34 City Trees
The rugged terrain of Hong Kong, where
I've traveled extensively, is quite differ-
ent from the relatively flat landscape of
South Florida. There is very little flat land
in Hong Kong's group of mostly mountain-
ous islands. This has required substantial
engineering on its steep slopes to enable
this densely populated and heavily built
country state to live right up to these
mountains and steep grades. Slope sta-
bility is a constant issue and the different
methods that have been developed over
time are readily apparent as one travels
through Hong Kong.
Stone pitching (seen in the photo above)
is common in some of the older areas
where retaining walls were built well over
100 years ago. Atop many of these walls
are the famous "Stonewall Trees." These
highly protected volunteer Chinese ban-
yan trees (Ficus microcarpa) give quite
a few challenges to both the engineers
charged with maintaining the walls and
the municipal arborists charged with tree
preservation at all costs. Most slopes in
newer areas are now covered in "shot-
crete" with weep holes—pipes that pro-
trude from below the concrete designed
to allow ground water from heavy rain-
falls to escape. A substantial effort is
made, with varying results, to plant trees
and other vegetation on these concrete
slopes to green up and cool off these
engineered areas.
—Jeff Shimonski, President, Tropical
Designs of Florida, Inc.,
Jeff@TropicalArboriculture.com
A substantial amount of "shotcrete" has been laid to aid in slope stabilization in Hong
Kong. Photo by Jeff Shimonski
In Hong Kong, one sees the famous stone
retaining walls with the ever-attendant
Chinese banyan trees growing on top of
them. Photo by Jeff Shimonski
Many engineered slopes in Hong Kong have trees planted on them inside small planters.
