Those useless trees

Arriving at the house, I was bewildered to see a huge Norway Spruce (Picea abies) in front of me. It is, as the name suggests, a native of Scandinavia - though it is also at home in the high mountains of central Europe. In such regions Spruce forests provide a unique habitat with associated animals, but single trees in a garden in south-west France add little value, casting a sterile shadow over the ground whilst taking light and water from the other trees.

Further inspection revealed another spruce sandwiched between an apple and plum tree...

..two on the edge of the potager meadow...

...one in the middle of a group of trees...

...and three by the small hay meadow.

I fear we have been victims of leftover Christmas Tree planting! The problem was soon solved with a chainsaw.

Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is an evergreen plant native to south-east Europe. It is planted widely here, as it grows strongly under a range of conditions and can be used as a 'screen' for houses in winter. (It is also famous for containing cyanide, and when I was a student of entomology we used to put crushed leaves into jars to kill insects for observation). Like the spruce, it creates a dark and sterile environment. We saw three tree-sized bushes pressed up against our decidous trees - two shown below. These have now also been cut down. The value they added as nectar for insects and berries for birds will be substituted in future by native plants, and we still have plenty more laurel around the edge of the property where their screening property has more value. 

We, and the other trees, can now breath more easily - and we have a cleaner slate on which to write our widllife story.