Compost Confidential

Tree Topping; If you Love your Trees, Leave them Alone

 When it comes to gardening and landscaping, I seem to be spending a lot more time telling people what not to do, rather than the other way around. Let’s face it, there’s no shortage of information out there on how to plant a tree, grow a lawn, or prune your roses. But apparently, not enough people are getting the message when it comes to what not to do.

Case in point, this time every year, I get a stark reminder of a problem across the country, but especially in smaller towns like mine. Tree topping is rampant and with no apparent end in sight. Despite numerous campaigns by such organizations as Plant Amnesty, and articles by the International Society of Arboriculture and other credible sources, people still do what they do. In this case, maim, mangle and ultimately kill beautiful trees. 

Even when it becomes necessary to prune encroaching trees, there’s a right way to do anything, but coat rack cutting is not one of them. The lead picture in this post was taken before its inevitable demise. Few trees can withstand the incredible stress put on them by such drastic measures, especially when the process is repeated year after year. This tree, like so many others is gone. Only a stump remains, a stark reminder of its fate at the hand of human ignorance.

 There are so many abuses of tree topping here, I’ve pretty much stopped taking pictures of them. They all are atrocious and equally disheartening to look at. These days, I’m taking more pictures of the ultimate fate of these topped trees once they start coming down. Alone, an image of a stump doesn’t tell much of a story. But when you put that next to the images of the same tree from prior seasons, a story dramatically unfolds.

No doubt, we act in a heard mentality. See one person doing it, then another and before you know it, we’re all doing it, with no real knowledge as to why. Either that, or the guys with the chainsaw and a pickup are great sales people with no conscience. I keep waiting for the opportunity to catch someone in the act of actually committing such crimes against trees so I can ask what they’re rationale is. 

So as I try to close out this post on a positive note, let me attempt to encourage sound landscaping practices by saying what should be done; you should...NOT top your trees!

Oh well, I tried.

Joe Lamp’l

p.s. There’s so much more to say about tree topping and why it’s bad. You can read an article I wrote about that, here.

Saving 1,007,000,000 Backyard Birds - Audubon’s Dr. Stephen Kress…

Yesterday I finished my forth show of my new podcast series, entitled Growing a Greener World. For this episode, I interviewed Dr. Stephen Kress of the Audubon Society. He has some impressive credentials including Vice President of Bird Conservation and Director of the Seabird Restoration Program. He’s also the author of some awesome books on birding.

As an avid backyard birder myself, I found my interview as much self-serving as anything else. My topic was to be Caring for Backyard Birds in Winter. But it was so full of important and useful information; I wanted to share some of those highlights with you right now. Here are some of his comments from our conversation:

• It’s estimated that one billion birds die each year from window strikes. Many of those are from startled birds flying away from feeders placed too close to the house. The danger zone is between 3 and 30 feet. If you’re going to have a feeder near the house, put it within three feet. That way, they won’t have enough momentum built up should they fly into your window. The alternative is to place it beyond 30 feet away.
• It’s a myth that birds are dependent on feeders for food. Feeders do much more for us than any bird. Birds are so mobile, they have plenty of opportunities to find food elsewhere. In fact, only a few of the thousands of bird species actually visit feeding stations. And for those that do, it’s really only a supplement to their natural diet of insects, seed and fruit.
• Caring for backyard birds in winter doesn’t require a constant supply of feeder food either. Even then, it’s only under extreme conditions that supplemental food sources become important.
• Tidy gardeners are not good bird gardeners. All birds need the same basic things for survival: food, shelter, water, nesting sights and perches. Trees, shrubs, vines and ground covers best provide those. And the more complex we can make that habitat (through layers, depth and mixed ground covers) the more birds we’ll attract.
• Many of those tidy gardeners are killing birds by poisoning the insects they feed on. An estimated seven million birds die in our backyards each year because of lawn chemicals. If we like birds, we need to create more habitats for bugs and insects too. Then the birds will keep them in check.

In the end, there was much more to our conversation than simply caring for backyard birds in winter. And the more I replayed it, the more I learned. If you’d like to hear my interview with Dr. Kress, it’s episode 004 and you can listen to it here.

One Tragic Case of Intentional Colony Collapse

I had just started reading Rowan Jacobsen’s book; Fruitless Fall; The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis. With book in one hand and a good glass of wine in the other, I settle into my chair on this cold Saturday night.  I picked back up at the start of chapter two; How the Honey Bees Conquered the World when the email arrives. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to check it right then but for some reason this time I did. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw and even more disturbing when you consider the timing.

