Planting trouble: multiple trees in one hole

[I enjoyed Jeff’s Valentine story so much that I thought I’d stick to the theme of togetherness…for better or worse.]

A week or so ago a reader asked about the practice of planting three or four fruit trees in the same hole.  Having not heard of this before, I checked on the web and found many “how to” pages geared to home gardeners who either want a longer harvest of a particular fruit (early to late) or a mixture of different species. … Continue reading this article “Planting trouble: multiple trees in one hole”

More Master Gardener Fun!

Am just heading out the door for Fairfax, Virginia – part of the greater Northern Virginia metro area, with traffic that scares the pants off of us country mice. I’m doing the Master Gardener training for the Fairfax Master Gardener Association.  Their attendance is so huge, they have to split into a morning session (150 people) and an evening session (100+). Two and a half hours of training on “herbaceous plants” twice in one day – that’s a lot of yakking even for yours truly.  … Continue reading this article “More Master Gardener Fun!”

An Early Valentine’s Story

In honor of Valentine’s day I have a story about love and betrayal to share….OK, maybe not….perhaps something more along the lines of branches and ants.  Same difference right?

There was once a tree that was much loved.  It was planted in a cute little corner of a street next to a historic building and was well cared for by its owners. Its many limbs rose to the sky in a seething mass which made the tree look vigorous and robust…and those who planted the tree were very happy.… Continue reading this article “An Early Valentine’s Story”

Landscape design – fatal flaw

So many great answers…so many problems with this landscape!  Everyone who made a comment was spot on in their reasoning.  And each of these flaws was completely preventable with good design.  But I’m not sure I would have been able to predict the problem that I now see every week at this location:

his area is the only access point for service vehicles of any persuasion. And sometimes they DO park on top of the planting strip. … Continue reading this article “Landscape design – fatal flaw”

Friday quiz – landscape design

Down the street a ways from where we live is a relatively new condo complex wedged between a hill and the street.  A narrow planting strip separates the sidewalk from the street, as shown below:

The driveway at the top of the photo bisects the planting strip and dead ends in the parking area for the condos.  I have photoshopped this a bit, for reasons you’ll see on Monday.  But this is a true representation of the landscape.… Continue reading this article “Friday quiz – landscape design”

Scrambling for Answers

Yesterday a good friend of mine who works for a well respected tree company in town asked me whether I would be willing to talk about  tree conservation as it relates to the emerald ash borer.  Specifically he wanted me to make people aware of a statement produced by a group called the Coalition for Urban Ash Tree Conservation which you can find here which was produced by a number of well respected industry people and academics. … Continue reading this article “Scrambling for Answers”

Er, Too Much Coverage?

When botany and advertising collide.  Here we have the latest from AT&T.
The advertisement description’s in quotes.


“We open on an urban setting and see a vine begin to grow up a
pillar.”

What kind of vine?? It looks like a mutant clematis, though the leaf arrangement’s wrong, and there are no orange large-flowered ones. Oh well, let’s not be picky. At least it’s some kind of ornamental plant. We’ll call it Clematis broadbandii. Definitely non-native, though.… Continue reading this article “Er, Too Much Coverage?”

Proposed phosphate fertilizer ban – a dissection of the criticisms

A few brave souls gave Friday’s homework assignment a good shot.  Ryan did a nice critique of the bullet points; Kenny did a little digging on WFFF, the organization behind the email; and Tom chimed in with the fact that Israel managed to do this a long time ago without impairing plant health.  Gold stars for all!

Here’s my initial analysis of the statements made, based on reading the bill (which you should do if you haven’t yet; it’s neither long nor difficult to understand):

WFFF: 1) The intent section contains scientifically inaccurate statements, creating a false precedent that turf fertilizer is a significant surface water pollutant and is not necessary for a healthy lawn.… Continue reading this article “Proposed phosphate fertilizer ban – a dissection of the criticisms”

Insects and Fertilization

Linda got a few comments and questions on her post a couple of weeks ago on fertilization and insect resistance.  This is an issue I’ve been peripherally involved with over the years so I wanted to share a few thoughts.  First, the relationship between plant nutrition and insect resistance is extremely complex.  We often have difficulty predicting how a plant is going to respond to fertilization, let alone predict how an insect is going to respond to how the plant responded. … Continue reading this article “Insects and Fertilization”

Proposed phosphate fertilizer ban

Today I received an email alerting members of Washington Friends of Farms and Forests to a proposed ban on phosphate-containing fertilizers in the state of Washington.  Here’s part of the text of the email (I’ve removed underlining, bolding, highlighting etc. so this reads as objectively as possible):

“Concerns with the HB 1271 & SB 5194 banning the sale of fertilizer containing phosphorous:

1) The intent section contains scientifically inaccurate statements, creating a false precedent that turf fertilizer is a significant surface water pollutant and is not necessary for a healthy lawn.… Continue reading this article “Proposed phosphate fertilizer ban”