re: Magnolia tree

I grew up in the Lower 9th Ward in an old shotgun house and the neighbor right next door had 2 HUGE magnolia trees right on his side of the fence of the property line.

I hated those trees with a passion as a kid since I was the one who had to rake up all the damn leaves, pick up all the damn cones they eventually dropped and washed lots of bird crap off cars once they ate the red seeds the cones made. My dad died when I was 8 and I took over a lot of his chores.

They drop leaves year round and it's not like you can pile them up and they will compost since they are thick and waxy leaves. They take forever even after mulching with a mower.

I remember begging my mom to have someone cut the limbs on our side of the fence, but she wouldn't------until I moved out at 17 and it fell on her and my 2 sisters to deal with it. THEN they got cut----damn trees looked like a couple of "P's" when they were done.