PlantAmnesty samplenewsletter.pdfI was doing very well by worm bin standards– checking it daily...

PlantAmnesty Volume XXV • No. 2 www.plantamnesty.org spriNg 2013

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Next Issue:• Conifer Pruning

• Shear Cure—Total Landscape Renovation

• Vegies—By Ivana B. Greene

Misadventures of a Do-GooderBy Ivana B. Greene

I’ve always tried to do what I can to live a more sustainable life. So I thought, why not buy a worm bin? I figured those

busy red wigglers could eat all my food waste and leave me with compost gold: worm castings. I’d get free nutrients for my

garden and I wouldn’t have to do much of anything–just give them my food garbage and watch the poop piles proliferate!

So I bought the very good book, Worms Eat My Garbage. I read, highlighted, and lit-tered stars throughout. I took notes, measured and calculated, and made lots of lists. First, I would need to house my new little pets. It’s too cold outside for red wiggler worms in winter, so if I kept my bin outside, I’d need to bring it indoors in fall. My friends had built an enormous wood trunk for their worms, but it weighed about a gazillion pounds when full. They meant to figure out how to bring it in for winter, but forgot and the worms all died. I could easily envision that as my likely future, so I did the smarter thing and ordered a bin online. The popular, patented Can-O-Worms system promised to be easy to assemble and use, and came with layered plastic trays to reduce work and make harvesting simpler. It was big, it was

exciting, and it fit nicely in our laundry room. After many phone calls, I figured out where to buy red wigglers, so I bought those too. I was about $150 poorer, but filled with at least $175 worth of pride and plans for my more sustainable future.

At the time, I lived in a household with two men and we all loved to cook. With two vegans, one vegetarian, and our own vegetable garden, there was a lot of leftover edible matter to go around. We were the perfect worm bin candidates. Well, sort of. It turns out those tiny worms don’t actually eat that much. You need to wait until they build up their population before you can add larger quantities of food. At the beginning, I could add a small handful of food waste every day or two. After a few months, my wormy family increased so that I could add a slightly larger small handful of food every day or two. It turned out we were perfect candidates, if we had about 20 more worm bins.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULESPart 2

Crown ReductionBy Cass Turnbull

In the first part of this article in the last newsletter, I went over the very few instances when top-

ping or heading trees is OK. And I did so reluctantly because just naming exceptions tends to feed the beast. And by the beast I don’t mean the US government—I mean the overwhelming, universal and seemingly innate desire to fix or control trees. This compulsion has created the defining crisis of the arboricultural field—the fact that 90% of the work done on trees is wrong and bad and shouldn’t be done. That work is tree topping, which looks horrible, costs more, makes trees dangerous, shortens their lives, and doesn’t even work to keep them shorter as they speed up their growth rate to compensate. Nuff said.

Crown Reduction and the Beast

When I was first learning pruning from my mentor, Andrea, she said you

should never top a tree, but if you are going to do it, this is the way, and she proceeded to show me the crown reduction cut that at that time was called a dropcrotch cut. I wondered why she would show me how to do something that shouldn’t be done. For this reason I do not show crown reduction in PlantAmnesty literature, whereas almost every other pruning guide I have seen does. And frequently brochures imply that crown reduction will make a tree safer. This instinctual belief, based on the physics of leverage, may or may not be true. Like adding amendments

A child’s bouquet: dandelions, bluebells, and forget-me-nots

2 ©2013 PlantAmnesty

Exceptions to the Rules continued

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to the planting hole, painting pruning cuts, and staking trees, which seem to be common sense, is not always born out when tested. Even if reducing the size of a tree makes it less prone to breakage and blow down now (remember tree topping does that), the long term ill effects of crown reduction have not been quantified and are rarely given more than a nod by advocates of crown reduction. Questions remain unanswered. Do the roots die back? How much energy is taken up by compartmentalization? How long is such pruning effective? If repeat treatments are necessary what does that do to longevity and health? Are previ-ously crown-reduced limbs as structurally sound as same sized unpruned limbs? Although the idea that a shorter tree equals a safer tree may seem logical, equally logical is that 360 million years of evolution has selected for trees, even tall trees, that are exactly the right size for their root systems.

How Dangerous Are Trees?

The main reason talk of crown reduction pruning puts me on edge because it feeds the beast. I mean, really, just how dan-

gerous are trees? Most trees fail because they have a defect, or they are simply unlucky, being in saturated soils during strong winds, not because they are too big. And this is the point—we need to continue pushing risk assessments for people who fear their trees. Julienne Dunster did a Google search for reports of significant death or injury due to tree failure in the English newspapers of the world for a year. Guess how many tree deaths were due annually to tree failures? Just over 200. That is in the whole English speaking world: Canada, USA, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Hey, 200 people die a day in car accidents. And most of those people hurt by trees were driving during a storm when a tree or tree part hit their car or they were puttering around in their back yards days after a storm. Also, living in a trailer near big trees in Hurricane Alley is danger-ous—well, duh! Size is not the issue. Elephants don’t fall down more often than pigs, though they are more impressive when they go down. Skyscrapers will stand during an earthquake when small, poorly built buildings crumble. I tell people to think of their arborists as building inspectors.

In a perfect world, trees would not be pruned to make them smaller. Only small growing trees would be planted under wires. Fruit trees would all be on super-dwarf rootstock. The perfect hedge would be invented: fast to twenty feet–then it stops going up and stays only three feet wide. The large size of a tree would be a source of pride, not fear. And tree risk assess-ment would become more accurate and common.

The Crown Reduction Cut

I am getting ahead of myself. First we need a definition of a reduction cut (previously called a selective heading cut and a

plantAmnestypO Box 15377, seattle, WA 98115-0377

206-783-9813

www.plantamnesty.org

Email: [email protected]

— Mission statement —To end the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs caused by mal-pruning

(and other common forms of plant mismanagement).

Goals:1. Raise awareness of the problem.2. Provide solutions (referral service, education,

volunteer pruning and care) and ensure they are readily accessible to the public and green industry professionals.

3. Engender respect for plants.

We Affirm:• That our organization is inclusive, tolerant, and

based on grassroots collective action.• That our educational materials are clear, current,

and technically accurate.• That we will maintain a sense of humor and

goodwill while being outspoken on the issues.

— staff —General Manager . . . . Laura Watson

Administrative Assistant . . . . . .Margaret Metz-Holland

— Officers and Board Members —President . . . . . . . . . Cass TurnbullVice President . . . . . . . Marianna ClarkTreasurer . . . . . . . . . Charlotte MossSecretary . . . . . . . . . Kristin Schultz

Jack Bautsch, Mike Ewanciw, Annette Freeman, Alan Lamp

— Newsletter Contributors —Editorial Committee Cass Turnbull, Laura WatsonGraphic Design cbgraphics, Constance BollenContributors Ivanna B. Greene, Margaret Metz-Holland, Bill Rohret, Cass Turnbull, Laura WatsonPhotographers Many, Various, AnonymousArtists Kate AllenPrinting & Distribution Color Printing Systems and AAA Mailing Services, Inc.

