Autumn in New York

 

 

There are clues that fall is here.  More stouts on the menu, pumpkin soup, boots instead of flip flops, and of course, it’s COLD!

And let’s not forget, New York City fail.

Glowing Gingko

Glowing Gingko (Photo credit: Puzzler4879)

Gingkos recognize that it’s fall earlier than the rest of the city trees.  Their leaves turn a beautiful shade of yellow, and the female trees drop juicy seed pods all over the sidewalk. If you aren’t familiar with gingko trees, you might not recognize the why I refer to them as a fail. They stink. I didn’t know what type of tree this was until I was thirty, because they’re referred to as vomit trees.  Yes, the beautiful “fruit” that drops continually from these majestic glowing leaves, splattering the sidewalks in competition with pigeon shit,  smells just like vomit.

See the tourists.

See the tourists head towards the pretty trees, cameras at the ready.

See the tourists look around, turning green, inching and then running away from the smell they can’t locate the origin of.

See the New York women.

See the New York women in their fabulous new boots, legs still bare.

See the New York women hopscotch around the smashed gingko pods more carefully than they skirt a subway grate.

See the problem?

Why do we have these trees all over the city? I don’t know.  I always figured whoever planned and implemented the planting of these trees was unfamiliar with this phenomenon, and now the politics of chopping down so many trees would cause too much of an uproar.  Except a couple of years ago, I saw the parks department plant more of these grotesque tricks two blocks away from me. Why, NY?

Big Senile Dog is a true chow hound. Completely motivated by food, he will eat anything that is food, could be food, smells like food, etc.  Several years ago he ate part of the bottom of a broken bottle on the street. Cause, yanno, it once held food. Even he won’t eat the gingko fruit.

Do you have these monstrosities in your area?

In case you’re thinking we could reap the benefits of the beauty and avoid the stench by planting the male trees, think again. The male trees can morph into female. Like clownfish.  Cute little Nemo is quite the sight when he decides he doesn’t want to be Nemette’s bitch anymore, and he grows larger, turns female, and kills her.

 

20 comments

  2. I have never heard of these trees and am grateful we don’t have them here…still the question begs to be asked…do they serve some purpose? Like do mosquitoes drop dead from the stench? Do they keep something in balance?

    In the meantime, please keep your trees contained! 😉

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  3. Ewww. And again I say ewww.

    Ok I just had to google this tree to see why on earth they’d want to pollute your city with so many of them. Apparently there are a few reasons why they’d be a rather city friendly tree: they are extremely hardy, and actually thrive in areas of soil erosion, disturbed dirt, and don’t care if their roots are exposed and so on. (Some in Japan even survived the bombings during WWII when all other surrounding vegetation was destroyed.) They are also disease and insect resistant.

    So in other words, once the city pays once to plant these disgusting things, they never have to pay for another tree in its place. So they oughtta pay sanitation or the parks dept for someone to come sweep up the seed pods in the most heavily traveled areas. Heh. *yeah righhhhhht*

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    1. OK, so we have a “why.” As a lifelong NYer, let me say–not good enough, blech! LOL, it’s NY, they’re all heavily traveled areas 😉 And our sanitation workers would spend 3 weeks doing nothing but spraying them away (they’re too sticky to sweep, they have to be hosed). I’ve seen store owners stand and spray. By the time they’ve turned away, ten more have fallen. Ewww is right!

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  4. The worst we have for stink here is skunks and that is relatively easy to avoid, unless you have a very unfortunate dog. I imagine if she ever had to brave rural life, if it were to happen to anyone, it would be Little Dumb Dog. 😉

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  6. Gingko trees in Indiana are uncommon, but they’re around if you pay attention. Thanks to what little high-school biology I can still remember, they’re one of the few trees whose leaves I recognize on sight. Dunno why my brain chose to retain that.

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