we need to ID the tree .... one guess at link ... is this the tree you are talking about? ... Cassia fistula

if so.. you can see the general form of them ... if not.. we need to get an ID ...

as to yours in particular.. we would need some pix.. to opine as to their current state of being ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=Cassia+fistula&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcpo61sKfLAhXHlIMKHeJBDssQ_AUIBygB&biw=944&bih=745&dpr=0.9

ken -- Yes, these are some variety of the Cassia fistula. However, these look nothing like the photos. These have no lower branches -- just bare trunks that go up 30 or more feet, with a short 'topping' of maybe 10 feet of shoots. (Think of a stalk of celery.) Will lower branches regenerate? I don't think these will grow taller. They are at least 40 feet. Do they have a meaningful future? Can they be 'brought back', as one here person living here suggested?

wisconsitom -- We have owned at this location for 15 years. We have lived with monkeypods that completely blocked our ocean view for several years until they were mature enough to be 'raised'. Now they are majestic. Some still interfere with our view, but they are beautiful trees. We value trees *good* trees.

At our home near Chicago, we pay $600 alternate years to inject our 100-year-old American Elm against dutch elm disease. We proactively removed dozens of ash trees as soon as the Emerald Ash Borer was found in our town. We've removed invasive species as we found them. I'd say we have spent $8000 on these removals in just the last three years.

In this case, I don't see any redeeming value in these three shower trees. I'm asking opinions on that. They provide no shade. The provide no screening. All of the lower branches are missing, leaving only about ten feet of foliage at the top.

I'm not computer literate or I would post photos. Our condo complex is built up the side of a small hill. The shower trees (and some monkeypods) are fifty feet lower than our lanai. They would have been planted around 1991. I suspect they were butchered early on -- to improve views from the buildings below us. Now they are mature, 'leaves on sticks' between us and the ocean.

I could have 'forgotten' to say that these trees obstruct our view, but I didn't because this is a question of weighing value. BTW, this is a *heavily landscaped* property: 23 acres in South Kihei. (Maui Kamaole, if you want to look it up.)

Hey, I'm not always right, lol. The stories that are out there though, of perfectly good trees topped just so someone could have "their" view unobstructed are legion.

Has a positive ID been made yet? This could have some bearing on the answers to your questions, since if we knew the species, we may have some bit of awareness about some aspect of growth habit that could be important to this discussion.

We really do need pictures of the trees in question to have any sense if they look right or can be salvaged.

In some parts of Hawaii, "shower trees" refer to Cassia x nealiae, rainbow shower tree. It's a non native tree that some have tried to ban and removals are recommended......much like the awful Bradford (and other Calleryana).

I will ask if the landscape person here knows the variety.

I think you might still be able to tell me if such a tree can be improved once it is mature height when it has its only foliage between between the 30 and 40 foot height. I've never known a tree to regrow lower branches.

I see other 'shower trees' nearby, at Shops At Wailea. These are neglected, with a lower 'umbrella' that hangs from a crown to about ten feet off the ground. These 'umbrellas' have crowns about 25 feet up. Wild 'shoots' branch straight up out of the crown -- which is why I think they need trimming. It's my opinion that 'our' trees had all the lower portions removed. Now we're left with only upward-reaching shoots.

Maybe those shoots can be trained to 'droop' -- sort of like a weeping cherry. If so, the tops of their 'umbrellas' would still be forty feet in the air. How low close to the ground could they reach?

I'm guessing, chisue, that responses have been slow because we don't have personal knowledge of this tree species. Nor have we even seen pictures of these three trees to help you determine what they are or if they've been improperly pruned.

Without some specific knowledge of these trees, no one can advise you. We would be foolish to try and you shouldn't take that kind of advice.

They *are* 'shower trees', just as pictured in Ken's post above. I see the same trees (in proper form) all along Baldwin Ave. in Paia and at the nearby shopping center (need top shoots trimmed). None of those have trunks that are 'bare naked' up to the thirty foot level like these.

Is there a tree that will regrow lower limbs? I don't know of one.

Online, I've found a couple of botanists who are in Makawao (10 miles from me) and will contact them.

Thanks for the replies.