Please send us articles, short jokes, artwork, tales, Adopt-A-Plant and Green Share information.

The newsletter is a benefit of membership.

www.plantamnesty.org 206-783-9813 3

I quickly discovered that the wigglers were less like

upcoming hopefuls in an international competitive eating contest and more like five-year old humans–extremely picky when it comes to their meals. Many things they eat very, very slowly, like papery onion skins or banana peels. Other things are simply not to their liking, such as orange peels, so they turn up their little worm noses and don’t eat them at all. So those items just sit there until they begin to grow fur and rot. Also, like children with large chunks of meat, the worms prefer their food to be cut into small bits so it’s easier to handle. To reduce these problems, it is recommended to keep a list of what your worms do and don’t like, and chop food into small pieces. So after we made our own dinner, I’d go through the big pile of food waste, pick out and further chop a few select morsels for picky little pets in the laundry room, and toss the rest.

I was doing very well by worm bin standards–checking it daily and making adjustments to avoid all the following common pitfalls: the bin is too cold or too warm, the bin is too dry or too wet, the bin is too alkaline or too acidic, there’s too much food, or the food is too large or just not tasty enough. I was pleased. Until, at some point, I said to myself, “Hmm, that’s funny. It seems there are an awful lot of critters in there that I didn’t purchase.” I had read that a healthy worm bin is not just filled with worms; it becomes a whole ecosystem in itself. This sounded ok in the book, but in real life it was becoming more distressing by the day. If you’re doing it right, every time you open up a worm bin you discover a new creepy crawler that has taken up residence among the muck. Critters get on the lid too, so be careful where you put that thing. Fungi, mold, millipedes, pillbugs, mites, and many other “beneficials” are all good bud-dies of a healthy worm population. It worried me to think about where they all came from. Did they appear from thin air? I do not know. But some of my friends could no longer look inside without making noises, shuddering, and backing away. At times I would lie in bed and think, “All those things are in my laundry room?? What if it fell over somehow? What if they got out?”

Surprise! They can get out through the aeration holes!! Yes, out of the bin, all of them, together. It’s a form of migration referred to as “worm crawl.” It can happen any time worms don’t

like their conditions and decide it would be better for the herd to relocate–for example, if new worms are added to the bin, or if the pH, temperature, or moisture level is not to their liking. One person online wrote that their worms tried to escape every time a storm was approaching, even when kept indoors. Once outside the bin, the worms quickly desiccate and die, leading to a room full of little rotting, smelly squiggles. Inside your house, I kindly remind you. Other things

that can happen if you’re not doing it right include bad smells (ew); the sudden magical appearance of flying insects such as flies, fruit flies, and fungus gnats (ew); centipedes, ant infesta-tions, springtails (ew, ew, and ew); and even rodents (triple ew).

So don’t think about going on a good long vacation unless you’ve got a house sitter certified in worm wrangling.

Although my worms never tried to escape as a large group, I did have a few isolated worm outings. I also had occasional dripping of brown liquid onto the floor. I added something to catch the drips, but it gave me the shudders. That was around the time the city decided to add street-side food waste pick-up. A cry of relief as I heard the good news! I promptly distributed the entire

contents of the bin into my garden beds, hosed the whole thing down, and sold it to my neighbors. But I did keep the book. I’m curious to hear how the experiment at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina is going. They recently spent $1.2 million to build a 50-foot long, 8,000 square foot worm bin to deal with the airport’s food waste. I hope it works! ▲

Searching for a dry dish towel, Aunt Martha discovers the worm bin.

Misadventures of a Do-Gooder continued from page 1

“I like trees because they seem more

resigned to the way they have

to live than other things do.”

—Willa Cather


dropcrotch cut). According to my copy of the American National Standards ANSI, A-300 Pruning Standards, a reduction cut “reduces the length of a branch” by cutting back to a lateral branch that is “large enough to assume the terminal role.” In plain English that means that the cut will not result in die-back or the creation of watersprouts. The tree looks natural and is low maintenance, unlike topping, which looks bad and must be redone often because of the watersprout regrowth. But crown reduction is not without negative consequences. The damage that is done to the tree is internal. The tree has difficulty walling-off the rot (decay) that enters the cut. Far more so than with a true removal (AKA thin-ning) cut that removes a branch to the collar. Crown reduction is hard on the health of trees. The bigger the cut and the older the tree, the harder it is on the tree. John Hushagen, owner of Seattle Tree Preservation Inc., early in the history of PlantAmnesty denounced dropcrotching by saying, “Let’s call dropcrotching what it is. It’s topping and it is the kiss of death for trees!” In truth, crown reduction is not quite the same as top-ping but it is a close cousin and needs to be done only sparingly.

Size of the Cut

Size matters. The bigger the cut, the worse it is for the tree, which is to say, the more decay gets in, shortening the life

of the tree and perhaps posing a hazard later. Also important is the relative size of the lateral. Older versions of various pruning standards tried to codify this relative size. Some documents said that you should not remove over a quarter of the branch’s foli-age. That’s pretty good advice. Another would say cut back to a lateral that is at least one-half the diameter of the parent stem (that or larger would be ideal). That was revised to “reduce to a lateral that is at least one-third the diameter of the parent stem.” Still way too brutal in my book. The A300 standards has a very scary illustration of this cut that I include here. Yikes! The main reason such a cut is objectionable is that it shows fairly severe reduction on the apparently mature trunk or leader of a tree, as opposed to reduction of the scaffolds, which does far less damage. I can think of very few instances when such a cut would be preferable to removal, including utility pruning when removal is prohibited and fruit tree reduction (apple or pear, not cherry). Otherwise just take the tree out! Big is a relative term,

but just as a point of reference, I get pretty concerned when I see cuts over 4” in diameter on middle aged, mid-sized trees, whether reduction or removal cuts.

Age

Age also matters. If a tree is young, defined as under 15 years, it can

withstand almost any kind or amount of pruning, easily outgrowing the injury, sealing off the rot and putting on many rings of sound wood in the future. But the question remains, why do it? Such a cut does not restrict the height of the tree (it just grows faster) but it will make the tree broader. It might be useful if the top was damaged in a storm or by vandal-ism. Crown reduction cuts are more often correctly used on lateral branches, but age matters here, too. One should not make cuts in older wood, over about five years old. Old trees and unhealthy trees have a

harder time dealing with all kinds of pruning cuts, too, except for deadwood.

