You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Zippered pockets on jackets or pants that open/close from top down. It does nothing to secure the contents unless the zipper is 100% closed. Whereas with bottom up any degree of zipped will help keep stuff in. If you have it half open you can get your hand in/unzip with one motion. Unzipping from the bottom sometimes needs two hands.

I can't think of any benefit to top-down (maybe it's slightly easier to close? but one of opening/closing will be a little easier than the other either way...) - what am I missing here?

Had a jacket like this years ago. Comfy jacket but those zippers were a deal breaker for sure.
To add to the “proper” zipper orientation are those Zips that magically open merely by gravity. Not just pant zippers

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Man, trees are beautiful, provide us with shade, and clean air, and habitats for animals, and pretty much keep our urban environment from looking and feeling like a miserable hell hole. Bit of leaves and sticks is a small price to pay for experiencing the miracle of Mother Nature.

man, horrible life! how dare it exist and take up space!
-(1st world) humans

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

man, horrible life! how dare it exist and take up space!
-(1st world) humans

JFC, do you even know anything about poplars? Their roots are really shallow, too, so they tear up sidewalks and fences. They drop staining acidic #### all over cars and anything else under them. Their branches love to break off in wind or early snowfalls. They don't plant them anymore because they totally suck. It's reasonable to be annoyed by them.

It's not a first world problem; it's a legit gear grinder.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Sliver

JFC, do you even know anything about poplars? Their roots are really shallow, too, so they tear up sidewalks and fences. They drop staining acidic #### all over cars and anything else under them. Their branches love to break off in wind or early snowfalls. They don't plant them anymore because they totally suck. It's reasonable to be annoyed by them.

It's not a first world problem; it's a legit gear grinder.

yup . got loads of them . you trim when needed and collect the branches when they fall . just a part of having them . it's what you sign up for when you co habitate a properly with large trees

they also give me privacy and that makes the minor hassle of tending to them worth it . if you are the non yardwork / maintenance type then move into one of those new properties where you have 50 square feet of rolled out sod over a barren pad

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by peter12

Just to be clear, your suburban exfil is not an urban environment. Carry on.

Just to be clear, you have no idea where he lives or the condition of his property. You may be surprised to learn you are wrong about everything in your post.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

All I'll say is, the one big downside of getting artificial grass installed in my back yard so far is how much more difficult it is to clean up the leaves. You basically have to use a push broom to get as many of them as you can via piles into a green waste bag, and then do the balance painstakingly by hand. No leaf blowers or vacuums or rakes permitted. Makes it a much slower job... fortunately my yard is pretty tiny.

[Swift]

And besides, compared to a forest or a field, a suburban exfil is very much part of the urban environment.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

yup . got loads of them . you trim when needed and collect the branches when they fall . just a part of having them . it's what you sign up for when you co habitate a properly with large trees

they also give me privacy and that makes the minor hassle of tending to them worth it . if you are the non yardwork / maintenance type then move into one of those new properties where you have 50 square feet of rolled out sod over a barren pad

Meh, they're more for people who don't have a clue about landscaping and the best trees for their needs. Nobody who knows anything about anything would have planted a poplar in the last 25 years. If you have poplars still it would be because they were planted in the 70s or 80s.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

All I'll say is, the one big downside of getting artificial grass installed in my back yard so far is how much more difficult it is to clean up the leaves. You basically have to use a push broom to get as many of them as you can via piles into a green waste bag, and then do the balance painstakingly by hand. No leaf blowers or vacuums or rakes permitted. Makes it a much slower job... fortunately my yard is pretty tiny.

I use a blower on mine. I know they say not to, but with medium power you won't blown any of the sand out. A plastic rake is fine, too (in my experience).

[btimbit]

I like trees. I have several big trees. None are poplars, because I don't hate myself

[Roughneck]

Poplars are indeed annoying, but they're also one of the few trees that's naturally resilient in our climate, and also fast growing in our climate. The shallow rooting, easily break-offable limbs have been survival features in a high wind, shallow topsoil landscape.

Their weed-like resiliency to climate and pests is why they've even thrived where planted and see some care. Some massive poplars in some old neighborhoods, bigger and much longer-lived than a typical poplar.

The tower poplar has been an extremely popular tree to be planted in newer neighborhoods, particularly with the smaller suburban lots. Small footprint and quick growth to a lot with not much surface area for trees helps areas get a bit of foliage as the other trees catch up.

