this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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Public trees already have a maintenance schedule and budget, public fruit trees don't need to be about filling hungry people, they're just as much about finding small moments of joy in your community.
Also trees that bear fruit usually don't produce as much pollen in spring so it would cut down on hayfever, they do drop more seed which can be messier if planted along sidewalks. That's the main reason decorative public trees are often male, 40 years ago civic planners decided pollen was easier to deal with than seed drop.
I think whoever put the trees in my yard felt the same way.
Never see any acorns or pinecones. Sometimes a maple seedpod floats it's way into my yard.
But our (silver and white) cars turn fluorescent green with tree spooge if we don't rinse them off daily in the spring.
Well, screw those people! In both nostrils!
Unfortunately, fruiting trees take a lot more maintenance just to keep alive, even moreso if you want them to produce anything worth eating.
I have two plum trees in my front yard that I planted about 5 years ago and they take about as much work to maintain as a small garden patch. Modern fruit trees aren't really natural, they've been bred over time to produce more and more fruit. With so much of its energy going to produce fruit, it leaves them more susceptible to disease and especially pests.
If you like gardening it's a great little hobby, but I couldn't imagine the amount of work it would take to maintain hundreds or even dozens of public trees. Plus, I'm not so sure how comfortable I would be eating the fruits of trees absorbing all the petrochemicals from road wash.