Trees

Actor Nick Nolte has put a Malibu compound up for sale that has seen a galaxy of stars come through its arched entryway. Besides Nolte, other notables to have owned the house include comedian Tommy Chong, Don Felder of the Eagles and music producer David Foster. Priced at $8.25 million and set in the Bonsall Canyon area, the two-acre retreat is covered with sycamore and pine trees. The main house, built in 1963, features 19-foot vaulted ceilings, skylights, six stone-and-carved-wood fireplaces, marble floors and mahogany French doors.

Périgord, France, many years ago: I sit at the oilcloth-covered table, watching the bee climb in and out of the jam jar as I listen to its buzz. The sun is a shock of gold outside the window. The cicadas keep time, rubbing their wiry legs together, spinning out the afternoon. It is hot at the table, claustrophic inside the cottage. I look longingly at the shade spread out beneath the cherry tree. The bee isn't in any hurry. He somehow knows he has all the time in the world, that the 78-year-old woman who lives in the cottage can't see him. She is blind.

The city is temporarily barred from removing 54 ficus trees from downtown after an appellate court Friday halted an $8-million beautification project. A restraining order from October will remain in effect, protecting the trees along 2nd and 4th streets. The city planned to relocate 31 trees and destroy 23, replacing them with young ginkgo trees. The environmental activist group Treesavers sued the city last year, more than six months after the City Council passed the streetscape plan in October 2005.

"Family Tree" (HBO, premieres Sunday). Christopher Guest has made you a TV series. Thank him. The director of "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show" and one of the forces behind and in "This Is Spinal Tap" -- in which he was Nigel Tufnel, whose amplifier went to 11 and whose guitar you were not to touch or even to look at -- Guest has been an architect of modern comedy, from the improvised dialogue that marks his films to the documentary style in...

The trees loom five stories over the quiet residential street, their thick, interlocking branches forming a sweeping canopy over handsome, custom houses, their trunk bases as wide as SUVs and their tangled surface roots as thick as fire hoses. So unexpected and exotic that they attract horticultural tourists, the Moreton Bay fig trees (Ficus macrophylla) of La Mesa Drive in Santa Monica are a triumph of urban adaptation. They were planted under the mistaken assumption they were magnolias.

The impressive pau d'arco tree of the Central and South American rain forests grows to well over 100 feet tall, with a trunk that can reach 6 feet wide. Known by the scientific names Tabebuia avellanedae and Tabebuia impetiginosa, it was named pau d'arco, or bow stick, by Portuguese colonists centuries ago in Brazil. The Inca used the bark to make healing tonics, and natives of the Brazilian rainforest have used the hardwood to make boats and weapons.

The 2010 Christmas Holiday Tree Train will shuttle families in search of tannenbaums both tall and full to the Christmas tree farm in order to pick out a perfect specimen. The one and only St. Nick will be on board to greet kids of all ages. Fillmore & Western Railway Co., 364 Main St., Fillmore. Sat. and Sun. through Dec. 12. 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Adults $24, seniors $22, children 4-12 $14, children 2-3 $10. (805) 524-2546. http://www.fwry.com .

Several weeks into December last year, my parents suggested I might like a Kindle for Christmas. I was sitting in my room at school, and my eyes darted to the bookshelf on my left. From the silence on the line they could tell I wasn't enthusiastic; I muttered something about not needing another gadget, mostly because I couldn't find a way to shape my reluctance into words. The conversation was tactfully forgotten, and Christmas morning, as my grandmother happily unwrapped a Kindle, I found a Jonathan Franzen novel and a new pair of Ugg boots under the tree.

There are farmed trees, there are fake trees and then there are living trees, those small pines and firs that are bought in pots and later planted. But this year, L.A. has another option: rental trees. Living Christmas Co. in Torrance is offering potted 2- to 7-foot-tall Christmas trees that are delivered and later picked up by a biodiesel truck. "For a lot of people, Christmas begins as soon as the tree shows up. It's awesome -- all joy," company founder Scott Martin said. But afterward, when the browning tree is lying by the curb?

