This past week I had occasion to pass the same suburban Massachusetts middle school on two days in a row, and on each of those days my eyes goggled at the sight of a new planting on a slope facing the road. The array of brown, grey, and coppery-red foliage — on the trees that [...]
Posts Tagged ‘tree issues’
Boston hemlock
Posted in Miscellaneous, Opportunistic plants, Plant management, Trees, tagged Plant management, tree issues, Volunteer plants on July 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The other day I was on Beacon Hill and spotted this mostly dead hemlock tree, completely swathed in Boston ivy: Perhaps the owners were simply neglecting their courtyard garden, but I like to think that they saw the mature tree’s size as an asset to the place, and decided to use the deadwood as an [...]
To the beech
Posted in Arboriculture, Miscellaneous, Plant management, Trees, tagged Arboriculture, Carl Cathcart, Hartney Greymont, inarching, Jack Alexander, Plant management, tree grafting, tree issues, Trees on May 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I took a great class this past January at the Arnold Arboretum. It was called Grafting Techniques for Ornamental Trees, and was taught by Jack Alexander, the Arboretum’s Plant Propagator. Jack, who is not only an extremely talented plantsman but an excellent teacher, taught us how to prepare cuttings, how to make several different kinds [...]
Herbie: the next phase
Posted in Arboriculture, Plant management, Trees, tagged Arboriculture, Herbie the Yarmouth elm, Plant management, tree issues, Trees on June 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I swung by the site where Herbie, the American Elm in Yarmouth, Maine, had stood for over two centuries. Herbie was taken down last January; to read the tale see this post, and to see photos of Herbie’s stump, click on this link. I hadn’t planned to stop and see the stump — what [...]
Herbie — what remains
Posted in Miscellaneous, Plant management, Trees, tagged champion trees, environment, Herbie the Yarmouth elm, nature, Plant management, root flare, tree issues, Trees, trunk flare on March 9, 2010 | 7 Comments »
Yesterday I drove through Yarmouth, Maine, and stopped by the site where Herbie the New England Champion American Elm (Ulmus americana) had lived for over two hundred years before meeting his end this past January (see this post for the story). I wanted to see Herbie’s stump and get a better idea of what 217 [...]
In memoriam
Posted in Miscellaneous, Plant management, Trees, tagged Dutch Elm disease, environment, Herbie the Yarmouth elm, nature, Plant management, tree issues, tree removal, Trees on January 25, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I was in Maine last week, and planned to stop in Yarmouth on Monday to watch the removal of Herbie, the champion American Elm (Ulmus americana) that had finally become too compromised to stay standing. For several months, stories about Herbie and his long-time steward, Yarmouth tree warden Frank Knight (at 101 years old, he [...]