Seattle Chainsaw Massacre

In the spirit of the season I’m including some photos from our neighbor’s willow tree that failed a few years ago.  The failure wasn’t unexpected, given the age of the tree and the lack of crown care it received.  What’s truly scary is the “tree service” that came out to deal with the problem.  Low bid wins again!

(And yes, I’ll post a puzzler as well.  Two for one today!)

Here’s the willow after the crown collapsed

Rickety ladder + chainsaw = suspense!… Continue reading this article “Seattle Chainsaw Massacre”

Something Scary!

It’s almost Halloween!  How about a scary picture….I think I’ll call this one revenge of the mummies (Thanks to Dave Hansen for this picture).

Graft and corruption

It’s election season – but that’s not why I’m doing a blog on “graft and corruption.”  Instead, let me back up and explain that today I gave a seminar on diagnosing urban tree death.  One of my points to the group was the importance of knowing the history of a site – what species were selected, how trees were planted, whether there had been any major construction activity, etc.  I thought I’d continue the importance of site history into today’s posting.… Continue reading this article “Graft and corruption”

Should I boycott cypress mulch?

It’s hard to think of mulch as a controversial topic but, as with most things these days, we find people on both sides of an issue.  And, as with most things these days, some of opinions are based on substance, others are not.  In the southern U.S. some environmental groups are advocating a boycott of cypress mulch.

Cypress mulch is derived from baldcypress and pond cypress, which grow in ecologically sensitive wetlands in the Southeast.  Cypress wood is highly valued for is natural decay resistance. … Continue reading this article “Should I boycott cypress mulch?”

Epicormic mystery solved!

Good morning (at least it is in my time zone)!   And welcome to those of you who found us through Blotanical or another blog site.  We love seeing the increased participation on our blog.

Since I am a teacher at heart, I was glad to see so much thoughtful discussion over the weekend.  Many of you suggested that pruning for vehicular traffic was the trigger for this growth, and it’s true that removing large limbs or heading back branches will result in vigorous epicormic growth. … Continue reading this article “Epicormic mystery solved!”

Quiz time!

One of the things we Garden Professors can do is give tests!  And the nice thing is you don’t get penalized for being wrong.  So this will be my inaugural Plant Puzzler.

Below is a photo of a tree with epicormic shoots on its two lower branches.  Epicormic shoots are vigorous, upright branches that have more of a juvenile than mature appearance.  They often appear when a plant has been stressed, perhaps by overpruning, or maybe the roots were damaged by construction:

So here is your test question. … Continue reading this article “Quiz time!”

My Least Favorite Pesticide

People often ask me about the most dangerous pesticides — the ones which they should be careful to avoid.  There are lots to choose from:  Di-syston (aka disulfoton) is really bad.  Rotenone has some potential problems that make it scary, as does copper sulfate.  But for my money the worst thing out there is something that isn’t even supposed to be used as a pesticide (at least not anymore) but which finds its way into our gardens thanks to recommendations from people like Jerry Baker:  Tobacco.… Continue reading this article “My Least Favorite Pesticide”

Wonderful wood chips

I’m in love…with arborist wood chips.  These are not your beauty barks or other packaged mulches, but the chipped branches and leaves fresh from the tree crews. It’s a great way to keep this resource out of the landfill – and don’t even get me started about using this great mulch material for a “biofuel!”

I’ve written about wood chip mulches a lot, but thought today I would post some photos to show you how well they work in suppressing weeds and promoting growth in restoration sites. … Continue reading this article “Wonderful wood chips”

The joys of arborizing!

It’s Holly’s day…but she’s off playing in a tropical paradise.  So because she seems to be of a sunnier disposition than I am, I’ll post happy thoughts today.

One of my favorite pruning techniques, especially for small urban landscapes, is arborizing.  This is a way of creating small trees out of large shrubs – and often, a large shrub is as much as a small landscape can handle.  Rhododendrons are common landscape plants here in Seattle, and the larger ones lend themselves beautifully to this practice:

  

As you’ll notice in this example, arborizing not only creates an aesthetically pleasing tree form, but also moves the crown away from vehicular and pedestrian traffic. … Continue reading this article “The joys of arborizing!”

The Flap Over Burlap

This month’s issue of the Oregon Association of Nursery’s Digger magazine includes the second part of a two-part article on urban foresters’ perspectives on nursery stock.  It was interesting to note that some urban foresters felt they were in a quandary because their specs require removal of burlap from B&B trees, yet many nurseries will void their warranty if burlap is removed from the root ball.

Removing burlap from B&B trees is a practice that is widely recommended, yet there is little, if any, data to support it. … Continue reading this article “The Flap Over Burlap”