Mistletoe may symbolize love and prompt a kiss this time of year, but what if it's killing your trees? Nancy Miller of Canyon Country wrote to the SoCal Garden Clinic about her problem: Ten years ago we planted two elms from 36-inch boxes. About five years ago, after the leaves fell, we could see mistletoe sprouting in spots. Online resources said not to pull them out. Instead, we sprayed a product, Florel, that inhibits flowering and has stickiness to stay on the leaves. That worked for that year.

HAWAII Movie Filmmaker Catherine Bauknight will present "Hawaii: A Voice for Sovereignty," a documentary that raises awareness of issues that threaten the ancient and environmentally sustainable culture of native Hawaiians. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. TRAVEL Jill Swaim will offer a look at Road Scholar and its lifelong learning and travel adventure groups. When, where: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Westwood Branch Library, 1246 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles.

AFRICA Slide show Dave Garfinkle will show slides of his trip in June to northern and southern Africa, including Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. BACKPACKING Workshop Glen Van Peski will take you through the steps on how to pack lighter so you can do more. When, where: 7 p.m. Friday at the Adventure 16 store, 11161 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.

Traditionally, working folk dreamed of retiring to California to grow citrus, or more recently wine grapes, but these days the second career crop of choice appears to be artisanal olive oil. Fresh, local oil is all the rage; universities and industry groups help guide aspiring growers, and once their groves start bearing, many sell at farmers markets, where they earn premium prices and enjoy schmoozing with shoppers. Mark Mooring of Buon Gusto Farms followed an unusual version of this path, from starting the Los Angeles Police Department K-9 Platoon to growing olives in Ventura, where he produces richly flavored, award-winning oils.

A man wielding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat was shot and killed by police on Thursday in San Fernando, authorities said. Officers from the San Fernando Police Department came to the 900 block of Truman Street early Thursday morning "regarding a possible battery assault call for service," according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is assisting in the investigation. When the officers arrived about 5:40 a.m., authorities said the suspect attacked at least one of them with a large tree branch.

The Children's Tree of Life in Santa Monica's Palisades Park got off to a rough start after it was planted 30 years ago. In its first years of life just north of the Santa Monica Pier, it was twice destroyed by vandals and once accidentally hit by a city maintenance vehicle. The fourth New Zealand Christmas Tree to be planted in front of the small plaque now stands tall and strong. This week, on Earth Day, people gathered around it to drum and sing and commune. The event  was organized by activist Jerry Rubin, who married his wife, Marissa, in June 1983.

It's hard to be a tree in the city, even one planted for peace. Three times the Children's Tree of Life has been destroyed - twice by vandals, once by a city vehicle that accidentally backed into it. Three times, through replanting, it has been resuscitated. Now a fourth New Zealand Christmas tree has been allowed to grow into young adulthood, standing strong and tall in front of its small plaque. Every day in Palisades Park, people walk by and bike by and run by its home just east of the cannon, just north of the Santa Monica Pier.

The mysterious felling of roughly two dozen trees near city billboards has provoked finger pointing between state transportation officials and an advertising firm, and added fuel to a heated debate involving outdoor advertising in Los Angeles. Vandals apparently used chain saws to cut back the trees, which had been planted along the 10 and 405 freeways under a California Department of Transportation landscaping initiative.

In the March 4 edition, the "Gardener's Checklist" item indicated that trees can be used as a "noise barrier." I don't know why the California Assn. of Nurserymen still insists that this is so. This theory has been discredited for some time now. Trees or other vegetation are ineffective in reducing noise to any degree. JOHN SWEETSER Bakersfield

Nearly seven years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a program to plant 1 million trees. Since then, the city has planted more than 400,000 trees - in fact, 407,000 and counting. So is the program a success or a failure? As Villaraigosa prepares to leave office, should we be thrilled to have 400,000 trees we otherwise wouldn't have had, or should we be disappointed that his campaign promise has gone less than half fulfilled? And here's another question: Should we care?

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.