Total Amount

The total amount of foliage removed also matters. In general, trees don’t take a lot of pruning, not when compared to, say,

a forsythia. The A300 says “not more than 25% of the foliage should be removed within an annual growing season.” That is the outer limit that should be allowed, and I guess it kinda says that. But when I teach I say that you shouldn’t remove more than an eighth of the foliage and a lot less, like 1/16 if it is the sort of tree that watersprouts easily (cherry, crabapple, plum, magnolia, dogwood). Just to give students an idea of what to expect, I tell them that, on an average tree, 80% of the cuts will be deadwooding, 19% removal, and 1% reduction. A reason for the reduction might be that the limb hangs over the chimney, but a removal cut would be too big. Or, if the tree has previously been headed, you could remove the hydra-like mess at the end of a branch with a nicely placed reduction cut.

Directional-Utility Line Clearance Pruning.

One justifiable use of reduction cuts is for line clearance, a subject on which I’ve written before. Here again crown

reduction is not a good thing to do to a tree, but it is the best way to do a bad, but necessary thing. The better option, tree removal, is not allowed without tree owner permission—which is rarely given. The object of such pruning is not to keep a tree

Exceptions to the Rules continued from page 2

Drop-crotch cut—Gilman—better

Crown reduction

Scary illustration from A-300 Standards


small but to direct the growth away from the wires. Sometimes such pruning is called y-pruning or rabbit-ear pruning because of how it looks. For a while our local utility arborist was trying T-pruning, or what I called mouse-ear pruning where all the branches were kept below the wires. This pruning wasn’t going to work, but watching it was interesting. In my perfect world, utilities would have the power to condemn newly planted, large-growing trees under wires. The homeowner would have three weeks to transplant their new, wrong-sized tree before the utility company comes to take it away. That would put an end to it!

Included Bark and Subordination Pruning

Do I really have to discuss included bark again? Okay, okay, here we go again.Only a certain percentage of tree failures can be predicted,

a percentage that unfortunately no one knows. Many predis-posing factors are hard to detect: internal decay, root rots, and tight soils. And we don’t know whether pruning for safety on risky trees is helpful, harmful, or just lulls tree owners into a false sense of security. Though few defects are correctable, one (called included bark) can be seen and, if dealt with soon enough, fixed. I will explain. When a young tree has many leaders or trunks that are close to each other, it can develop included bark. In the narrow angles of attachment, bark gets trapped between two or more trunks and, as the tree continues to grow, the amount of included bark increases. Because there is little or no connective tissue between the competing trunks, one or more are likely to bust out (fail), even many years later when they are large and can do considerable damage. Such a tree is said to have co-dominant stems with included bark. One can also have included bark between a lateral and parent stem.

If a tree is young, and the co-dominant stem is spotted, it can be removed with a large, scary looking cut. Not to worry. The young tree can quickly compartmentalize and outgrow it. For a somewhat older, larger tree—an adolescent—this big cut is out of the question. But the arborist can do what is called structural pruning to improve tree architecture. The arbor-ist chooses a trunk to be the leader and subordinates the rest using reduction cuts. This is good, especially in high traffic

areas. The sad fact is that the good work we do is rarely appreciated since it prevents a limb from crashing out of a tree onto the car thirty years later. Who notices that?

My arborist friend, Jack Magai, also recommends subordination pruning and cabling for even older trees—the middle-aged—those with included bark that are well loved by their owners and that (although they may not have a target) he can keep from pull-ing apart for while longer. What size cut is acceptable? Well, Jack says the age of the cut is what matters. He wouldn’t go more than eight years back. I guess I can live with that. Other arborists would stick to thinning to

reduce end weight using removal cuts and cabling. Reducing end weight—another term prone to abuse.

I do worry about overmanagement of trees. I’ve seen crazy stuff done in hopes of helping--elaborate systems of cabling, a giant prop imbedded in a tree trunk and no longer reaching the ground, a corrected tree in the middle of the woods where there was no target. The good arborists I know spend much of their time talking people out of doing things to their trees. The light touch is the right touch. An old arborist adage says that the older the arborist the fewer and smaller the cuts.

Overall Crown Reduction

A long time ago another arborist friend of mine showed me slides of crown reduction pruning in Brussels done from

a nifty telescopng ladder. The before and after was amazing. The crown reduction was light-handed and the trees looked great and looked safer. Similarly at an International Society of Arboriculture Conference not many years ago, a German engineer/arborist type (Andreas Detter) proclaimed that light reduction of tree size would make a significant difference in the

probability of blow down. My conten-tion had been that if the pruning was significant enough to effect leverage, the cuts would be so large that they would seriously damage the health of the tree. And minimal pruning would do little harm, but minimal good. But here was this guy saying that just a light reduction would make a tree significantly safer. I had to ask myself, what if that were true? What would I say and think then? My first reaction was to require more proof. Nose-camel-tent! Inch-mile! Slope-slippery!


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Spotting included bark on a narrow-angled crotch A. In a V-shaped crotch the bark disappears into the trunk. This is a weak attachment. B. In a U-shaped crotch the bark is pushed up. This is a strong attachment.

Rabbit-ear pruning



I don’t know how much property would be protected or how many lives would be saved (for sure, not more than 200 a year!) if we went out and crown reduced all the trees near targets, but I do know that doing so would feed the beast! Every time you equate big tree with dangerous tree, you open the door to more and worse pruning. I feel we need to stay concentrated in our efforts to push for tree risk assessments. And if a tree shows risk factors—decay, cut roots, clay soils, whatever—is crown reduction a valid mitigation measure or are we just kicking the can down the road? Do we give the customer a false sense of security?

Speaking of a false sense of security, there is also a question in my mind as to whether pruning to keep the homeowner calm is justifiable. The fact is that most pruning is not done for the sake of the trees and shrubs themselves, but because the owner wants something. They may want more light, a view, head-room, or just a sense of control or stewardship. That’s fine. As long as we are not pushing it, and as long as we are not doing something that degrades the long term health and safety of the tree, modest crown reduction to keep the homeowner calm is probably fine. I just never want to see it promoted as standard, knee-jerk procedure, for all the reasons mentioned above.

Retrenchment Pruning

All this leads to a discussion of retrenchment pruning. Now we’re getting into it. For those unfamiliar with the term,

retrenchment pruning was popularized by Neville Fay who uses it to gain more time for an old tree that is already dying back and shedding limbs. By severe crown reduction and even by topping, he claims to mimic the natural processes used by trees to survive in old age. But by choosing where to make the cuts, he claims to do a better job than the tree would if left to its own devices. With such pruning, the strike area for failing limbs or trunks is reduced. The remaining area under the crown may still need to be cordoned off to keep people away. I saw a slide of similar pruning at a Claus Mattock presentation, where he topped back a very large old, declining tree. The main thing is that when he was done, the tree looked great! Short tree, fat trunk, with a large low spreading canopy. Very nice. But one must be very careful in determining the usefulness of a procedure by how it looks. For example, heavy nitrogen fertilization of a sick tree can force lush new growth making it look healthy, but, in fact, the tree is being forced to waste energy pushing out new growth instead of protecting itself from disease. Looks can be deceiving.

