Category: Uncategorized

Don’t worry…we’re still here!

I can’t even tell you how many months it’s been since I posted on the blog. It’s been a perfect storm for the four of us, with writing books (Linda), new jobs (Jeff), doing the Garden Professors gig in Toronto (Holly, Bert and Linda) and writing grant proposals (all of us). I am going to try my best to post once a week, even if it’s short and silly.

Something new to let you know…the blog will be moving to a new format in the near future.… Continue reading this article “Don’t worry…we’re still here!”

R U nuts?

One of the things that comes along with having an extension appointment at a major university is I get lots of calls and e-mails from homeowners on a never-ending list of sometimes bizarre tree topics.  Technically, my extension responsibilities are related dealing with professionals; such as arborists and nursery and Christmas tree growers, but the ‘consumer horticulture’ calls still find me.  Last week I received a voice-mail message from an excited gentleman speaking at a decibel level somewhere between rock concert and jet plane take-off. … Continue reading this article “R U nuts?”

Let’s get (soil) physical…

We’ve had quite a bit of discussion this past week on the FaceBook page regarding Kelly Norris’s article in Fine Gardening on dealing with clay soils.  While Kelly’s article mainly addressed selecting plants for heavy soils, there was a side-bar on cultural approaches to dealing with clays; including the standard advice to avoid adding sand to clays.  This advice has been around for years.  The first time I recall hearing it was from Dr. Carl Whitcomb when I took his Arboriculture class nearly 30 years ago (Fall 1984 to be exact). … Continue reading this article “Let’s get (soil) physical…”

A Tree Story

Given my line of work, it’s probably no surprise I’m a sap for tree stories (no pun intended).  Last week I was in Nova Scotia for the biennial International Christmas Tree Research and Extension conference.  The conference and associated tours provided an opportunity to learn about Christmas tree production in Nova Scotia, one of the leading Christmas tree producing regions of North America.  During the conference I also learned about the annual tradition of Nova Scotia’s Tree for Boston.… Continue reading this article “A Tree Story”

Neon continued!

I’ll follow Bert’s highly informative, thought-inducing post with something not statistically significant. Hey, it’s summer.

My last post on ultra-bright “neon” plants had a comment from Sarah…

“I saw some iresine in a local garden center the other day, sun coming
through it at just the right angle, and the shade of blazing pink that
came through was basically every Barbie accessory I ever had. It just
seemed wrong somehow. Took a picture of it with my phone.” … Continue reading this article “Neon continued!”

How to lie with statistics

I’m attending the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) meeting this week in sunny (and hot) Palm Desert, CA.  Tomorrow I will be presenting some of the early results from the SOME-DED-TREES study.  For those that are new to the blog, SOME-DED-TREES is the acronym for the Social Media DesigneD TREe Establishment Study.  Last year, my students and I established a landscape tree study in which the treatments were suggested by Garden Professor’s blog readers.  Actually, we ended up installing two studies: one to look at fertilization at planting and one to look at impacts of mulching at planting. … Continue reading this article “How to lie with statistics”

Brace yourself

The photo below (graciously sent to me by former MSU Extension Educator Jennie Stanger) graphically illustrates the importance of removing ALL staking and supporting materials from trees once they are established.

 

 


Just a matter of time (Photo: Jennie Stanger)

In this case the stakes were removed but the strapping material was left around the tree.  Since this is a spruce, Jennie supposes no one wanted the prickly job of wading into the center of the tree to take off the strap.  … Continue reading this article “Brace yourself”

The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome

The perk of participating in a blog is you get a platform to vent on your pet peeves.  Recently I’ve seen several classic examples of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome.  No, I’m not talking about the red-headed comic; though he tends to annoy me too.


Annoying Carrot-top #1.

The ‘Carrot-top’ I’m referring to occurs when white pine trees are sheared as Christmas trees but then planted as landscape trees.  The typical result is that the side and lower branches remain suppressed while the terminals go crazy.  … Continue reading this article “The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome”

Going off half-cocked

The good news about being a landscape extension specialist is you get to comment on a variety of landscape tree problems.  The bad news?  You get to comment on a variety of landscape tree problems.  In an average week I probably get 10-15 tree-related calls or e-mails from homeowners, landscapers, growers, extension educators, lawyers, newspapers, and on and on.  Sometimes the problem is routine and obvious like tar spot on maples; “I have these spots that look like tar on my maple leaves…”  Sometimes the problem looks routine and turns into something else entirely different like the Imprelis herbicide debacle. … Continue reading this article “Going off half-cocked”

Label GMO foods? Sure, why not?

Lots of coverage in the mainstream media these days over various initiatives to label GMO foods.   I think GMO foods should be labeled; but not for the reasons you might think.

My personal opinion on GMO foods is that their benefits outweigh the potential downsides.  I think GMO foods should be labeled to make the public aware of how much of our food supply depends on GMO’s and the cost of not using GMO’s.  Obviously this will raise some social justice issues since wealthy people will have more opportunity to opt out of buying non-GMO products than the poor but it’s the same problem we have with organic already and it doesn’t seem to cause much of a stir.… Continue reading this article “Label GMO foods? Sure, why not?”