Climbed in Great Barrington yesterday. 3 trees. The 3rd and final tree of the day was likey planted when the house was built, 1787 the year our constitution was written! Albany Public Radio was there along w/ a few newspapers. The pics were taken by professional photographer & tree lover Tom Zetterstrom of Elm watch. Pete, my employee, will be climbing the next few days and by the weekend the trees bud will be to far open to gather anymore sample for the year.



in the above photo...
Try to find the long tailed lemur in the canopy, rare in these parts

Elm Project, Day 6

Climbed a 100+foot elm down along the Ct. River banks in W. Springfield. Had a view of the river, stripped cars, a bald eagle, massive cottonwoods, Eddies Auto and a guy from the local news w/ a camera who looked awfully out of place. Got some choice pollen. Street value of this stuff is big time.

The Nature Conservency Article, Elm Project

An article has just been written and posted on The Nature Conservency's website about the collaboration between us and them. See link below. Tomorrow I climb a 300 yr. old elm in Hatfield, MA




http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/massachusetts/newsroom/ma-elm-survivors.xml

I teamed up last year with the Trustees of the Reservation. To design and install a native sustainable landscape for a new property they had acquired. Check out the link if it sounds of interest.




http://www.hilltowntreeandgarden.com/portfolio-native-sustainable-landscape-trustees-reservation-ashfield-ma.html

Mature Tree Preservation (sugar maple)

Today I worked on perserving some old historic sugar maples. Part of the old Graves homestead in Williamsburg MA. Last fall we organically fertilized & mulched the trees. The clients are committed to perserving the historic aspects of the landscape and we have worked on dozens of mature sugar maples on the property. The client, looking towards the future, has been replanting with trees more likely to be able to handle the future changing environment.

Elm Project with The Nature Conservency

Elm project w/ Nature Conservancy. In a few weeks I will begin a project w/ the N.C. trying to increase the genetic diversity of our native elms. I will be climbing the tallest elms in W. Mass and getting pollen from the highest braches.
The branches will be sent to Ohio for the pollen to be crossed w/ other elms of great size, vigor & dutch elm resistance. Hence a tree which will stand up to a myriad of future challenges. Stay tuned for more details.





Today (3/20/13) was my first day teaming up w/ The Nature Conservency. Climbed 3 HUGE elms in N. Conn. Had to get pollen from the highest braches, 100+feet. 3 down, 21 more to go in the next 9 days. I can believe they pay me to do this!

Views. red tail hawk leaves its nest in a dead cottonwood. flood plains of the Ct. river. frozen corn stubble defies the gusts. horse & sulkie trot, while red tail cries and circles, ice chunks float down the river. sprigs of green to ignorant to know any better poke through last nights snow. swollen buds raining down trillions of pollen seeds. spring.

February Garden Chores

While my hemlock are bending under the weight of snow, there is no shortage of garden prep work you can be doing now.



5 garden things to do on a cold snowy late February day (when you kids are home from school again because of snow!)

1) Peruse thorough seed catalogs. Not only do some make for good reading (Fedco is my favorite http://www.fedcoseeds.com/ ) But it will give you the opportunity to learn a bit more about the culture of growing specific favorite plants.


2) Start seeds. This is a great thing to do with kids. You have not capitulated on getting them that Golden Retriever they have been asking for but what about giving them that…eggplant they have been asking for. Ok, they never asked for it but think what fun for the whole family it would be. This morning my daughter Priya (5 years old) was scooping the soil into the planting cell. My son Forrest (8 years old) was labeling all the plant tags. And I was sowing the seeds.









3) Planning the Orchard. Who would not want a few peach and apple trees in there back yards? Even the smallest back yards (providing you have some sun) can accommodate some of the dwarf varieties. People are often surprised to find out that I grow over 20 kinds of fruits in my back yard here in Chesterfield MA. Apple, apricot, plum, peach, pear, asian pear, persimmons, cherry, strawberry (June and ever-bearing), currants, blackberries (thornless and thorny), raspberries (early, mid and late), blueberries (early, mid and late), grapes, hardy banana, hardy orange, paw paw, watermelon, cantaloupe, beach plum & kiwis. All are organically managed.
If you are looking for locally grown and totally funky fruit check out Steve in Southampton at Tripple Brook Farm http://www.tripplebrookfarm.com/index.shtml
Slightly less esoteric, but great quality is a family run nursery in upstate NY that I often use, Cummings Nursery http://cumminsnursery.com/



4) Design a cold frame or small green house- Have you been picking spinach, mesclun, chard, kale, etc… over the last month. I have and not with to much work either. At its simplest, with a few old recycled windows, scrap 2x4's and the carpentry skills of Bob-The-Builder you are on your way to 4 season gardening. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_frame









4) Plan to incorporate more edibles into your landscape. Why not have a plant do double duty, look beautiful and feed your family?
(photo)