So what do I think about retrenchment pruning? Well, I try not to think about it. I know that PlantAmnesty-approved arbor-ists engage in retrenchment pruning from time to time. And I’m sure the circumstances justify their decisions. One could think of retrenchment pruning as surgery. Sometimes one does serious

damage to the patient—opening him up with a knife—in order to save him. But these circumstances are, and should be, rare. Much depends on the skill and judgment of the doctor.

Unfortunately the field of arboriculture is full of experts who know a lot about trees but who also are sometimes wrong. And a good way to establish yourself as an expert is to recom-mend something that is counter to common practice. You will cause a sensation. People will seek you out and ask for your opinion. I know this from personal experience. When I first started PlantAmnesty and questioned the common practice of tree topping, people imbued me with skills and knowledge I did not possess. They assumed I knew everything. I even heard that I would stand on the ground and direct arborists as to what to cut. In fact, I was a gardener, not an arborist, who just knew that topping was bad and was willing to say so, loud and clear.

Feeding the Ego

Recommending crown reduction not only feeds the beast (that being the notion that trees need to be controlled), but it

also feeds the ego. Everyone wants to be the surgeon, the one so skilled and so knowledgeable that he or she can break the rules to save lives. So how does one tell when an arborist is overprescribing crown reduction? My guess would be that if crown reduction is recommended more than 10% of the time, the arborist has become victim of his or her own ego. Well, that’s my opinion anyway. I think that the vast majority of old, decrepit trees should be left alone to die with dignity, becoming great wildlife habitat as they slowly go down. But if they have a target, they should just be removed. One of the big problems with many tree-mitigation measures is that they depend on follow-up care, which can rarely be guaranteed. Sure the tree owner swears he will have the arborist back to adjust the cables, remove or reduce the epicormic growth (watersprouts) before it gets big and falls out. But circumstances change. People move an average of once every 6 years. Financial situations and priorities change. Even arborists change professions, move, or lose track of their clients.

Habitat Trees

A final example of exception to the no-topping/no-crown-reduction rule is when a tree is being retained as a habitat

for wildlife. I got a call early last year from a semi-hysterical woman who claimed that a park tree had been butchered by the city. No, the tree wasn’t under a powerline, and, no, it hadn’t been topped. She assured me that what had been done was horrible, so I drove out to see it. The tree was an old big-leaf maple (BLM) on park property, not far from the sidewalk, and clearly visible to all who walked or drove by. I was puz-zled by what I saw. It was falling apart like old BLMs do. The


top was busted, a limb was shattered, but there was a proper collar cut used to remove a giant limb that would have reached over the sidewalk. The cut was good, but vastly too huge to be good for the tree. And there was a stubbed off branch some-where else. What the heck? An arborist acquaintance of mine filled me in. This was the latest from the arboricultural profes-sion—the creation of a living habitat tree. I’m used to seeing dead topped trees used for wildlife habitat, but I had never seen this. The top had not busted out, but instead was skill-fully removed with a coronet cut (looks like a crown) that was jagged and mimicked a natural break. Such jagged cuts are not good for the tree, but great for creating habitat—helping the tree to become all rotten and buggy, just right for the birds. The big collar cut had been made to reduce the hazard to pedestri-

ans, and other cuts were made to encourage rot. This was, of course, done to a tree that was already in failure mode. Again, I didn’t know quite what to think. I had vague concerns about follow up care for a living tree that might well regrow weak limbs. And also I wondered about my tax dollars. Trees are so underfunded that I think most all city arborist time should be spent on must-dos rather than nice-to-do projects like this. I don’t think we are in any danger of habitat topping becoming the norm in tree pruning anytime soon. But I couldn’t resist the temptation of leaving a message on the arborist’s message machine, “What is the difference between habitat pruning and common tree butchery? Answer, not much.”

Next Time: Conifer topping, spiral pruning, windsailing, edge trees, and reduction of overextended limbs. ▲


George Pinyuh passed away on February 21, 2013. He joined WSU as area agent in King and Pierce Counties, in the late 1970s. He quickly established himself as a clear expert in trees and shrubs, and became a popular TV and radio garden personality, columnist, lecturer, and sought-out panel member. He will be missed for his humor, direct manner, curmudeonly moments, knowledge, and most of all his willingness to share his love of plants at the drop-of-a-leaf.

New Stuff Thanks to a grant from the Washington State Department

of Natural Resources, Urban and Community Forestry Division AND the USDA Forest Service, PlantAmnesty has a pretty full channel on YouTube now. There are two videos: Cass Turnbull gives the updated slideshow on How to Prune and Renovate The Overgrown Garden, and George Ortiz gives the same slideshow in Spanish. How cool is that! And, in addition, there are several pow-erpoint presentations with audio. They are taken from the popular Master Pruner Seminar Series. They are: Pruning Art or Pruning Atrocity?, Rehabilitative Pruning for Mal-pruned Plants, Five Easy Plants to Prune, Difficult Plants to Prune, Japanese Garden Pruning, and The Hackables, the Shearables and the Untouchables. Later this Spring, we will add Vine Pruning and Tree Pruning.

Shear Madness UpdateThe Shear Madness Campaign is happening, and it’s funny

how things seem to line up once you set a goal (to end nuisance shearing in King County as proof it can be done). Since we published Why Johnny Can’t prune in the PlantAmnesty newsletter, we have begun reaching more government agency grounds crews and more commercial property maintenance companies. For the first time the Master Pruner Seminar

series has been offered through the UWBG Center for Urban Horticulture’s Pro-Hort program. Classes have been packed. One of the larger maintenance companies in Seattle had Cass introduce selective pruning to its crew leaders with follow ups planned for the sales staff and rank and file grounds crews. The prestigious Arboretum Bulletin will be publishing an article about the campaign, titled shear Madness, in March or April. The Outreach Committee has drafted letters and support materials for a mass direct mailing to Property Management Companies. The board has earmarked funds for this and radio PSAs. It gives one hope.

Shop PCC and Support PlantAmnestyOrder a PCC Script Card from PlantAmnesty, and make

your shopping dollars work for PlantAmnesty at no cost to you! You don’t have to be a PCC member to buy and use a Script Card, and if you are, you’ll still get your PCC member discounts, so why not get a Script Card? Just send $10 to PlantAmnesty, and we’ll send you a Script Card pre-loaded with your $10 applied to the card! At the end of the year, PCC will send PlantAmnesty a donation of 5% of the total you spent using the card! It’s that easy!