See for yourself and mourn with me one more sad case of human ignorance on the impact of nature. Although true Colony Collapse Disorder is still a mystery, this particular case is not. Apparently this email is circulating in cyberspace. A quick Internet search of Mortien, the insecticide pictured below, is a common pest control in Australia. Ideally, I would like to have confirmed the details and validate the content before posting. I’d like to think this didn’t really happen but I know better. In fact, it happens all too often. I’ve been on my soapbox too long to think otherwise. These pictures from that email tell the rest of the story.

 

Could there be any justification for this course of action? Was the homeowner allergic to bees? If so, they never said so. And besides, couldn't a beekeeper  have safely removed and relocated this colony to another location? To the contrary, the description in this email by the author tells me they were quite proud of their 'success'. Terms included: I thought I was pretty smart hehehe, and weapon of buzz destruction. They also mentioned that although the poison they used was not labeled for bees, they tried it anyway. Hel-loooo-oh. The brand of chemical pictured above isn’t important. If it weren’t that, it would be something else. But maybe there’s a reason you don’t see Honey bee bombs for sale anywhere Mr. or Mrs. Einstein? Yet, as I travel the country, speaking to groups about the delicate balance of nature, too few people realize the impact of their actions by treating cases like this the very same way. 

Finally, as if to defend this tragic massacre in some way, the email author ends their comments with this; "We think the queen flew away..either that or a small child has wings and has been living in the hive cos that thing was huge!" Really! Please help awaken others to the sad events of this story and let me know how you feel below. Thank you.

Joe Lamp’l

Keeping the “G” in HGTV – Why that’s not so E Z

Well it’s been an interesting few days with my post entitled; The Future of Gardening; Dead or Alive? It prompted some interesting replies and I found that this is a topic that’s pretty hot all over the blogosphere. In particular, what’s up with all the networks that used to carry great gardening shows?

The comments led me to write an article yesterday for my syndicated column with Scripps Howard News Service. It was entitled; Keep the “G” in HGTV Please. Essentially it was an observation on what the networks think about gardening TV. As I started to write this column, it occurred to me that my employer for this weekly revenue stream is the same company that owns HGTV and DIY Network, which just happens to be where I got my start in television. Consequently, I found myself second-guessing if I was headed down a perilous road with this topic.

As I thought through want I wanted to communicate, I realized I had no disparaging remarks against the networks. In fact, it was quite an unemotional analysis of why we are seeing less and less gardening shows on the for-profit networks these days. My seven years now as host of gardening shows on DIY and PBS has allowed me a unique perspective as both a serious gardener and one involved in the television side of the business. Although my role in TV hardly gets me into the inner circle, I have learned a lot about how they make their money.

Just to be sure I wasn’t off base with my assessment as reported, I contacted my friend and former producer of my show on DIY. She also happens to hold claim as the Producer of several other successful shows on HGTV and DIY. She read my article and indeed confirmed my analysis as “right on target”. (You can read it too, here).

She went on to offer the following comment; “Gardening shows do not bring in the ratings. But, landscaping shows do. While not a lot of people "garden", they do landscape. Meaning while they might not be out there planting vegetable gardens they are renovating their yards. If they do garden it is to incorporate an herb garden or blueberry bushes into the landscape. And landscaping shows do bring in the ratings, especially if they have drama”.

Ironically, she went on to say that my article was very timely for her personally.  Today is her very last day of production of a landscape makeover show on HGTV that has been in production for 10 years! In her words, “this was a great run for a landscaping show, or any show. So it proves there is an audience out there for landscaping. We got cancelled mainly because they have a huge inventory now and it is an expensive show to produce”. Fortunately, it was a landscaping show. I wonder what the run would have been if this show had started out in the ‘gardening’ category?

So here’s my question to you; Now that you have a bit more insight into how the networks think when deciding what shows to air, how do we get good gardening programming back on TV, and where it’s not treated like the red-headed stepchild? Any ideas? I’m all ears.
JL

Here’s the link to the complete article as submitted to the news wire. Click here to read now.

Dear Santa...I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Dear Santa,

As you know, I’m really into gardening, especially the ‘green’ kind, like environmentally friendly things such as not using a gas-powered engine for my lawn mower when a rechargeable or push model would do. I know you get what I’m talking about. You’re one of the original pioneers of eco-travel, circling the world every year on nothing but reindeer power (or is that considered natural gas)? Never mind, the point of my letter is it’s been a good year for me in regards to getting some cool stuff for the lawn and garden that’s eco-friendly too. So this year, you can skip my house, conserve a little energy and cut down on the packaging. But, if any of my friends have listed lawn and garden gear on their wish list, can you make it the green kind too?

