Coast to Coast with Kelli Rodda - April 2007

Tennessee  

George P. Krauth, owner of Viburnums by George in Estill Springs, will retire and shutter the doors of his nursery in about two years. “I’ve been in the business 27 years. Help’s hard to find and my health isn’t as good as it used to be, so it’s time,” Krauth said. “I’m going to chase large- and small-mouth bass with my newfound spare time.” During the next two years, Krauth wants to move all of his stock. “I have a fondness for these plants, and I don’t want to see them bulldozed.” He sold the land to a neighbor, who plans to use it for cattle. Although he’ll no longer have 50 acres of production at his disposal, he plans to cultivate a sport of ‘Mariesii’ after the nursery closes. He also plans to finish his book, tentatively titled, “Down Viburnum Lane.” For more: (931) 967-5983; www.viburnums.com.

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Oregon  

Oregon ’s Invasive Species Council awarded the state a grade of A-minus for its overall invasive species control efforts in 2006. The state also received an A-minus in 2005. The council coordinates public and private sector activities on unwanted, non-native species and has issued its list of the 100 most dangerous invaders for the past four years. “On our list of the 100 worst species threatening Oregon, none of them became established in the state in 2006,” said Dan Hilburn, administrator of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Plant Division. ODA pointed out that Phytophthora ramorum, the sudden oak death pathogen, was found at 13 Oregon nurseries in 2006, and 40 acres of forest were found infected in Curry County . Detection, exclusion and eradication programs for P. ramorum will continue in 2007. For more: Oregon Invasive Species Council, (866) 468-2337; http://oregon.gov/OISC.

New York  

The Long Island Invasive Species Management Area (LIISMA) is discussing possible county legislation that would prevent the sale of plants identified as invasive or potentially invasive, said Mark Bridgen, director of the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center . LIISMA created an extensive list and Bridgen has the complete inventory. Some of the plants deemed invasive on the “do not sell” list include: Acer platanoides, Berberis thunbergii, Clematis terniflora, Euphorbia cyparissias, Ligustrum obtusifolium, Lonicera japonica, Miscanthus sinensis, Morus alba and Rhamnus frangula. Currently, LIISMA proposes all cultivars of a banned species be included. For more: (631) 727-3595; mpb27@cornell.edu.

Alabama  

Jeff Sibley, Auburn horticulture professor, received a grant from the Center for Applied Nursery Research to determine heat tolerance for hemlock species. Tsuga species to be evaluated include: T. canadensis, T. caroliniana, T. chinensis, T. diversifolia, T. dumosa, T. heterophylla, T. mertensiana, T. sieboldii and T. yunnanensis. A common misconception is Carolina hemlock is more suited for Southern landscapes than Canadian or eastern hemlock, Sibley said. This project will help refute the fallacy and reveal the most heat-tolerant species. For more: (334) 844-3132; sibleje@auburn.edu.

Postcards

Plant-a-tree campaigns are hot. Dell computers and home decor phenom IKEA jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year. Dell pledged to plant trees to offset the carbon impact of electricity required to power computers. IKEA partnered with American Forests and will match customers’ donations of $1 for the first 100,000 trees planted. Is your nursery involved? Bailey Nurseries in St. Paul , Minn., joined the United Nations’ Billion Tree Campaign. It pledged 100,000 trees to the Minnesota school system. Find out more at www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign. … Oh Magic 8 Ball, should I grow 6,000 boxwoods this year? The Mattel toy has been answering questions like that (OK, probably not about nursery stock, but more about dating I’d guess) for 60 years. Even President Eisenhower kept the prophetic sphere on his desk. (No need for a cabinet when you’ve got the Magic 8 Ball.) … Buzzwhack.com, the site that de-mystifies buzzwords, selected the most dreadful buzzwords for 2006. Example: “While we’re leveraging our assets, can you synopsize the mission-critical meeting, then relanguage it by the targeted completion date?” Please don’t use any of these in a press release to me. Thank you.

Quotable:

“Roof gardens and green roofs have one thing in common: They’re on roofs. Other than that, different animals.”

- Tim Thoelecke, founder of the American Academy of Landscape Design, Glenview , Ill.

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- Kelli Rodda