Thank You UFS13 SponsorsThis year’s Urban Forest Symposium: Trees and Views

is made possible by grants and sponsorships for which we are infinitely grateful. As you know funding is hard to come by. So please take note of our backers: seattle Office of sustainability and the Environment, The West seattle garden Tour, seattle Tree preservation, inc., Windermere real Estate (Ballard), Davey Tree Expert Co., Trees for Life, svr Design Company, and Thundering Oak Enterprises. ▲

This and That


Dear Plant Amnesty,

I’ve been a loyal member for many years, though from the opposite corner of our fair land I have not been too active.

Still, your work with shrubs—the woody plants that arbor-ists forgot—has been an inspiration. I’ve also felt solidarity with your battle for good plant management, until I read your Winter 2013 newsletter. Cass raised valid questions about definitions in the A300 Tree Care Standard, but many of her answers conveyed deja’-vu from a decade ago.

In 2003 I researched and wrote on selective heading cuts on storm-damaged trees. I’d heard a lot of “stuff” from colleagues about leaving “stubs”. There was little industry guidance on the subject, so I took an overly cautious approach when applying the A300 Part 1 pruning standard. A member of the A300 committee wrote in to Tree Care Industry magazine, gently correcting my assumption of “Rules” in the Standard where there were none. I’ve been grateful for that outreach ever since, so now I am trying to return the favor.

A300’s rules are the mandatory requirements embodied in the document’s “shall”s, while the “should”s are just recom-mendations. Every practice in every Part of the A300 Standard is built around establishing the objective, first and foremost. After hearing the owner's goals and values, the arborist reviews the tree's function in the landscape and the best avail-able science, experience, and knowledge of species, site, local conditions and history.

The arborist defines the pruning job in collaboration with the client. Cases like pruning for view may require some seri-ous back-and-forth before both parties are comfortable with the objective. When client and arborist agree, the objective is established. Then the arborist specifies the methods and the equipment and the dose of root management, often in the form of a work order, or in a Request for Proposals. After the job is over, the results are reviewed, and the cycle begins anew. But how do we know that pruning was done to the A300 Standard?

“Pruning; The selective removal of plant parts to meet specific goals and objectives.” The non-selective removal of plant parts without specific goals and objectives, indicated by this A300 Standard definition, is not standard pruning, but substandard practice known as topping. “Predetermined”, which sounds synonymous with non-selective, was in the A300 definition of topping until 2008, when “inter-nodal” was introduced. The baby got thrown out when the new bathwater was brought in. If ‘non-selective’ is added, the difference between pruning and topping will be clear, and we’ll be closer to understanding each other.

Topping is also “without regard for tree health or structural integrity…” while “heading” is cutting to a bud or lateral too small to assume the terminal role. The $64,000 question, which no one has been able to answer, is…What is so impor-tant about having one lateral able assume the terminal role? What if we cut back to a node with two laterals? What if the objective is long-term size reduction or retrenchment, where we don’t want to stimulate one single branch to grow out-ward? What if we want to stimulate several interior branches to gradually grow an “inner crown”?

The concept of heading may fit the structural pruning of young trees, when the objective is expansion of size. On mature trees it makes it very hard to differentiate standard care from substandard or “mal-“pruning, because heading is confused with topping. Does the terminal role of the remaining lateral really matter? Heading cuts are very often topping cuts, as currently defined. Yet heading cuts can also be selectively made with a sustainable outcome.

Statements that follow from this vague concept, like “no cut on a pollarded tree will ever exceed 2” in diameter”, or “heading is only reasonable, for a few years, until the plant has to be removed”, or “crown reduction = drop-crotching” are not accurate. These limitations are not in the A300 Standard. The alternative to internodal branch cutting is nodal, selective pruning done at nodes, which are growth points. I urge arbor-ists to carefully read and use A300 Part 1 as they collaborate with clients and write work orders. Don’t take anyone else’s interpretation of the standard as fact—see for yourself!

Once everyone is on the same A300 pages, I totally agree with Cass’s clarion call for a survey on our pruning options, based on a real-world example, http://www.plantamnesty.org/documents/mikeo’ryza.pdf

Communication happens when we talk the same language about the same practices. Ten years after writing about selective heading, and three years after writing on crown restoration, I’m still full of questions. The more informed the voices are in the discussion, the better the answers will be. For background see:

2003: http://www.historictreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/After-the-Storm-from-TCI-Magazine-April-2003.pdf

2010: http://www.historictreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/restore_2010_06.pdf

2012: http://www.historictreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/A300.pdf

Guy Meilleur, ISA Certified Tree Worker, BCMA, and proud member of PlantAmnesty.

RULES REVISITED: OP ED

Read Guy Meilleur’s Article,Mike O’Riza and the

Case of the Vexing View by going to:http://www.plantamnesty.org/documents/

mikeo’ryza.pdf

Please respond to that article by emailing your preference to: [email protected]

Knowing the objective, what reasonable options would you describe to Mr. Suzichi?1. reduce and revisit in three years

2. remove and replant3. reduce and revisit in six years

4. view not worth it; refer someone else


While traveling around the golf course, golfers

often stop and ask me ques-tions. Usually our conversations are about course conditions and maintenance, but this year the most often asked question is “Where did all the geese go?”

For the last 20 years, The Legacy Golf Club’s 17th hole has been the winter home for around 120 Canadian geese. Sometimes late in the day, the 17th green was almost un-put-table. These geese became so tame that they would not move for anything. For years we tried every trick in the book to get them to leave, but they just would not fly away.

Last fall Bob Laas, Golf Course Superintendent at Sedona Golf Resort, discovered that geese get very upset by the light emitted from a small laser pointer. Just an inexpensive pin light laser that you can buy at most stores.

In the morning just before sunrise, we use two hand-held laser lights and point them in the area where the geese are. We are not sure why but they become very agitated and fly away. It has been suggested the geese think the two lights are the eyes of predators such as a fox or coyote. A few mornings of this and they never came back. After 20 years of trying we are finally rid of our geese problem.

The lasers were never pointed at the geese and no geese were injured using this procedure. In fact, in the past they would not move out of the way and many were injured by golf balls.

So the next time you play The Legacy, remember that two $10 laser pointers made the 17th hole free of Canadian geese and a great golf hole year round.

GOOSE UPDATEWe learned a little more about lasers and geese since I

wrote the above article last year. Goose eyesight is made up of 50 percent ultra-violet light. That is one reason they hate laser lights.

We found that a carpenter’s level laser, which sends out a long flat light, works great when shot along the lake bank edge. The geese are spooked most at sunrise and sunset—but they do not like the flat laser beam any time. For best midday results, I found that if you get the geese in the lake they like to swim away from you. Point the carpenter’s level at the lake bank edge at your feet and make noise (I like to slam a shovel on the water). The geese have to look back at you and they see

the light on the lake edge and they will usually fly away. You have to be consistent—at least every morning—seven days a week.

Once the geese get annoyed enough, they leave and do not come back. This year The Legacy Golf Club was goose free for most of the winter.

Do not point the laser at the geese. As much as you hate geese, if you harm one of them, you can get in big trouble.

