Shade Trees

Re "Plan to Make Ventura Boulevard a Stroller's Paradise Is Proposed," July 31. The other day, I was driving down Ventura Boulevard from Studio City to Tarzana and noticed the total lack of shade trees on a long stretch in Encino and Tarzana. There are plenty of palm trees, but those do little to provide shelter from the scorching sun. Since the San Fernando Valley burns in the heat for many months of the year, shade trees would go a long way toward making Ventura Boulevard more pedestrian-friendly.

When it comes to drought-tolerant, fast-growing shade trees, few are as useful as the ice cream bean tree, Inga edulis (and its 300-plus related species). Although it grows like a tree, the ice cream bean actually is a legume. It can grow 60 feet or longer, and after four years in the ground it starts putting out foot-long pods packed with lima bean-size seeds swaddled in an edible, sweet, cottony covering. "When we went hunting in [El] Salvador and we are thirsty, we eat it," said Manuel Cisneros, the agricultural project coordinator at the Growing Experience, an urban farm at the Carmelitos housing development in Long Beach.

For nearly 200 years, the plane trees have stood sentry over the Canal du Midi. Some rise ramrod-straight and proud over Europe's oldest man-made waterway. Others lean like creaky old men, forming an impenetrable canopy over the dappled, barely moving water below. Their shade protects travelers from the relentless Midi sun. Their roots hold up the canal's banks. Their hardy leaves sink to the bottom and stop the water from seeping into the soil. Perhaps just as important, they transform a utilitarian artery into a thing of natural beauty.

Re "Hug the shuttle, not the trees," Editorial, Sept. 6 I'm not a tree hugger, and I cheered when I learned a space shuttle was coming to Los Angeles, my home for 45 years. But anyone would recognize this editorial slant as classically Southern Californian. Obviously, L.A.'s appreciation is not for shade trees, as no one walks. And trees dare not break sidewalk concrete or drop leaves, flowers, sap or fronds. Those ficus trees, tried and convicted for becoming nuisances, were planted long ago in the wrong places and neglected by those who now promise an urban jungle in a few years.

QUESTION: I would love to have a beautiful shade tree in my yard, and I like Liquidambars, but I worry that too much shade would kill my lawn. Can you recommend any shade trees that will not hurt the lawn? ANSWER: It is difficult to maintain a decent lawn under many kinds of shade trees. Liquidambars don't work well, partially because of the shade, but mostly because of their invasive surface roots; also their stickery seed-balls become a nuisance in the winter. It's too bad.

A growing number of utilities in Southern California and across the country are turning to a decidedly low-tech way of pushing energy conservation: trees. Power customers in Anaheim and Riverside, and soon in Los Angeles, can get shade trees, meant to cool houses naturally, through utility programs that offer free trees or rebates. As California's summer heats up with an energy crisis hanging overhead, the number of requests for free shade trees in Anaheim was up 50% to 565 during May and June.

Taking a cue from Johnny Appleseed, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to review the increased use of trees in new parking lots as a way to cut down on pollution. At the board's direction, the Regional Planning Commission will study the feasibility of requiring shade trees in public and private parking lots. The commission must return its recommendations to the board within 90 days. A study by the U.S.

When it comes to drought-tolerant, fast-growing shade trees, few are as useful as the ice cream bean tree, Inga edulis (and its 300-plus related species). Although it grows like a tree, the ice cream bean actually is a legume. It can grow 60 feet or longer, and after four years in the ground it starts putting out foot-long pods packed with lima bean-size seeds swaddled in an edible, sweet, cottony covering. "When we went hunting in [El] Salvador and we are thirsty, we eat it," said Manuel Cisneros, the agricultural project coordinator at the Growing Experience, an urban farm at the Carmelitos housing development in Long Beach.

Re "In Pursuit of Shelter," June 27: Dennis Crabb, the Topanga Canyon plumber, is a Renaissance man. He is the Frank Lloyd Wright of the disenfranchised. He deserves a prize and grant money. I want one of his "Crabb Shell" dwellings. In fact, I want half a dozen linked together and under some shade trees in a safe corner of the universe. I hope something good comes of Crabb's wonderful idea. PHILLIP SHELTON Redondo Beach

Olivewood Elementary School will observe Arbor Day on Friday by planting an olive tree, singing songs and offering tours of the shade trees on campus at 23391 Dune Mear. Activities will begin at 2 p.m. in the quad area, where students will plant and dedicate an olive tree. Student council members then will lead tours to point out the school's 32 mature trees, including 16 species. Last spring, each tree was affixed with an engraved label identifying its common name.

