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Arborist Insights

Sep 04
0

Get Inspired!

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Events, Landscaping | No Comments

The Inspiration Garden run by the City of Coquitlam is a fun place to visit for all home gardeners and green professionals. I often bike by and stop to brush up on my plant identification skills. And I visit one of my favorite tree species, a specimen of Albizia julibrissin. Its flower fragrance has to be experienced. I can not describe it. It is blooming right now….

There are Ask the Gardener sessions on Thursdays from 6 and 8pm; the iGarden is staffed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

If you find yourself in Coquitlam or have some spare time on Saturdays, stop by for a visit. It is located in Town Centre Park, on the corner of Guildford Way and Pipeline Road. Bring your questions, walk through the garden and test your plant knowledge. Or just sit down and relax.

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Living wall, a developing trend

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Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria)

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Aug 28
0

Fight Invasive Plants with One Simple Step

By | Arborist Insights, Landscaping | No Comments

At a Starbucks recently, I ran into a friend who fights invasive plants with a municipal department. After covering the usual enemies -see below-, she shared with me her number one frustration. Homeowners who dump their pots into wild municipal zones. Yes, the local garden stores sell the plants and they’re fine nicely contained in your home garden. Once they’re dumped into open spaces they spread and displace native vegetation, affecting local ecology and soils. Municipalities then spend tax money fighting this problem. Discard your unwanted pots and plants with your Proper landscaper or at your local transfer station. It may even be free for residents.

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Lamium in the woods, five meters from the road

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Discarded pot full of bulbs and who knows what else……

Two other common invasive plants.

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Hedera helix

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Vinca minor

Aug 21
0

Annual Cuts

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Landscaping, Seasonal | One Comment

Every year I look for new experiences, both in my personal life and at work. This year I got a chance to work on annual cuts for the first time. This involves line-trimming meadow like fields and buffer zones using heavy-duty line. It can take days, and it will not be done for another year. Large areas are covered by Deere ride-on mowers.

Sometimes it feels like harvest time and the view can be great depending on your exact location. If you are working close to people, stop and let them pass.

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Annual cut detail shot

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Not a bad place to spend a day….

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Stop to let people and pets go by…..

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Heavy duty line

​If time permits, harvest ripe blackberries (Rubus discolor) before pushing back the thorny invasive canes. There are other hazards! The tall growth can hide all sorts of objects and small animals. I recommend using a full face shield but they are awkward and expensive. Goggles, ear protection and pants are mandatory. Use a hat, sun screen and bring water.

Best Advice: if you are not using a full face shield, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH! Little voles usually run away from the noise but I did not expect to decapitate two garter snakes in the space of three minutes. And I hate snakes. Harsh previous experience has thought me to look out for improperly discarded doggy bags; the contents defy description after six months of sitting in a meadow. Then there is garbage and rocks which can become nasty projectiles.
It feels great once the work is safely completed.

Aug 14
0

Follow local gardening guru Steve Whysall and learn!

By | Arborist Insights, Books, Education, Landscaping, Resources, Tips | No Comments

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Imagine my excitement last year when I discovered that my kids were having play-dates with Steve Whysall’s grandkids! Mr. Whysall has been writing about gardening for the Vancouver Sun since 1994. Look for his column on Fridays, usually on page C3. You are guaranteed to learn new things. I often rip out the section and file it.

Mr. Whysall has also published several books and organizes overseas garden tours. While the tours are attractive they are way over my family budget. I am, however, ready to plug what I consider to be his most useful book.

Best plant picks, slightly beat up and autographed, has served me really well. The book is a neat month by month guide for our West Coast gardens. I use it to practice plant identification and to review the list of garden tasks to be performed on a particular month. As the seasons pile up, I can run through the list of plants much quicker. Always learn about new plants and review them.

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For more information visit www.stevewhysall.com. It is my humble opinion that the website could use an upgrade but it is still useful. If your family budget allows, please subscribe to the Vancouver Sun newspaper at www.vancouversun.com.

Jul 31
0

Nature Pill?

By | Arborist Insights, Landscaping | No Comments

We know conclusively that we can derive health benefits from spending time in nature, or even just by looking at nature. The Japanese have their own research called shinrin-yoku or forest bathing. Read more on this here:http://www.shinrin-yoku.org/shinrin-yoku.html

Now some researchers are working on the big remaining questions: What dose of nature exposure is needed to achieve maximum mental and physical health benefits? (How long and how frequently?) Perhaps one day we will get nature pills. Read more here: http://dirt.asla.org/2015/06/03/what-dose-of-nature-do-we-need-to-feel-better/

This all means that having beautiful, healthy landscaping around your house or business can be good for your health!

