Hybrid Elms

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Hybrid Elms

Tree of the Month May/June 2018
by: Lesley Bruce Smith, ISA Certified Arborist

When I was a little girl, like many who grew up in communities east of the Mississippi River, I lived on a street lined with American Elms. Although it is against every piece of advise we now share, to line streets with the exact same species, I can’t help but think back in wonder at those amazing cathedral like arches that lined so many American City streets in the last century. It is a memory held by so many of us over the age of 50 that it is little wonder that so much hybridizing has been done with the American Elm.

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Tree Planting Tribulation

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Tree Planting Tribulation

Mother Nature’s Moment June/July 2018
by: Lesley Bruce Smith, ISA Certified Arborist

This time of year we find ourselves on a lot of properties that have young trees that are struggling or dead. As arborists we are the ones that get called in to diagnose, treat and in the sad cases do post mortem on trees that were installed less than two or three years ago and have just not survived. The reason we get called instead of the folks who installed the trees is because the infamous “guarantee” has expired along with the tree.

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Poison Ivy Primer

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Poison Ivy Primer

Mother Nature's Moment
© 2017, 2011 text and photos by Lesley Bruce Smith

This season finds many of us out in our gardens or in local forest preserves, with fall color not far away.  Since we spend a good deal of time in your yards, as well, we know that there is a lot of poison ivy out there, even more with all the rain we have had.  As professionals, we realize that the best way to avoid this often agonizing malady is to be able to identify and stay clear of the plant.

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