Just in case you need a few suggestions, here’s what I’d offer them if I were you. First, it’s going to be cold and not much gardening is really going on after the holidays, so lets get them a good book on the subject. The Green Gardener’s Guide by…uhhh, never mind about the author. But it is the perfect resource to get them in the right frame of mind for spring.

Next, for those weekend warriors on your list, rechargeable lawn and landscape tools are awesome and these days, they’re a lot more powerful -- like the gasoline burning, C02 spewing mowers and blowers. Personally, I’ve been using my Brill push reel mower (pictured above), and it works quite well. They would make great gifts since they’re pretty cheap and don’t take up as much room in your sleigh. By the way, if you run short on product, I found a neat online store that sells a lot of eco-friendly tools. They’re called Clean Air Gardening and you can check them out for yourself online when you get a chance.

Finally, we all need a good pair of gloves. I recently heard about the newest style from West County Gardener that will be out in early 2009. It’s made from recycled plastic water bottles. For every pair that’s made, one less bottle makes it to the landfill. Now that’s very cool, don’t you think Santa? So, that’s it for now. I know you have a lot more letters to read and work to do. 

All the best and safe travels to you, Rudolf and the others.
Thanks Santa. Your friend,

Joe Lamp’l

(p.s. to my readers…although I might make a few pennies from a purchase of my book on Amazon, I have no affiliation with Brill mowers, Clean Air Gardening or West County Gardener. Just passing on some over the fence info, gardener to gardener)

The Future of Gardening; Dead or Alive?

Any reader of the great garden blog, Garden Rant, likely saw a recent post by the well loved and respected Allan Armitage. Entitled; Gardening is a four-letter word; the education of a plant guy, he expressed some concerns about it’s current popularity. In the end, he gave hope and encouragement to the future of plants and gardening.  

I too have some of the same concerns, and like Allan, feel that gardening is too important to simply fade into the sunset. Unfortunately, I feel we have our work cut out for us to keep it higher on people’s priority list, at least for the near future. As a full-time gardening communicator, this is made apparent to me everyday.  I responded to his post with a few observations of my own. Take a moment to read what I said and let us know what you think.

“Hi Allan and you sure picked a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Is gardening dead? No, but you'd never know that by trying to find a gardening show on television. Or, even trying to read up on a few gardening columns in your local paper. Many newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal had a dedicated, weekly section for "Home and Garden", now relegated to just a few pages within another section.

Unfortunately, many of the television networks, i.e. HGTV and DIY, have all but dropped gardening for two reasons. According to an HGTV exec-producer friend of mine, "gardening" isn't on any network's radar anymore. Landscaping maybe, but only if it's a makeover show. Please not another one of those! The young network execs, don't relate to "gardening" and their advertising-driven clients don't see us as a lucrative target audience for their product.

Similarly, those same big money advertisers don't seem to want television hosts over 30 hosting "their" shows since the viewers they want to attract are late teens to mid 20's; sadly, a group not yet viewed as a target demographic for gardening, too busy to do it themselves and who doesn't identify with "more mature" experts.

When I was picked to host Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network, they were looking for a "Real"gardener between 35 and 45. Perfect, and it made sense. Now, 25 is pushing the upper limits! Just ask former "mature" TV Gardening hosts Joe Washington, Erica Glasener, Rebecca Kolls and most recently, Paul James. Not only did I learn a lot by watching these and other shows, they made me want to garden. Sadly, we have less of those opportunities than ever. And Allan, even the show you were a part of on PBS, was too short-lived and the one I host, constantly struggles with funding support. Advertisers we've relied on for years aren't putting the money towards gardening.

So, maybe my perspective is a bit different, but I'm out there as much as anybody and I can tell you, although gardening is not a four letter word, we are having to work harder than ever to convince people of that. As avid gardeners, educators, and communicators, I believe we all need to cast a spotlight on the "importance of gardening". We already know what it does for us mentally and physically, but done properly, it helps the environment, promotes nutrition and health, teaches our children, unites strangers and nurtures our souls”.

What do you think? Is gardening alive and well, or are we losing ground to a world of increasing demands for our time and resources?
JL

Bottleband???

This weekend I ran into some good friends at Greenfest in D.C. Anneliese Valdes and her brother Geoff were there showing off my favorite weeding tool (the CobraHead) to eco-conscience and savvy consumers. We had a nice but brief visit, but I made sure to give each of them one of our cool and totally green joegardener.com wristbands.

