Leave the leaves alone

London’s Daily Telegraph reported in November that a gardener hired by the House of Commons had spent a day pulling color-changing leaves from trees on the Westminster Palace grounds--because it would be more cost-effective than to rake them up after they fell. The gardener (whose name sounds right out of a James Bond adventure--“Annabel Honeybun”) said she had 145 trees to service. 

A local environmentalist lamented denying autumn visitors “one of the few pleasures at this time of year.” 

Miss Honeybun told The Daily Telegraph: “I am not picking leaves off the trees, I am cutting them individually down to the second bud so they keep their shape. I am doing some mini-pollarding but they do look nice after they have done. I wouldn’t pick leaves off. These are lime trees are so old and they have not been ‘pleached’ for years, so we have to keep their shape. We do it once a year. We are basically keeping them in the shape you see every summer. They have got quite shallow roots." 

Source:  [Daily Telegraph, 11-14-2014]