Monthly Archives

December 2024

Dec 28
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Kentucky coffee tree surprise!

By | Plant Species Information, Planting, Trees | No Comments

What’s this?

One day this fall, I walked out from my front steps and when I reached the boulevard I noticed newly planted trees. Oh, what’s this? A nice surprise from the City of Port Moody! They were obviously bare but luckily one had a tag still attached to it.

Kentucky coffee tree ‘Espresso’

I had absolutely no clue what tree species they were: Gymnocladus dioicus (Trade marked Espresso) didn’t ring a bell. And that’s mildly distressing for an arborist. So of course I googled it right away and entered it into my ‘blog ideas’ file.

Meet the Kentucky coffee tree

Now that I knew the species name, I had a second question: why this tree species? What made the City of Port Moody buy and install Kentucky coffee trees on their boulevard? There had to be a good reason because I know from my work experience at the City of Coquitlam that tree species decisions aren’t made lightly.

Thank you J F Schmidt

The source of the information below comes from J F Schmidt. Thank you!

The Kentucky coffee tree Espresso sports large, frond-like, double-compound bluish-green leaves (yellow in fall) which form a canopy of dappled shade. Where they are, we’ve been trying to grow lawn so in the future we can expect the grass to struggle.

The tree is city-tough and gives us an airy, tropical feel.

One crucial feature of the Espresso cultivar is that it’s seedless. That makes a huge difference in the neighbourhood and for landscape maintenance crews. I hear people calling trees “messy” every year and considering the tree’s mature size it would be an avalanche of debris every year. Seedless is good in this setting.

Conditions

The list of conditions is the real kicker. The Kentucky coffee tree tolerates heat, drought, cold and alkaline soils. I believe the crucial factors are heat and drought, as the city looks into the future on a warming planet. It doesn’t usually get that cold on the West Coast and the soils are definitely acidic. Here’s where my second question is answered. Why plant the Kentucky coffee tree? It tolerates heat and drought!

One faux pas

Considering the tree’s mature height of fifty feet and spread of thirty five feet, I don’t believe the city planted them with enough room between specimens. Although it’s unlikely I will be alive to see the problem develop.

Full marks to the City of Port Moody for planting trees with a warming future on their minds. I can’t wait to see the trees leaf out in 2025.

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Dec 23
0

Vas on Grass eBook for Christmas!!

By | Lawn Care | No Comments

Q&As

As a landscape professional I am used to answering lots of questions about lawn care. And over time I began to notice that many of the questions repeated over and over. Clearly, those questions represented pain points. So I assembled them into one file and I suspect there will be more coming out later.

That’s how my humble eBook was born: Vas on Grass: 33 lawn care questions answered buy a landscape professional. It’s now available for sale in pdf format. Click here. If you are unemployed, low-income or Proper landscaping client, please message me for a free e-mailed pdf copy.

One example

Here’s one question covered in the book. “Does it bother you if grass clippings are blown into the road? Why?“

Does it ever! First of all, it looks awful. Now, I know from experience that some days are frustratingly windy and complete control over your clippings is impossible. But on most days you should be able to blow the clippings back onto your lawn, away from the road. Just make sure you don’t smoked by a passing car. Stay close to the curb.

Second, every year cyclists and motorcyclists die when they lose traction on grass debris. In one example from the United States, a female motorcyclist saw her husband go down in front of her. Sadly, the man didn’t survive. That’s just awful.

Big ride-on mowers often cut grass without catchers so it’s critical that the grass be directed back into the lawn, not on the road when the edge is getting cut. Imagine being responsible for someone’s death.

Lastly, I must mention the cheaters who show up in the dark to blow debris from their site across the road to my side. I maintain commercial buildings in Coquitlam and I see them do it; they push grass and leaves across the road so it becomes my problem; and they avoid paying for green waste. It’s sloppy work that leaves the road in disarray.

Check it out!

Check out a copy of my book and if your question isn’t covered, then e-mail it to me: vas@greenfirstlandscaping.com. Book reviews are also very important. Send feedback so we can start a discussion.

Happy holidays!!

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Dec 21
0

“Becoming a gardener” book review

By | Books, Education | No Comments

The question

Can you become a gardener or is it some talent you were born with? In years past, I often wondered the same thing and the answer is obvious. You can become a decent gardener, if you work at it. If you actually go out in your garden and get dirty.

Catie Marron‘s 2022 book “Becoming a gardener” is yet another book born during the pandemic when people were shut in their homes. In some parts the book reads like an essay from school; it’s clear she did a lot of reading and research, covering people who wrote about gardens and famous gardeners. The pandemic was a great time for reading and research.

Catie Marron (Source: Goodreads)

I bought the book in audio format on Audible.com at 85% off the regular non-member price. This worked out to less than five dollars which is a steal. It runs just under three hours at 1.2 speed and there aren’t any issues with the narration. It’s a well-produced audiobook complete with a downloadable pdf file.

Gardening

Marron moves to Connecticut, surrounds herself with mentors, gets all of the necessary garden tools and goes for it. Buy year two, she’s growing vegetables and sharing them with food banks. Not bad at all. So, it can be done.

Towards the end of the book, Marron starts to share her new knowledge and she is very subtle about it. It’s sprinkled here and there.

As I write this review, I have trouble recalling Marron’s larger life lessons. That’s because I am distracted by the pdf print out. In one section it covers your annual garden tasks which is handy, even after you adjust for her location in Eastern United States.

Then there is a literary section on garden writers which can introduce you to new works. I know some of the writers like Michael Pollan. The others I will have to discover.

Lastly, there is the bibliography where you get to check out Marron’s sources. This is gold for less than $5.

Conclusion

Complete beginners will enjoy this book. I listened to it at 1.5 speed in under three hours while I worked outside landscaping. That’s how I like it when there aren’t any crew members around. Work, earn and learn at the same time.

