Palm Springs resident forced to trim or relocate 30-foot-tall cactus
Plant problems in a Palm Springs neighborhood.
A 30-foot-tall cactus is causing concern for a Palm Springs homeowner. "Kill my plant or deface it." That’s what homeowner, Dave Shaw told News Channel 3 he’s up against with his nearly Madagascar Ocotillo plant after receiving notices from his homeowner's association.
“They sent me these two letters, one dated February 6 and the other dated February 21st,” he said.
They say the plant is too tall and that it exceeds the 10-foot height limit.
But Shaw does not want to trim it. He’s already seen the effects that trimming can do to the plant.
“I had to have access to this area right here and when I cut these branches back it just became a tangled mess,” he said.
Shaw has lived at Canyon Sands in Palm Springs for six years. The plant was already on the property when he moved there.
His HOA says he has 30 days to cut it down or else it will be trimmed. Shaw fears if he cuts the plant, it could die.
“I posted it on Facebook. I got over 150 people and all but two of them support me and they think it’s a valuable, beautiful, magnificent plant that we should be able to work together to find some way to preserve it rather than cutting it in half,” he said.
The HOA held a meeting Tuesday just to talk about the tall plant.
We spoke with the HOA's Secretary and Treasurer, Cathy Wolff.
“We’ve done extensive research on this plant," she said. "It can be trimmed. It can be transplanted. There will be no harm to the plant for either of those things. We spoke with an individual at the living desert and got some information from him,” she added.
Not only does the plant have the attention of people on social media and in the community, but wildlife as well.
“Not only do we have to take care of the forest up in Big Bear but we have an urban forest where magnificent plants like this should be preserved,” he said.
We reached out to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens to see if they would be able to take a plant like this and they said they are interested in learning more about his plant so we have put Shaw in contact with them.