Poplars have some very annoying habits, but are an important part of maintaining strong canopy coverage in a landscape trees don't like to be. Maple trees don't have much for redeemable qualities after you have to deal with all those samaras, but it's still nice to have some of them. Age and species diversity are vital to avoiding being devastated by a single pest (like the emerald ash borer laying waste to so many trees in the Great Lakes region).

Worth a dive into the city's tree map to see how planting habits have evolved over the years. Suburban communities with all the boulevards have definitely seen a huge push of elm and ash plantings, but does leave them susceptible to some bleakness in the future. Other areas you can see much more erratic seeming plantings along streets (same reliance on elm and ash, but with a bit more diversity beyond the typical schubert cherry and crabapple tree buffers.


https://maps.calgary.ca/TreeSchedule/




When the bugs and disease and climate change wipes out everything else, you'll all be glad for the poplars that remain!

[CroFlames]

I wish Calgary would turn the boring Stoney Trail landscape into a forest.

We can be the next clickbait title on Reddit: You won't believe which city just planted 1 BILLION TREES!

[Shazam]

Tower poplars are not very popular. You are confusing them with Swedish Columnar Aspens, which are very popular.

Tower poplars have a leaf with a silver underside and detents along the edge.

The Northwest Poplar cultivar is very well behaved.

Calgary is one of the last places in NA where elms can be planted. Ash do just fine here, not really my favourite tree as they leaf out late and drop early. Willows do great here and are native.

Disease is overrated. Bronze leaf disease was supposed to eradicate aspens and poplars a few years ago, well they seem to still be around. Fireblight is back but it's nothing compared to the fireblight endemic of the 90s.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I wish Calgary would turn the boring Stoney Trail landscape into a forest.

We can be the next clickbait title on Reddit: You won't believe which city just planted 1 BILLION TREES!

This actually does grind my gears. Calgary simply does not plant enough shrubs and trees, especially in medians.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Poplars are indeed annoying, but they're also one of the few trees that's naturally resilient in our climate, and also fast growing in our climate. The shallow rooting, easily break-offable limbs have been survival features in a high wind, shallow topsoil landscape.

Their weed-like resiliency to climate and pests is why they've even thrived where planted and see some care. Some massive poplars in some old neighborhoods, bigger and much longer-lived than a typical poplar.

The tower poplar has been an extremely popular tree to be planted in newer neighborhoods, particularly with the smaller suburban lots. Small footprint and quick growth to a lot with not much surface area for trees helps areas get a bit of foliage as the other trees catch up.

Poplars have some very annoying habits, but are an important part of maintaining strong canopy coverage in a landscape trees don't like to be. Maple trees don't have much for redeemable qualities after you have to deal with all those samaras, but it's still nice to have some of them. Age and species diversity are vital to avoiding being devastated by a single pest (like the emerald ash borer laying waste to so many trees in the Great Lakes region).

Worth a dive into the city's tree map to see how planting habits have evolved over the years. Suburban communities with all the boulevards have definitely seen a huge push of elm and ash plantings, but does leave them susceptible to some bleakness in the future. Other areas you can see much more erratic seeming plantings along streets (same reliance on elm and ash, but with a bit more diversity beyond the typical schubert cherry and crabapple tree buffers.


https://maps.calgary.ca/TreeSchedule/




When the bugs and disease and climate change wipes out everything else, you'll all be glad for the poplars that remain!

"popular poplars" sounds like a fun band name, but might drive away those tree discriminators

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Meh, they're more for people who don't have a clue about landscaping and the best trees for their needs. Nobody who knows anything about anything would have planted a poplar in the last 25 years. If you have poplars still it would be because they were planted in the 70s or 80s.

they were 80s poplars . if I was planting on a new property I admittedly would go with something more interesting and diverse

[Nufy]

I have 3 poplars in my back yard currently...

All three are about 60 feet high now...I love em...

I do have to deal with the shoot spreading across my back yard but I am ok with it for now...

I figured that and ants are part of normal home ownership in Calgary.

[Swift]

Originally Posted by Shazam

This actually does grind my gears. Calgary simply does not plant enough shrubs and trees, especially in medians.

I've always wondered why that's not done either. There's so much empty green space in the loops of clover interchanges that just goes completely unutilised. I've wondered if it's a wildlife thing, they don't want to encourage deer potentially hanging out near roads or something along those lines?

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Swift

I've always wondered why that's not done either. There's so much empty green space in the loops of clover interchanges that just goes completely unutilised. I've wondered if it's a wildlife thing, they don't want to encourage deer potentially hanging out near roads or something along those lines?

Most likely so as not to block traffic visibility.

[undercoverbrother]

Continuing to test positive really grinds my gears.