they took them all.
Anyway, that's Wilmington - when I first moved to Durham, the trees were a negative - I felt like they were closing in on me. I'd come from FL where you could see for miles and here I felt like I was in a pine maze. Took a while to get used to them.
I also ripped out every azalea I could get my hands on (hate those things) and dealt with the wrath of the old timers on the street shaking their heads every time I pulled one out of the ground!
That's kind of sad, especially if they were native species. My husband keeps saying he wants to rip out the azaleas in our backyard and I keep telling him good luck finding another native understory shrub that will survive in our wooded lot. For now they're staying until we see how they bloom. I would be really upset if it turned out we ripped out some native species. If they're standard commercial varieties he might be able to talk me into taking them out since I'm not a fan of those either.
I'm a tree cutter (but not a tree hater)! We bought our house and had 13 pines cut out of the front yard. It shaded the entire lot and I wanted grass and flowers in front. I did not want a clear cut yard and I particularly like having the sides and natural area at the back wooded, which I could not get in one of the newer developments. Plus I like older houses and hate HOA's, so newer developments were not really a good fit for us. So...we moved in and the cut trees we wanted gone! I also ripped out every azalea I could get my hands on (hate those things) and dealt with the wrath of the old timers on the street shaking their heads every time I pulled one out of the ground!
Removing pines in an individual yard can actually be a smart thing around here, since they are the most dangerous as far as falling in hurricanes or ice storms, due to their shallow roots. And, they grow very quickly, so if someone wanted to replenish the pines area, it only takes a few years. I suspect that the complaint is more about eradicating whole swaths of pine forest (and the wildlife living therein) to slap up yet another cookie-cutter subdivision with houses 5 feet apart, which will ironically then be named "Pine Grove" or "Deer Forest" or something else the polar opposite of what it is anymore.
I think the tree-cutting (on a small scale) that really bothers people are the old hardwoods (oaks, etc) that stood for many decades, being felled just because someone wants to put up a basketball goal or doesn't want to rake leaves. Most people love the green feel of this area and consider it a big PLUS. Anyone who doesn't can find any number of bleak, treeless cities in states like Colorado or Arizona, if that's what they want.
That's kind of sad, especially if they were native species. My husband keeps saying he wants to rip out the azaleas in our backyard and I keep telling him good luck finding another native understory shrub that will survive in our wooded lot. For now they're staying until we see how they bloom. I would be really upset if it turned out we ripped out some native species. If they're standard commercial varieties he might be able to talk me into taking them out since I'm not a fan of those either.
Sorry, I'll admit I'm an azalea hater! I don't mind so much if they are nestled way back in a natural area of the yard, but my entire front yard was covered in them when we moved in (like, there must have been at least 30 of them) and were the only "blooming" thing in the whole yard. Considering they only bloom 2 weeks out of the year and look like crap for pretty much the rest of the time, I really don't really like for them being the focal point of my landscaping.
But...you can pat me on the back because I did not KILL them, I "re-homed" them. I put them up for free on Craigslist and lots of people came out, dug them up and took them home for their own yard!
As for the trees, I do love most hardwoods, but I'm not a fan of oaks around my house either. They also have very shallow rootballs and are the first to go in a storm (way before pines unless the pines are dead) not to mention they drop huge branches, sometimes the size of small trees themselves if they aren't taken care of properly. I did cut one oak where the roots were tearing up our driveway and affecting even the foundation of the house. There is a another one I'd LOVE gone but it's actually on my neighbors property line (I offered to pay if they wanted it cut, but they refused). Too bad because a ginormous branch fell off last year and punched a hole in their roof and smashed their car. Branches with the diameter of pine trees fell off it all summer long when we had storms and destroyed all my tomato plants too!
But seriously, I still have a ton of trees all over the yard. I probably still have 50 or more pines, plus dogwoods, sorghum, tulip, popular, maples, birch and a few others.
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