The accompanying pdf file is an awesome resource you should consider mining. However, I would hesitate to buy this book at full price. I scored it on Audible.com at 85% discount.

See my books on landscaping at Amazon. Click here.

Dec 14
0

On editing your garden beds

By | gardening | No Comments

Don’t be shy!

Don’t be afraid to make changes in your garden. Nothing stays static in nature and your garden. Plants thrive or die, some plants outgrow their space and some don’t work well anymore. And some perennials were designed for division and transplanting.

Editing your garden can be fun, too. For professional landscape maintenance workers, editing can provide nice relief from regular weeding and cultivating duties. They usually welcome the chance to do some editing.

Let’s do it!

What changes can we make here? Obviously, the rhododendron on the left is struggling with only one branch showing life. It’s a miserable specimen and it should go. This is what I told the dude who asked me about it.

If you’ve read my blog post from December 7, 2024, then you know I love to rescue plants. Healthy plants. Not this rhododendron; this one should be recycled into new soil.

Dead or struggling plants detract from your garden presentation; they can’t inspire anyone. So, nurse them back to health or toss them.

Once we removed the rhododendron, we had a problem with the hole this created. So we decided to move the perennial in there. It will splash its foliage in the spot next year and it might be happier with more space.

When you move these perennials in fall, you can also divide them. We could have created two clumps to cover up more space. That way, weeds get shaded out and hopefully outcompeted.

Quick check: weeds & edging

After you move your plants, check your bed for weeds and other blemishes, like tired bed edges. Staying on top of your weeds is a common strategy for gardeners.

We can’t see the bed edge in the photo but I know it could have used a nice ninety-degree deep edge. This sharpens everything nicely by re-defining the border between our lawn and planted bed. Use an edging shovel (flat bottom) and stick it in at ninety degrees. Remove any grass chunks. See my blog post on deep edging here.

Conclusion

Have some fun in your garden. If you find plants to edit, do it. Be brave. We improved the look of one bed literally in minutes. You can do it, too!

More lessons from Red Seal Vas in this online course!!

Dec 07
0

Lessons from a low-profile bed

By | gardening, Plants | No Comments

Low & high profile

One of my favourite planted beds stands outside the fence so it’s low-profile but, because it faces a busy street, it’s also high-profile. I call it low-profile because people living in the complex don’t see it much.

It’s a simple bed planted with rescues but we can draw several important lessons from it.

No discrimination

This is my favourite theme in garden and landscape maintenance: don’t discriminate! Check one hundred percent of your place or garden. Don’t ignore low-profile corners or fence lines. Even beds on the other side of the fence.

I went in recently and cleaned it up fairly quickly. First raking and then weeding and cultivating. Using tools is much faster and more efficient; I only pick big weeds with my fingers. Always use tools.

Cultivation gives you a nice fluffy look and this neglected bed deserved it. Often the excuse is access because the gate requires a key. Or does it? I stuck my snips in the door and opened it easily. No excuses!

Plant rescues

This bed is also planted with rescued plants which makes me very happy. Instead of dumping perfectly good plants into green waste I put them here. And they’ve doubled in size. Mostly we have Mahonias and Nandinas with one sedge (Carex). All of them were unwanted rescues and they’re doing fine years later. Even without irrigation.

Nandina (N), Mahonia (M) and Sedge (S)

In the beginning we installed new soil because there is a buried beam. It was sticking out and looked awful so we buried it with soil. Now that I look closely at the picture above, I can see the beam. Soil and mulch break down over time so don’t forget to top up your planted beds. At least the beam is partially hidden.

After soil came the rescues which, incidentally, cover up the ground and limit weeds by shading and outcompeting them. Bare beds are a disaster waiting for weeds to move in. If you have bare beds, plant something.

And if you have extra plants, share them or sell them.

Conclusion

Don’t forget to check every corner of your garden; don’t just focus on the front of your house. And if you have extra plants, green waste should be your last option. You can share your plants, give them away to friends or strangers or sell them online. I’ve done both with success.

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Dec 02
0

Do we need to cut down majestic old trees for the holidays?

By | Arborist Insights, Forests, Trees | No Comments

Holidays

Just last week my daughter wanted a Christmas tree so she got one at Walmart for something like C$50. It looks fine and it should be good for several more years; and we don’t have to worry about fire hazards and post-holiday shredding. Then today I opened up my newspaper.

Jennifer Cole’s article (The Globe and Mail, December 2, 2024, A11) headline says it all, “We don’t need to cut down majestic old trees for the holidays.” And I agree. It’s been a long tradition in many European cities and the Vatican to cut down old trees and dress them up for the holidays in a high profile city square location. I’m sure it looks awesome but the world is changing.

I believe that an eighty-year-old tree should stay in the forest. Let it provide habitat and sustenance for birds and animals while it sequesters carbon in its tissues. It seems wasteful to cut down an old tree for a bit of holiday fun. I will always vote for the trees. What about you? Leave me a comment.

Yes and no

As the climate changes we need to keep our trees healthy and plant new ones. But people love their traditions so they fight and write petitions. You are either a tree hugger or you love traditions and cutting down one old tree is no big deal for you. But I agree with Cole that cutting down old trees for the holidays is hardly necessary.

In Vancouver, the giant tree in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery is a 76-foot artificial cone. No one complaints, writes Cole. I suspect it’s because this is a cheaper option over the costly installation and removal of a real tree. Cole writes that the Edmonton Downtown Association said that paying for a large real tree didn’t make sense any more.

Happy holidays!

Whatever you do at home with your Christmas tree, I hope you enjoy your holidays. If your city square installs a huge real tree then go enjoy it. And if it upsets you, sign a petition.

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