Something I did not count on was that as much as golfers

and maintenance workers hate geese, for the last 20 years homeowners around the golf course loved the geese. They are so cute and fun to feed!!!!

In the early mornings homeowners saw our staff using the laser lights and thought we had guns with laser scopes and were shooting the geese. After all, where did those beautiful geese go? A few times the local police were called and when they saw what we were doing they just laughed it off.

But one day a concerned citizen called the game warden and told him that they believed we were killing geese. I did not know at the time that game wardens are federal agents. When I did not treat them with the respect they wanted, I soon realized I had made a BIG MISTAKE. I found out that the game warden is no one to mess with and can be bit intimidat-ing. They did an investigation and full background checks on myself and one of my employees. We did nothing wrong, but the situation was unnerving.

So the moral to the story is: Geese hate lasers and respect the game warden! ▲

Bill Rohret, CGCS, if the golf course superintendent at The Legacy Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada. Reprinted WOP

Those Argyles—well, ok. But next time leave those golf shoes in Canada, eh? Honk honk!

What Happened to the Geese?By Bill Rohret, CGCS

PlantAmnesty has had a hugely busy three months. We staffed the Flower and Garden Show booth, we enjoyed a great Meeting of Like Minds, and we put on the Sky Nursery Prune-a-thon. All these events went wonderfully well. Thank you volunteers and attendees—you know who you are. ▲

Plant Activist Update


Trees and Views

The issue of trees vs. views is a contentious one, pitting view seekers against tree lovers on hillsides facing moun-

tains and water, up and down both coasts. This symposium is entirely devoted to an in-depth look at the issue and will be of interest to communities, homeowners’ associations, municipalities, arborists, lawyers and prosecutors, planners, developers, tree advocates, and individuals dealing with this complex issue.

Keynote address on The Aesthetics of Views: Kathleen Day, ASLA, LEED, AP BD & C, and ISA-Certified Arborist, has more than twenty years of experience combining the art and science of landscape architecture, arboriculture and horticulture.

Valuing Trees and Views: A series of speakers will describe how they value trees and views. Presenters include a real estate agent, tax assessor, tree appraiser, and forest assess-ment coordinator working with the I-tree program to assign ecological systems values to trees and greenbelts.

policy and Views: A brief series of presentations on city view policies and dealing with conflicting interests on public and shared lands.

Trees, Views, and slope stability: Elliot Menashe, Natural Resource Manager & Consultant, Greenbelt Consulting, on taking action to avert flooding, erosion, and landslides. Through enlightened view-management choices, drainage control, and vegetation management, you can stop creating tomorrow’s crisis today.

View and the Law—Covenants, Ordinances and Trespass to Trees: randall s. stamen, Attorney at Law and ISA Certified Arborist from Riverside, CA, will lead the discussion on evolving view covenants and ordinances.

Other invited attorneys, including Barri Bonapart, owner of Bonapart & Associates, will discuss tree law, lessons learned, neighbor laws as they relate to illegal tree cutting for views, code enforcement for tree cutting in sensitive areas, as well as case studies of mediation success.

The attorney presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session.

This year’s Urban Forest Symposium: Trees and Views is made possible by grants and sponsorships for which we are infinitely grateful. As you know funding is hard to come by. So please take note of our backers: seattle Office of sustainability and the Environment, The West seattle garden Tour, seattle Tree preservation, inc., Windermere real Estate (Ballard), Davey Tree Expert Co., Trees for Life, svr Design Company, and Thundering Oak Enterprises.

For further information, or to register over the phone using a credit card, please phone (206) 685-8033.

2013 Urban Forest Symposium: Trees & ViewsHOSTED BY PLANTAMNESTY AND

THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON BOTANIC GARDENS

What: 5th Annual Urban Forest Symposium

When: May 13, Monday from 9am to 4pm

Where: University of Washington Botanic Gardens Center for Urban Horticulture

3501 NE 41st St, Seattle, WA 98105

Cost: $75 per person. Lunches available for $15.

Free lunch for the first 100 registrants.

Contact: [email protected] or 206-685-8033.

Register: http://depts.washington.edu/uwbg/news/urban-forest/


Sunday, April 14—Master Pruner Class: Easy Plants to PruneFor more information, see class list on page 13.

Tuesday, April 16—Meeting of Like MindsTales of Horror! Bruce Baker, from Baker v. Olerud will recount his experience fighting to save his rare Chinese pine tree from uphill view seeker, neighbor, sports star, John Olerud in the Clyde Hill neighborhood. Joe Clarke from Arctic printing just came home one day to find his five Lombardy poplars had been cut in half. Find out what the police said to him that will shock you! And finally Innis Arden tree owner, Art Wright, will recount the incredible story of how he was forced to reduce his old Western Red Cedar by 2/3rds (60 feet) in height to accommodate the view of the resident up hill. The Wrights’ fight since 2009 to save their tree may wind up costing them as much as $70,000.

These meetings are potluck, although you don’t have to contribute to eat. A small donation will pay your way out of minor guilt. We also have fun auction and announcements of current events. Meetings are free and open to the public. Find us in NHS Hall at the Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St in NE Seattle.

Saturday, April 20—Pruning and Landscape Renovation WorkshopFor more information, see PlantAmnesty Workshops on page 12.

Sunday, May 12—Master Pruner Class: The Hackables, the Shearables and the Untouchables.For more information, see class list on page 13.

Monday, May 13—Urban Forest Symposium: Trees and Views. For more information, see the flyer on opposite page.

Wednesday, May 15 GiveBIG The Seattle Foundation sponsors this annual city-wide day of giving to benefit numerous local nonprofits, not just us. If you plan to give a donation to PlantAmnesty this year, giving online and on the exact date of May 15 would be good. Why? Because, if you give then, the Seattle Foundation will add to your donation! It’s a big

deal. Any amount is deeply appreciated. We will remind you as the date draws near and tell you how. But for now, just make a note of it in your calendar. If you can’t donate, forgive the pleas and know we love you anyway.

Sunday, June 9—Master Pruner Class: Trees 2For more information, see class list on page 13.

Tuesday, June 18—Meeting of Like MindsRain Gardens in the Pacific Northwest. Rain Gardens are part of an overall program of Low Impact Development (LID) that includes bioretention systems, green infrastructure, and water capture. Zsofia pasztor will discuss the environmental reasons for pursuing LID and how Rain Gardens contribute to the miti-gation of stormwater events in our waterways. You will learn about rain garden function, installation, soils, plants, and design specific to the Pacific Northwest in Zsofia’s talk, which will present a serious topic in an accessible, easy-to-understand way.

These meetings are potluck, although you don’t have to contribute to eat. A small donation will pay your way out of minor guilt. We also have fun auction and announcements of current events. Meetings are free and open to the public. Find us in NHS Hall at the Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St in NE Seattle.