Re "A shuttle trip's ground control," Sept. 4 As I read the article detailing the destruction of 400 beautiful shade trees in South Los Angeles so that the space shuttle Endeavour will be able to make its way from LAX to the California Science Center, I wept - for the trees, for the residents of the affected neighborhoods and for the shortsighted city officials who approved this fiasco. But mostly I wept for the collective heartlessness I see on display. Not one mature tree being destroyed was worth having the shuttle anywhere in this city.

For nearly 200 years, the plane trees have stood sentry over the Canal du Midi. Some rise ramrod-straight and proud over Europe's oldest man-made waterway. Others lean like creaky old men, forming an impenetrable canopy over the dappled, barely moving water below. Their shade protects travelers from the relentless Midi sun. Their roots hold up the canal's banks. Their hardy leaves sink to the bottom and stop the water from seeping into the soil. Perhaps just as important, they transform a utilitarian artery into a thing of natural beauty.

One neighbor loves his solar panels, which have cut his energy bill and are helping to combat global warming. The other neighbor adores his trees, which boost his property value and capture greenhouse gases. So what happens when one guy's greenery casts a shadow on the other fellow's solar array? It's an environmental battle that's heating up.

To escape her stifling apartment, to unwind from her monotonous job, to tune out the squalor, noise and crime all around her, Josefina Filmont has long taken refuge in the cool, green embrace of the old mahogany trees skirting the fortress built here by the son of Christopher Columbus.

Largemouth bass Lake Casitas, Ventura County * A faded photo of a 21-pound, 3 1/2 -ounce largemouth bass -- the fifth biggest ever caught in the world -- is pinned outside the Lake Casitas bait shop. A quarter century after the fish was wrestled from the lake, anglers prowl these forest-green waters, convinced that a bigger bass lurks beneath the surface. This spring, bass cruise in shallow water amid brush that sprouted in recent years but flooded after this year's rainstorms.

Marina Simes' view was that the family across the street illegally lopped off the tops of her 27 trees so they could have a panoramic view of the ocean beyond her house. The jury's view was that the tree trimming was an act of kindness to help an old woman whose Palos Verdes Peninsula home was overgrown by aging pepper trees, pines and other tree species that were a fire hazard.

Plans to convert the First Interstate Bank into a restaurant/micro-brewery at the Laguna Hills Mall have been approved by the city Planning Department. Mall officials had objected to several conditions set by the city for the conversion, including the planting of 52 shade trees and the addition of 106 parking spaces. In a compromise, the city reduced the requirement to 44 trees and agreed to fewer new parking places. The Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. is expected to open the restaurant in October.

Planting trees around a new home is easy; placing them in the right spots so their beauty and shade can be enjoyed for years to come is the part that needs some careful thought, reports Home Plan Ideas magazine. Each tree variety has its own spacing and growth requirements. In general, if a tree grows 20 feet high or more, plant it at least 15 feet from any structure to keep its roots away from the foundation. Never plant such a tree near utility lines or under a roof overhang.

Wills CANYON stands out as a slice of the Ojai Valley as it may have looked about 175 years ago. In Thousand Oaks, you see a lot of oaks but no understory, the plants growing close to the ground at the base of shade trees. This untouched canyon has coastal live oaks and all the understory -- snowberries, Humboldt lilies, hummingbird sage -- intact. As manager of the Ventura River Preserve, which opened last December, I often hike to the oak savanna along this six-mile loop.

I watched a short television film the other day about a man's return to his old hometown, which was a place of white picket fences, shade trees, carefully tended gardens, open fields and a bandstand in the park. There was a church with a steeple, a grocery store, a movie theater and a feeling that time had stood still. I can't tell you the name of the film, but it was made with such style and feeling that you could almost catch the faint aroma of a freshly mowed lawn.