prune

Street trees are pruned only about every 15 years.

But for long, long decades before, Santa Clara County was “the Valley of Heart’s Delight,” a bee-and-blossom Eden of fragrant fruit: cherries, apricots, and mostly plums for prunes.

They preached about the effectiveness of “defensible space,” advocating that residents prune grasses, saplings and lower limbs immediately adjacent to their homes.

Researchers and producers have to discover the best way to plant, prune, treat, and harvest crops to ensure they can get them to consumers.

As I felt when I saw this revival on Broadway, Furth’s book might have benefited from some judicious pruning.