Saturday, June 22—PlantAmnesty Garden TourJoin us for a lovely tour of two unusual gardens in northwest Seattle. First up is shelagh Tucker’s garden at the height of its glory. This garden, located near Carkeek Park, offers a front garden that is inspiring and totally drought tolerant (she collabo-rated with phil Wood to create it) and, in the back, a fabulous English-style garden. Next up is Laura Watson’s garden in the Broadview bioswales, featuring many beautiful clematis as well as a plethora of interesting shrubs, trees, and perenni-als. The tour is limited to 25 people and goes from 11:30–2:30 with yummy snacks and refreshing beverages to follow. Cost is $10 for PlantAmnesty members and $12 for their friends who aren’t (yet) members. What a great way to spend a summer’s day! Contact us at 206-783-9813 or [email protected] to register. Or cut and send the form below with your payment to PlantAmnesty, or call us with your credit card number. We will send a confirmation with garden addresses.

Upcoming Events

PlantAmnesty Garden TourName(s): _____________________________________________________________________________________________/_______________________ Amount enclosedAddress: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City State ZipPhone: (_______) __________________________________________ Email: ______________________________________________________

Mail to: PlantAmnesty, PO Box 15377, Seattle, WA 98115-0377

$

Please mail form below to: PlantAmnesty, PO Box 15377, Seattle, WA 98115-0377

——— PlantAmnesty’s Pruning and Garden Renovation Workshops ———Spring—Saturday, April 20, 2013, 10 am—3 pm

Fall—Saturday, September 14, 2013, 10 am—3 pm Fall (in Spanish)—Friday, October 11, 2013, 8:30 am—3:30 pm

The Renovation Workshop is a popular hands-on all-day event that features a rare 3:1 student-teacher ratio and real-world experi-ence. Students will learn pruning and creative solutions for the overgrown garden as an entire yard is renovated during the class. The day begins with a lecture followed by hands-on experience out in the yard. Topics discussed will be pruning, transplanting, and landscape maintenance. The group will move through an overgrown landscape while instructors give on-the-spot evaluations of plants and demonstrations of pruning. Workshop participants will then cycle between jobs to learn what the landscape has to offer.

The workshop typically takes place at a private residence within King County selected for its neglected state and diverse plant material so as to provide class instruction on a wide variety of topics. All participants receive a pruning DVD and handouts on various pruning topics.

——— PlantAmnesty’s Fruit Tree Field Day ——— Saturday, July 20, 2013, 10 am—3 pm

First, in a morning lecture, an expert in the field will cover the basics of fruit-tree pruning. The lecture is followed by an afternoon of live fruit-tree pruning demonstrations in small groups. This workshop will take place at a site in the Seattle area.

These workshops are for home gardeners, landscape professionals, and students in the Master Pruner Program. Complete details and materials will be sent to students a few weeks prior to the workshop.

Questions: PlantAmnesty at 206-783-9813 (please leave a message) or [email protected]. For more information about the Master Pruner classes check out: www.plantamnesty.org.

Preregistration is required for all workshops—space is limited.

PlantAmnesty Workshops

Spring Renovation WorkshopSaturday, April 20, 2013

Fruit Tree Field DaySaturday, July 20, 2013

Fall Renovation WorkshopSaturday, September 14, 2013

Spanish Renovation WorkshopFriday, October 11, 2013

_____# of PlantAmnesty members @ $75.00 = $________

_____# of non-members @ $85.00 = $________


_____# of non-members @ $45.00 = $________


_____# of non-members @ $85.00 = $________

_____ # of attendees @ $30.00 = $________

Total $ ——————Name(s): ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City State ZipPhone: (_______) __________________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________

You may pay by credit card or check. Please make checks payable to PlantAmnesty. Mail to: PlantAmnesty, PO Box 15377, Seattle, WA 98115-0377

MasterCard o Visa o Credit Card No. _____________________________________________ Expiration date ____________

Master Pruner Series Sponsored by Steuber Distributing Company, 308 3rd St, Snohomish, WA 360-568-2626


Plantamnesty Presents: Cass Turnbull’s Master pruner program

2013 Pruning ClassesPruning expert Cass Turnbull and other guest instructors teach topic-specific pruning tech-

niques in this series of in-depth classes and workshops. The Master Pruner Program is the

set of classes and workshops that, when completed, certifies the student as a Master Pruner.

These classes are open to home gardeners, landscape professionals, and horticulture students.

Complete the entire series to earn a certificate or just attend a few classes. Horticulture stu-

dents can apply their college pruning classes towards certification. Master Gardener and ISA

CEUs can be earned. No pre-registration is required for the Sunday morning classes.

WHERE: Warren G. Magnuson Park, the Brig (Bldg #406) 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, 98115 (unless it’s a workshop)

WHEN: Sundays, 10 am to noon (except for Workshops)

COST: $20 per class, $15 for PlantAmnesty members, $5 for horticulture students and native Spanish speakers

Questions? Email [email protected] or call plantAmnesty at 206-783-9813.

Also sponsored by FANNO Saw Works www.fannosaw.com

PlantAmnesty Offices, Classes and Events

2013 Schedule• 1/13: Roses• 2/10: Fruit Trees• 3/10: Japanese Pruning• 4/14: Easy Plants• 4/20: Renovation Workshop• 5/12: Shrubs 2• 6/9: Trees 2• 7/14: Difficult Plants• 7/20: Fruit Tree Field Day• August—no class• 9/8: Renovate/Prune• 9/14: Renovation Workshop• 10/11: Renovation Workshop

(en Español)• 10/13: Tools • 11/10: Horrors• December—no class

Upcoming Pruning Classes

Sunday, April 14— Easy Plants to PruneThis class covers basic cuts, basic plant habits, and what Cass Turnbull calls the pruning budget. Then five plants that are relatively easy to prune are discussed: nandina, evergreen azalea, lilac, camellia, and yew. Taught by Cass Turnbull

Sunday, May 12— The Hackables, Shearables, and UntouchablesSome plants are cut to the ground each year. But barely touch others, and all hell breaks loose. Find out which ones are which, as well as which plants are appropriately sheared every year. Learn how to prune butterfly bush, lavatera, heather, lavender, rockrose, broom, witchhazel, and others. Taught by Cass Turnbull

Sunday, June 9— Trees 2This is the HOW-TO class for pruning trees (not fruit or nut trees). How to prune a tree limb, how to find the branch collar, pruning of young and mature trees, pruning standards, crown restoration, and the basics of tree risk assess-ment will be covered. Taught by Cass Turnbull

The Master Pruner Seminar Series is also available through the Snohomish County Master Gardeners, on 2nd Tuesdays. Call Karie @ 425-357-6039 or email [email protected]. The Master Pruner Series will also be available in winter months on 2nd and 4th Thursdays at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Center for Urban Horticulture. For more information call 206-685-8033 or email [email protected].


