My Last Tree Column

I've been editing my neighborhood newsletter for two and a half years now. One of the main benefits of this job is that I've had a free forum for my native gardening and tree canopy advocacy.  I've just sent my final edition to the printer, and with it my final Tree Talk column.  Here it is:

 Tree Talk: Restoring Our Community’s Native Tree Canopy

My Last Tree Column
This is my last newsletter and tree column. My family is being transferred to Italy for three years. If there’s anything to report about trees and wildlife in Rome, I’ll send a dispatch, but the wildlife will probably be of a different nature.

Before turning to trees, I’d like to say what a rewarding experience it has been editing this newsletter. Thanks to Bruce for providing me the design and training to get started. Thanks to my ad man, Marty. Thanks to my newsletter carriers for going out in all kinds of weather to bring the newsletter to your home. Thanks also to my skillful writers, without whom there would be no news. And of course thanks to my husband for doing even more work on the newsletter than I do, even though I get all the credit and the glory. Oh the glory.

Over the last two and a half years, I have gently nudged my neighbors in the direction of tree planting, tree care and native gardening for invertebrate and vertebrate biodiversity support. I’d like to recap here the concepts I think are most important and urgent.

Plant native trees for all their benefits. Trees save energy and save you money. They purify the air and the water. They conserve the soil and provide wildlife food and shelter.

Not all native trees are equal. We’re lucky in the mid-Atlantic region because Dr. Doug Tallamy at the University of Delaware has been measuring which trees provide the most benefit to wildlife here. His prioritized lists can be found on his website. But basically, the most valuable natives for wildlife support are oak, cherry, willow, birch, poplar, crabapple, blueberry bush and maple. Be sure to plant local, native versions of these plants because European and Asian plants don’t feed the invertebrates that are the foundation of our local food web. Read Dr. Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home or simply click on “What to Plant” on his website http://bringingnaturehome.net/

Water young trees 25 gallons a week. Every weekend, take stock of the previous week’s rain. If it hasn’t rained much, soak the ground around the root spread, which is at least as wide as the canopy spread.

Plant trees in the right spot. Determine the height and canopy spread the tree will have at maturity. Make sure it won’t inter-fere with power lines, buildings, driveways and neighbors’ property. Call Miss Utility before you dig. In Virginia, dial 811. http://va811.com/

Put mulch under trees instead of grass. Spread it 3 inches thick and keep it 3 inches away from the trunk. Spread it out as wide as the farthest branches. Each year, make the circle a bit wider. Mulch keeps roots moist, provides nutrients and keeps down weeds. It also keeps lawn mowers and weed whackers away from the trunk. Arlington leaf mulch is awesome. Pick some up for free or have it delivered for a small fee: http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/SW/Residential/page83856.aspx

Leave the leaves. Trees make their own best mulch by dropping their leaves. Even evergreens drop their leaves, just not all at once. Rake the lawn, driveway and patio, but leave a circle of leaves at the base of each tree, and leave the leaves that fall on your flowerbeds as well. Not only do they benefit from the nutrients and moisture, but the leaves contain the larvae and pupae of next year’s butterflies!

Let me tell you ’bout the birds and the bees. Native plants support moths and butterflies, who in turn support the birds. They also provide food for pollinators. Simply put, native plants are the foundation of the web of life. Don’t forget we are caught up in that web.

Tolerate some leaf damage. Native plants help insects by being their food. If there are holes in your foliage, it means you were successful in choosing good bug food.

And last, but certainly not least, take ivy off trees. What looks like a lovely little green plant can actually strangle trees, accelerate rot, attract mosquitoes and cause mature trees to fall down during storms. Visit the TreeSteward website for more information on ivy removal and tree care, and visit the master gardener and tree tables at the Arlington Courthouse Farmers’ Market on Saturdays in summer.

Cory's Baked Native Garden

Today was the hottest June day in Washington, DC in recorded history, at 104 degrees F.  It's been over 100 degrees F. for a couple of days now here in Northern Virginia, and I'm watching as my native garden bakes. Leaves are drooping, flowers are turning brown, and not even early morning watering perks them up. I'm watching four years of planning, purchasing, planting and nurturing native plants as they wilt, and I'm wondering if they will be hardy enough to withstand this assault. I'm hoping that, as natives accustomed to this climate, they have programmed in their genetic code a mechanism to protect themselves from this dry heat.  And if the leaves and flowers don't hang on, will there be time this season for the plants to grow new leaves and flowers?

I tout the benefits of growing native plants to my neighbors, and one of the selling points I use is that the plants don't need as much care, don't need as much water, don't need fertilizer, because they have adapted to our soil and climate over thousands of years. I guess what we're going to see is how well they handle an extended period of dry heat.

We just got hit with a frightening and severe thunderstorm tonight, a rare weather event called a Derecho, which is sort of a long, horizontal tornado, fueled by dry heat on the front side and cooler rain on the back side. The derecho caused a huge, multi-state swath of downed trees, deaths and power outages. Hundreds of thousands of households, businesses and government agencies lost power for days. We were very lucky in our home to have no damage, but there were trees snapped off like toothpicks, with at least 5 trees blocking streets within 5 blocks of our house.  We hosted one family seeking refuge from their unbearably hot house, and others stopped by to charge phones and cook food to use it up before it went bad.  Actually, I observed a great deal of  camaraderie and cooperation among neighbors over the last few days.  The storm brought the temperature down about 20 degrees in 20 minutes, but the temperatures are going to stay in the mid- to high 90s for the next nine days. Poor plants. Poor bugs. Poor birds. Poor mammals.  We shall see how this all turns out.