Whimsical attraction damaged tree, city says

There will be no poetic licence for a Wortley Village woman who hoped to bring joy to her neighbourhood by posting poetry on a young maple at the foot of her front lawn.

Christine Montgomerys Poet Tree adorned with a display case for the poems had been there two weeks when she returned home to find it empty.

The sheet of paper with A Silly Poem by Spike Milligan was left in her mailbox, Please remove from city tree, scrawled across the bottom.

Im so disappointed. Everybody who walked by would stop and read, said Montgomery, a librarian.

How can you not love it? she asked. Im only putting poems up to make people happy. Theyre not deep poems. I want to bring poetry to the people.

But a city forestry supervisor who has given Montgomery until next week to take her frame down says she must find another way to accomplish her mission.

You cant nail or fix anything to a tree, said Andy Beaton, with transportation and roadside operations. Shes damaged the tree. Shes put screws into the trunk of a tree.

The citys boulevard tree protection bylaw bans cutting down, defacing, trimming, pruning, destroying or injuring any tree on a boulevard.

I understand what shes doing with the poetry, but I just cant have it affixed to the tree, Beaton said. Trees are coming to the forefront in London.

Last summer, a city hall committee voted to spend $37.7 million to boost Londons tree canopy to 34% over the next 20 years.

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Whimsical attraction damaged tree, city says