PLEASE FILL HOLES AND LEAVE THE SITE TIDYN Ballard: one rhododendron, pinkish/purple blooms, 5-7' tall, easy access. Photo available upon request. Contact Peter at 206 265 9123 or [email protected].

Ballard: one fastigiate yew, 7' x 4' at top of rockery. Renovating that corner, so it needs a new home. Contact Constance @[email protected].

West seattle: 3-4' tall clumps of red-blooming Monarda (bee balm)—this plant is a hummingbird magnet; clumps of tall white daisy (3' tall); three clumps of sedum, about 1–1.5' tall with a green brocoli-like flower that turns reddish in fall. Contact Antoinette at 206-372-6734 or [email protected].

West seattle: three well-established grapevines available to new homes. They are all about 30 years old and are pruned to about 3-4' tall x 2-3' wide (they are a bit intertwined). Grapes are purple when ripe, with seeds. A couple of years ago the three together produced 100 pounds of grapes! Easy care if trimmed back every year. Drought tolerant. Contact KC at 206-931-1414 or [email protected].

NW seattle: one cherry tree about 6' tall x 3' wide (rescued from a wooded area —no branches on one side) and an 8' tall Leyland cypress—a beauty just planted two years ago. Easy access. Contact Carol at 206-446-5412 or [email protected].

Normandy park: one rhody, about 6' x 7' needs a new home. New owner has not seen the plant bloom, so bloom color is unknown. Contact Kelly at 206-639-5281 or [email protected].

Wedgwood: two plants available for adoption—one Mt Laurel with pink flow-ers, 5' h x 4' w; and one evergreen azalea, magenta flowers, 2' h x 3' w. Easy access. Contact Sidney at [email protected] or 206-522-0361.

s Everett: one Alaska weeping cedar, 10' tall x 2' wide, in superior condition needs a new home. This plant has only been one year in the ground in its current location. Easy access through gate. Contact Yvonne at 253-315-5118 or [email protected].

West seattle: one variegated deerhorn cedar (Thujopsis dolabrata variegata) about 3' tall x 4-5' wide. Plant is currently too close to owner’s house. Contact

Emily or Dan at 206-935-2886 or [email protected].

redmond: four native western red cedar trees, ranging from 3' to 6' tall are already dug and need a new home. Contact Isabel at 425-869-8397.

NE seattle: owner is replanting a bed and has several plants available for adop-tion, including one 2' x’ 4' hebe; one 3' x 3' lavender; one 1' x 2' Abelia ‘Silver Anniversary’; one 1' x 1.5' nandina; one 1' x 3' sage; 1 4" x 4' ground cover with bright blue flowers 1–2 times per year; and one 3' x 3' barberry with bright red leaves. Easy access to all plants. Contact Matt at 207-799-2064 or [email protected].

NW seattle: two rhodies, grown into one big clump about 7-8' tall x 10-12' wide. Bushes are very healthy in a sunny location. One has pink flowers, the other white. Truck can get somewhat close. The yard is level and has a fair amount of room in front of the rhodies. Contact Peter at 206-375-3111 or [email protected].

green Lake: one Queen Elizabeth rose—a pink-flowered, disease-resistant old cultivar—needs a good home. It has been in the ground for some time and will be pruned in a couple of weeks. After pruning, the rose will be about 4' tall x 2' wide. Also available, some tall purple asters. Contact Jody at 360-378-32780, 360-317-5387, or [email protected].

Queen Anne: HOUSEPLANT—lovely ficus tree is in need of love. Current owner, who has nurtured this plant for 10 years, is moving and would so appreci-ate finding a good home for it. The ficus tree is over 3' wide and nearly 6' tall in a 12x15 pot. Plant does have some scale that the owner has been combating with organic solutions. Contact Lisa at [email protected].

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Adopt-A-Plant and Cyber Library password: the user ID is pruner and the password is cherry.

greenshare: Want to improve or restore native plant communnities in your garden? Convert your lawn to a wildlife habitat? Remove invasive plants? Stabilize slopes with native vegetation? Contact Steve at Garden Cycles. 206-650-9807 or [email protected]

Adopt-A-Plant. You call, you dig, you haul, that’s all.

The PlantAmnesty Adopt-a-Plant list is available on our website for members. If you do not have access to the internet, please call us at 206-783-9813, x3 and we’ll mail you a current copy of the complete list.

Adopt-A-Plant is a PlantAmnesty membership perk. But you don’t have to be a member to put a plant up for adoption. No money shall be given or received for these plants; if you are hired to transplant any, of course your labor (only) may be charged. Keep things neighborly!

Get GREEN! Most everything you need to know about trees in one lovely gift!

In Keepers of the Trees, local author-naturalist Ann Linnea tells the stories of 14 people across North America who have devoted their lives in one way or another to TREES. Packed with story

and education, readers make a delightful journey to greater understanding of the

complex and essential role of trees.

Featuring Plant Amnesty’s Cass Turnbull

in her own chapter as The Activist Pruner of Emerald City!

A beautiful coffee table book with 100+ color photographs and drawings.

Foreword by Seattle nature writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt.

Regularly sells for $24.95. SPECIAL PRICE available to readers

of this newsletter for $15.

Call 360-331-3580 or buy online at www.keepersofthetrees.com

Type in promo code: KEEPERS at check-out.

Printed on recycled paperAdopt-A-Plant is sponsored by:

www.sbims.com www.ragenassociates.com


Are You a photosynthesizer sympathizer?Join plantAmnesty Today!

MEMBErsHip iNFOrMATiONNew Member(s) Name_______________________________________________ Phone (_________)____________________

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o This is a gift so the check’s enclosed. o Send them a gift card with my name.

ALL NEW MEMBERS GET A FREE TWO-HOUR DVD OF CASS GIVING THE WORLD FAMOUS SLIDESHOW (SECOND EDITION) AND THE PRUNING MICRO COURSE!!! Send o them a free DVD or o me a free DVD o English o Spanish (include your address).

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o Adventitious Buddy . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25.00o Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35.00o Felco-teer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60.00o Tree Defender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $120.00

o Heartwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250.00o Cambium Club (Lifetime) . . . . . . . $500.00o Limited Income/Student . . . . . . . . . . $15.00

Northwest ArborvitaeTina Cohen

Certified Arborist

206-789-3283

On site tree & plant diagnostic

services.

Horticultural Schools. Try them, you’ll like them.

Center for Urban Horticulture(U district, Seattle) www.uwbotanicgardens.org

Edmonds Community College(Lynnwood) www.edcc.edu

Lake Washington Institute of Technology (Kirkland) www.lwtech.edu

South Seattle Community College (West Seattle) www.southseattle.edu

“To end the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs”

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDSeattle, WA

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plantAmnestyP.O. Box 15377Seattle, WA 98115-0377

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