Wit's End: Help Wanted

This may be one of the few real growth industries in the near future.

Ha ha, it would be so SO funny except it's not.

Nowadays chipper trucks lurk every night, hiding on a dead end lane next to the freeway overpass, like hideous poltergeists, and then rummage around all day, cutting limbs in any proximity to power lines - because the trees are all dying, and the least wind or rainfall causes branches to break, in turn causing expensive power losses and repairs.

Following are pictures from a small suburban strip mall, from trees planted in islands, to the woods on the outskirts, shrubs and potted plants. I've already been criticized for posting photos of trees in "stressed" situations as adjacent to pavement. But this exercise has value for a couple of reasons. One, trees planted in parking lots have been just fine for 10 to 20 years or more - until now. And also, they are useful examples because when looking at trees in the wild, their leaves get blended into layers of others, so unless you walk up close and inspect them, it's not easy to depict in a picture how terribly thin they really are. When you look at an isolated specimen it becomes quite obvious.