What about the big oak

Q: I read in your paper about the two new car dealerships going in along the south side of Colusa Highway at Harter Parkway. It wasn't long ago that Yuba City allowed that beautiful Victorian mansion to be bulldozed, to the dismay of a lot of citizens who loved that house. Is the oak tree next? Will Yuba City also allow that grand tree to be torn down, or do they care enough to insist that it be saved and incorporated into the building plans?

A: That oak tree must be doing something right - maybe just benefiting from residual guilt left over from the Onstott House fiasco. Whatever the case, plans call for the tree to remain right where it is, said Aaron Busch, the city's community development director.

The oak is on property to be occupied by the John L. Sullivan dealership.

"They're working with us to keep it," said Busch.

No date has been set for construction to start, he said.

If anyone's planning to sit in the tree just to make sure it doesn't disappear, they're going to have a long wait.

Q: I live in west Yuba City, so I rarely drive north on Garden Highway from Highway 99. I drove that route recently and saw trees lining both sides of the road for at least a mile. It was very attractive and, in a few years, it will be very beautiful, like driving a country road in France with the plane trees lining both sides. Who planted the trees, Sierra Gold Nurseries?

A: Not everyone loves France, but they'll have to admit it's a pretty darn beautiful country. So, any time Yuba-Sutter gets compared to France, maybe it should be a red-letter day.

Fittingly for this area, those are flowering plum trees, or Prunus Krauter Vesuvius, along Garden Highway, and when they bloom in the spring, the pink flowers' offset leaves the color of dark mahogany, said Lori Van den Heuvel, office manager at Sierra Gold Nurseries.

Yes, it was Sierra Gold that started planting the trees about three years ago. Since then, owners of adjoining properties, including Sutter County Supervisor Dan Silva and his wife, Candace, have been imbued with the tree spirit and planted their own flowering plums along the highway. Now there are trees on both sides for about two miles, from about a mile north of Messick Road down to about Star Bend Road, said Van den Heuvel.

Garden Highway has always been the more scenic way into Yuba City. Now, when those Prunus Krauter Vesuvius trees start blooming in the spring, it'll be worth a special trip.

Dan Silva said he'll ask the Sutter County Board of Supervisors this year to give Sierra Gold Nurseries a rural road beautification award.

Reporter's note: After last week's item about the sudden closing of Simple Fitness, the women's gym in downtown Yuba City, Since You Asked was contacted by Jeffrey T. Helm, the new owner of Miladi Family Fitness at 680 N. Walton Ave. in Yuba City.

Helm said he's offering a discount to any woman who can prove she lost money when Simple Fitness closed. The discount "would somehow correlate with whatever was lost," he said.

Since You Asked is published Tuesdays. Send questions to reporter Rob Young at the Appeal-Democrat, P.O. Box 431, Marysville CA 95901, e-mail him at ryoung@appealdemocrat or call 749-4710.