Hacker News Reader

Comment by jellicle | Hacker News Reader

There are lots and lots of very hardy trees in the world.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07423.html

But you need a meter of soil, two meters would be better. This is 10-20x as much soil as is currently available on most green roofs (or mountainsides).

There are already pictures in this thread of buildings with trees on top, so... the idea that somehow trees are subject to instant death when lifted off the ground is silly. The conditions are not any harsher than trees living in an asphalt jungle in the city are subjected to every day.

http://www.bergoiata.org/fe/trees/Single%20Pine%20Tree%20Ato...

^^ Honey badger don't care

View on HN

It called my attention that in South Finland there are pine trees which apparently are able to grow with their roots barely covered with soil. Some sit directly on hard rock with all their roots visible. I took two photos of this on 2006: http://pix.hamoid.com/finland2006/nature_is_a_huge_canvas.jp... http://pix.hamoid.com/finland2006/going_back_to_my_roots.jpg Those trees survive winter winds at -22F (-30C) with very little sunlight, although sometimes winds knock them down making a vertical wall out of the exposed roots.

Well, just because you can see roots, doesn't mean there aren't other deeper roots. Redwoods and Giant sequoias also have shallow root systems.

You are right, if one sees roots it doesn't mean there aren't other roots.

I think the difference is, South Finland was compressed by 1 km of ice during the last ice age, and the ground is pure granite that is blown up using explosives whenever a new building or road is built.

In those places I talk about, the dirt layer is extremely thin or often nonexistent. The photos I linked don't show that, but many trees are clearly sitting on pure red granite rock with just a little bit of dirt and moss surrounding the roots, in the middle of pale rock.

Yes, and the article directly addresses this: Still, plants in these environments aren’t usually tall and graceful. In other words, not the tall trees we see in architectural drawings.

Though I'm personally very partial to the gnarly mountain trees, too.

Since the author grows bonsai, I'm sure he's partial to gnarly mountain trees too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com