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Jul 24
0

Meet My Hero….

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Resources | One Comment

Linda_Chalker-Scott-recentDr. Linda Chalker-Scott is my hero. She is an associate professor and extension urban horticulturist at Washington State University.

In her books The Informed gardener and The informed gardener blooms again she uses science to examine common garden and landscape myths. Warning: she explodes many common myths.

Sustainable Landscape and Gardens is more of a technical manual which can be ordered directly from Linda. Her latest book How plants work is a fantastic book for gardeners everywhere and green professionals. I finished the book while travelling in Japan in late May and my review will appear in a future blog.
Linda also writes in popular magazines and has published extensively in scientific literature. We have already seen reference to her technical paper on mulches in an earlier blog.

So why a hero?

  1. She is a Ph.D. and gardener who uses sound science
  2. She translates hard science into understandable and thus usable information for all gardeners and green professionals, and, this is important
  3. She is “local”

If you are a gardener or green professional, you will love her work. If you read it and study it, it will make you a better professional or gardener. Google her today and thank me later. I hope to meet her at a future seminar…..

Linda-Chalker-Scott-books 9781604693386s

Jul 17
0

Hunting for japonicas in Western Japan

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Landscaping, Resources | No Comments

I always wanted to do this: travel to Japan, explore on a bike and catalogue as many japonica/japonicum plants as possible. The list below is from my visit this past May to Niigata City, Niigata prefecture, Japan. It’s situated on the Japan Sea in what is known as the snow country.

Cammelia Japonica
Camellia japonica

Tilia-japonica
Tilia japonica

Aucuba japonica
Aucuba japonica

Please run through the list and see how many you know. BC residents should get a high score.

  1. Spirea japonica
  2. Fatsia japonica
  3. Styrax japonica
  4. Aucuba japonica
  5. Pieris japonica
  6. Camellia japonica
  7. Callicarpa japonica
  8. Cercidiphyllum japonicum
  9. Hamamelis japonica
  10. Tilia japonica
  11. Alnus japonica
  12. Gleditsia japonica
  13. Carpinus japonica
  14. Hypericum japonicum
  15. Ligustrum japonicum
  16. Eurya japonica
Jul 03
0

Adding Summer Colour

By | Arborist Insights, Landscaping, Resources, Seasonal, Tips | No Comments

Adding summer color to your garden can be quite easy. Look what happens when you use a simple two plant combination. Blue Salvias work great with Impatients. You can pick your favorite colors and have some fun arranging them. The taller Salvias go in the back. Make sure everything is well-watered. Next season change things up with a different combination or add other plants.

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Jun 26
0

Pyracantha (Firethorn)

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Landscaping, Security | No Comments

2015summer-052Recently  I was asked to plant thirty nine Pyracanthas in New Westminster so it’s a good time to examine this evergreen shrub belonging to the Rosaceae family.

It’s related to Cotoneaster but its leaves have serrated margins and it has thorns.

White flowers come out in early summer and later berries. Pyracantha is a good alternative to artificial walls and fences. It’s also good for wildlife because birds can nest in it, the summer flowers are good for bees and the berries provide food.

Pyracantha is easy to grow and requires little maintenance. Pruning for shape can be done three times a year.

Here is the key feature: the dense thorny structure makes Pyracantha valued in situations where an impenetrable barrier is required. This is why I found myself in New Westminster with thirty nine prickly specimens. The planting happened along the outer parkade walls because of several recent break-ins. Watch out bad people!

Jun 19
0

Something new from Western Japan

By | Arborist Insights, Education, Landscaping, Resources | No Comments

On my recent visit to Western Japan I ran into three interesting plants, showing that plant identification work can be done even while travelling.
What plants have YOU discovered?

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Bletilla striata (urn orchid)

This plant is very popular in Niigata city.

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Callistemon speciosus

This is a shrub in the Myrtaceae family, endemic to Australia. It flowers in spring or early summer. The flowers look like bottlebrushes;
the obvious parts of the flower are stamens with pollen at the tip of the filaments.

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Dahlia imperialis

8-10m tall, tuberous, herbaceous perennial; rapidly growing from the base after a dormant winter period, developing brittle, cane-like, four-angled stems with swollen nodes and large tri-pinnate leaves, those near the ground soon being shed
Flowers in autumn before the first frost.