This morning, I received an email from Anneliese thanking me for the band but admitting she’s not much for wearing them around her wrist. However, she did offer up an alternative that she has found very helpful. When placed around her water bottle, it keeps it happily in place in her backpack pocket, rather than sliding out at will (like mine did on an airplane overhead bin. The lady’s head that was the recipient of this falling object was not the least bit amused…but I digress). Anyway, did I say wristband??? I meant “bottle band”. Yeah, that’s it, bottlebands! Get em’ while they last folks.

But seriously, if you want one of these bands for wherever you put it, just let us know and we’ll send it to you for free. The other side of the band, and more importantly, says, “growing a greener world”, and that’s the real message.

Joe Lamp’l

Sustainability and Gardening; Talk is Cheap but Change is Coming

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to address the nursery industry and home gardeners on the subject of sustainability. Although a thousand miles or more separated these two events, and the story told a bit differently, the message was the same; we are consuming natural resources at an unsustainable rate. And without the combined efforts of gardeners and the industry that supplies our habit (along with help from the rest of the world) we won’t be leaving behind these resources for future generations.

I don’t mean to sound as though we’re the ones responsible for this problem. But it is ironic, that as a group, we are the ones doing so much to beautify this planet, and we do so with such good intentions. Unfortunately, for many of us, that process includes the use of excessive chemicals, equipment that pollutes the air, consumptive practices that deplete water resources and excessive waste burdening our landfills.

The underlying message from my research on sustainability and gardening is that as a group, we really want to be more eco-friendly. Environmental stewardship, we say, is either very important or somewhat important according to studies conducted by the National Gardening Association. Other surveys support these claims. The truth is, we have a long way to go. Although we say it’s important, only a small percentage of those claiming its importance even know what to do to make a difference. I find that discouraging yet I see tremendous opportunity.

Some of the reasons we’re not there yet? Gardening consumers still question the effectiveness of more eco-friendly products. Others think they’re too expensive. Some are confused by all the claims (a.k.a. greenwashing) while others either don’t have enough information or they can’t find the products on the store shelves. The good news is, all of these claims can be resolved…in time. How quickly depends on many things. But one thing I know, it will take the collective efforts of people in the industry as well as home gardeners and weekend warriors to walk their talk and get the message out to others.

Events like the Sustainability conference in Frisco, TX and the Green Festival in Washington, D.C are encouraging. The DC conference was exciting and the buzz from the vendors and attendees was contagious. The festival is growing in size every year and the momentum is growing. Gardeners want to do the right thing and events like these are a reassuring reminder of that.

Joe Lamp’l
joegardener.com; growing a greener world

From Dallas to D.C, A Busy Weekend of Talking “Sustainability”

In a few minutes I leave for Dallas to address the nursery industry on Sustainability, specifically is this a consumer trend consumers that has staying power? Next, it’s a dash up to Washington, D.C for a presentation to home gardeners at The Green Festival. So, for the next 48 hours, I’ll be doing a lot of talk’n on eco-friendly gardening to industry insiders, home gardeners and weekend warriors.

Regarding my thoughts on the staying power on sustainability? Lucky for you I have a plane to catch. But don’t get me started! Absolutely, it’s here to stay and frankly, it has a long way to go before people put their money where their mouth is. There is a lot of talk about wanting to be more environmentally responsible but the stats don’t yet support this widespread acceptance. We (you and me and other gardeners, educators, retailers, etc) who really are doing something about it now, have a lot of work to do to debunk much confusion and a lack of consistent information out there for others to make an informed decision on a change to a greener way of gardening.

So, expect a much more embellished post when I return on Monday and I’ll add to this thought and share with you some of my take-aways from the weekend. In the mean time, feel free to chime in and let me know your thoughts too. Thanks.
JL

What does Sustainability mean to You?

I'm really interested in your feedback on this one. This weekend I will present to the nursery and landscape industry at a conference in Texas. My topic is on sustainability, specifically “Is Sustainability Really a Consumer Trend?”

So, without any pretty picture to set the stage, I’m interested in hearing what you have to say on this subject. The big box stores and other retailers have recognized this trend and have positioned their product lines and marketing messages to incorporate sustainability. But what does it really mean? Most importantly, as gardeners and people who care about the environment, what does sustainability mean to you? How do  you  do your part and what would you like to see retailers, specifically the nursery and landscape industry do  to help?  I look forward to hearing what you have to say and passing on some of your points during my presentation. Thanks.
JL