Comments for The Middlebury Landscape

Comment on Vandalism Reward by Kimberly Kneeland

Kimberly Kneeland — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:10:32 +0000

Tim, I just want to let you know, I’m with you (and a lot of my friends)…I think we just go to bed too early to see the perpetrators. Will be keeping our eyes open though!

Comment on The Avocado by Wendy Shook

Wendy Shook — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:56:36 +0000

“a botanical tradition of anthropomorphizing food based upon its looks. (there’s a name for that, anyone know it?)”

I think the term you are looking for the doctrine of signatures.

Comment on Outdoor Art in Context by Douglas Perkins

Douglas Perkins — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:24:21 +0000

Tim, this was a refreshing and wonderful read and a welcome bit of insight into the installation and contextualization of public works of art. I’ll be interested to see what sort of conversation it provokes. Thanks for this.

Comment on No-Mow at Richard Stockton by Ever since November 21, 2011 « Lose the Lawn

Ever since November 21, 2011 « Lose the Lawn — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:16:47 +0000

[...] very similar to this Lose the Lawn. Here is his blog, which I constantly read. I received his response and upon reading, I might change my trial region… Dr. Hossay also mentioned how difficult it [...]

Comment on Tree Removals 2011 by Tim Parsons

Tim Parsons — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:01:29 +0000

Good question!

I’ve never seen a girdling root in the forest, but that isn’t to say it can’t happen. Most girdling roots, however, are probably human faults, the way they may have been grown at a nursery, or the way they may have been transplanted. Trees may not be super intelligent, but they’ve probably figured out how to grow by now. Leave it up to us to mess that up…

I remember landscaping down in Connecticut and seeing an entire yard of Norway maples all about the same age, and all dying young. Most had girdling roots, and our suspicion was that they were transplanted bare root, and the person planting the trees dug small holes, and ‘spun’ the tree around in a circle to get the tree to fit in the hole.

You’ll also see girdling roots in pot bound plants, and should carefully prune those away when planting.

Comment on Tree Removals 2011 by Arabella Holzapfel

Arabella Holzapfel — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:31:56 +0000

Any idea “why” a tree would grow roots around its root flare? Is there something about the nutrition in the soil or other environmental conditions (rocks?) that would cause such tortured root growth?

Comment on Lightning 1, Spruce 0 by Irene Barna

Irene Barna — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:04:14 +0000

I like that tree too…
I walk by that Norway spruce many, many times and look at it carefully at every passing desperately hoping it “would make it”.
I, too, noticed the colonies of fungi marching in “guided” directions. I’d not seen a directional growth pattern like that before. I was perplexed, at the times, why there was such a defined pattern and am now amazed to learn that such a specific below-ground developing condition can have a surface indication of root deterioration.
Another reason I write, before break and tree removal season sets in, is to let you know of my real-time observation of the creation of the mound of cones beneath the large ground-resting branch near the sidewalk.
As I approached one noontime recently I noticed, from a bit of a distance, that a small rodent (thought it might be a red; but it was a small gray) was busily attending to a cone lying in the grass. It picked it up to carry it off revealing that a Norway spruce cone is about the same size as said rodent — no difficulty in carrying it however even having grasped it at the end. Said rodent hustled the cone to beneath the tree and when I arrived near that large branch, I saw that there is now a pile of spruce cones to which this critter was obviously adding. The cone pile is a good foot and a half to two feet in diameter and several inches high and it has not always been there!
So, when the crew arrives to tend to the tree, there could be someone using that pile of cones for winter refuge. Food source? I don’t know. Would it need to hoard to such a specific spot? I’ve read that squirrels do not necessarily find what they’ve buried.

Comment on Lightning 1, Spruce 0 by Tim Parsons

Tim Parsons — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:41:26 +0000

Thanks for reading! Guess I should have been more clear…It’s the spruce closest to McCullough in that big line, not the Holiday tree next to the Mead Chapel sidewalk. The holiday tree had some strange fungi at the base this year too, but I didn’t recognize it as a root rot type, and lost the picture of it somewhere on my hard drive. I’ll ID it when I find it, hopefully it’s not a bad one.

Comment on Lightning 1, Spruce 0 by Jess Isler

Jess Isler — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:34:07 +0000

How sad! Is this the tree that would normally be decorated with lights this time of year?

Comment on Your resume, your life by Luther Tenny

Luther Tenny — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:38:18 +0000

Thinking of new career Tim? Wink Wink. Love, your boss.