Coast to Coast with Kelli Rodda - July 2007

Africa 

Bob Dolibois, American Nursery & Landscape Association executive vice president, plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro this summer in Tanzania, Africa. Dolibois and his wife Susie are making the trek to raise funds for the Horticultural Research Institute. Dubbed “Trek de Hort,” it’s in recognition of Gordon Bailey Jr.’s Tour de Hort, a cross-country bicycle trip he took from 1999-2003, which raised $1.25 million for green-industry research. HRI is accepting donations to support Trek de Hort. “Because of the vertical distance from bottom to top [of Mount Kilimanjaro], one of the most remarkable features of this trek is the horticultural range and variety of flora,” Dolibois said. I’ll take lots of pictures, but our members will have to identify the plants. Latin names only, of course.” For more: (202) 789-5980; rdolibois@anla.org.

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Colorado 

It will be a below-average year for miller moths along the Front Range of Colorado, according to Colorado State University entomologist Whitney Cranshaw. Low numbers of caterpillars and the effects of snow cover from heavy winter storms will reduce their numbers. The same weather patterns will increase wildflowers, which will spread out the activities of the migrating moths, causing a smaller percentage to remain around flowering landscaped yards. For more: (970) 491-6781; whitney.cranshaw@colostate.edu.

New York/New Jersey

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Schumer and Robert Menendez requested $48 million in federal funds to help stop the Asian longhorn beetle infestation in New York and New Jersey. In a letter to the Senate Ag Appropriations subcommittee, the senators said the beetle is active in nine counties in New York and New Jersey and has already destroyed 8,400 trees. In the United States, 35 percent of all urban trees are at risk at a combined replacement value of $669 billion. For more: Sen. Menendez, (202) 224-4744; http://menendez.senate.gov.

Texas 

The Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee passed SB 689, which was written to curb illegal harvesting of desert plants. “In the West, cactus rustlers are stealing rare state treasures, like the Texas rainbow [cactus] and golden barrel, and taking them to Arizona and California for yards,” Texas Sen. Eliot Shapleigh said. “We need to protect these rare and vulnerable cacti from theft, and protect our Chihuahua Desert environment.” For more: (800) 544-1990; www.shapleigh.org.

Postcards

This spring, the Common Ground Alliance launched 811, the new national “Call Before You Dig” number to help consumers and professionals. Find out more at www.call811.com. … We’ve heard music soothes the savage beast. It worked for Dr. Frankenstein. But Laurel Canyon Animal Co. took that literally and created a CD titled “Songs to Make Dogs Happy.” The firm cites experiments that show the CD calms animals. My first question: Can humans hear the music? My second: Is a mongrel MP3 player next? If you’re curious, go to www.petcds.com. … Excitations, an online gift site, is touting its “green gifts.” Give a hot-air balloon ride, a sea kayak trip or a hang-gliding ride. They’re meant to leave a minimal environmental footprint. But I’d first make sure the gift-giver didn’t just take out a big insurance policy on you. Go shopping at www.excitations.com.

Quotable:

“Plants possess life-enhancing qualities that encourage people to respond to them. In a judgmental world, plants are non-threatening and non-discriminating. … They provide a benevolent setting in which a person can take the first steps toward confidence.”

- Charles A. Lewis, a horticultural therapy pioneer. Read more about him at www.ahta.org.

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- Kelli Rodda