Who we are and what we do
Shades of Green Horticulture strives to provide education and guidance, and to create optimal, sustainable plant health in your garden, woodland, orchard, or landscape. Based on firm tenets of organic gardening practice, using absolutely no toxic chemicals or inorganic fertilizers, we will assist all those desiring our expertise to become better stewards of their own piece of Mother Earth. Our professional staff is passionate about creating healthy, vibrant ecolandscapes by offering, and openly sharing, the best 100% organic management practices for trees and shrubs, food gardens, or open spaces. Whether your green space is large or small, the principles are the same--a healthy soil food web means healthy plants. We are here to answer your questions and solve the problems you have in your garden naturally. It is as simple as that.
A tree which has lost its head will never recover it again, and will survive only as a monumet of the ignorance and folly of its Tormentor. ~George William Curtis
For most of the arborists and tree lovers I know, driving around in winter time to look at bare trees and evergreens was once a pleasant pastime. Their form and grace was evident and their beauty unmistakable. Now it is an excruciating experience. Evidenced on almost every street is grim and absolute proof that tree pruning is becoming tree hacking or tree butchering. Crowns of once beautiful trees are reduced to pitiful eyesores of ugly stubs as the branches are rounded over with chain saws, as if shearing a giant shrub. Entire tops of magnificent old specimens are simply removed because they outgrow their boundaries whether too high or too wide. These negligent and widely used practices will contribute to the steady decline and eventual death of the trees they abuse for a number of reasons:
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On the wall of my office hang several brightly colored posters from the International Society of Arboriculture that demonstrate how to prune, plant, choose and correctly locate trees in the landscape. They are simple, easy to understand and offer sound advice. I’m amazed at how many people look them over and then exclaim cheerfully, “I like this one best!”
They are talking about the poster titled “HOW TO KILL A TREE”, depicting a miserable specimen in great distress. The picture illustrates what people do, not usually on purpose, that not only injure and wound, but also stunt, drown, weaken, poison, torture and eventually destroy trees. Yes, it is a cartoon but these things happen for real–every single day. Read the rest of this entry »
Nest in azalea standard girdled with green tape-ironic, huh??
There is a myth that green plastic nursery tape cannot hurt a plant as it “just stretches as the plant grows”. It has its limits, believe me . Let’s focus on trees as defenseless victims of ”forgotten” green tape. Most are grown by being tied to stakes, very tightly, as if they were going to try to escape. They go from being tied to little stakes to being tied to bigger stakes and often times, by the time the stakes are to be changed or removed, the green tape has reached its limits and has ‘grown’ into the bark of the tree. This is called “included bark”. Sometimes it ‘grows’ into the crotches of the branches, essentially separating the branch from its parent branch (the trunk or the nearest bigger branch.) And, although it looks like you can just pull the tape out, (or clip off the ends so no one else sees it), the damage has already been done. The slightest pressure on the branch separated from its parent by hidden tape (or old labels, or wire from some kinds of tags, or string) and off it comes, taking another part of the tree with it, many times with fatal damage. It has no choice but to die–in agony. OK, maybe that sounds a bit extreme, but do you know for sure that they don’t die in agony? Read the rest of this entry »
“The symbolism-and the substantive significance-of planting a tree has universal power in every culture and every society on Earth, and it is a way for individual men, women, and children to participate in creating solutions for the environmental crisis.”
Al Gore, Earth in the Balance
It can be difficult to write new things about oaks, for they have fascinated humanity since the beginning. They were sacred to Zeus and Jupiter; the Druids revered and worshipped them-I think with good reason. Their size can be humbling and their longevity is legend. They stand for dignity and loyalty and strength. So why then are the native oaks disappearing? How can it be that we, mere humans, are managing to destroy vast stands of California’s native oaks, living and thriving long before we arrived? Read the rest of this entry »
