The venerable arboricultural consultant and author, Don Blair, once divided arborists into “oak men” and “euc men.” Basically, oak men are refined, thoughtful, merlot-sipping professionals who enjoyed classical music concerts, eloquent conversation and careful hand pruning. Euc men (short for eucalyptus – potentially hazardous giant trees in Blair’s native northern California) were brawny, brawling, beer- and whisky-guzzling zealots who seized the moment (and the chain saw) with both calloused hands while breaking windows in bars.
Russ Thompson has a passion for plants, pruning and people. Photo courtesy: Christina Thompson.
|
Blair noted that most arborists were a combination of both. Truthfully, most arborists are multi-faceted and defy categorization. Russ Thompson is no exception.
The Bronx meets the Southwest Desert in the gruff-talking, sarcastic, kind, passionate, droll, considerate, dedicated, intelligent, hilarious friend of arboriculture, professionalism and education. Thompson is impossible to pigeonhole, but easy to like.
“Russ comes off as this brash and arrogant New Yorker (which he is) but he is as loyal as the day is long and very dedicated to his commitments and his friends,” says Dennis Swartzell, co-owner of Horticulture Consultants, Inc., in Las Vegas, NV and columnist forSouthwest Trees & Turf.
Drought -- dry, no water. How do plants survive? In many ways drought tolerance is a function not only of the plant and its adaptations to a dry climate but where that plant grows, the depth and capacity of its root system and the soil those roots grow in.
Photo and Caption TK
|
As the summer grinds to a finish and fall is here, this gets to be a recurrent topic. Even though we have had a record breaking storm this October, most of California is still considered to be in drought. Water agencies are telling us to conserve, and in many cases telling water users how to conserve, ie, no turfgrass, “go native,” tune up irrigation systems, use weather based valve controllers.
As the drought continues, water prices rise, and court actions limit water for use on farms, it seems that everyone has an opinion on how homeowners should use water. Curiously, homeowner water use is the smallest category of fresh water use in California.
There is an abundance of myth, misinformation and downright false information being spread by “authorities” across California. Rather than attack the sources of poor information, let’s consider some commonly heard/read recommendations and then try to make some sense of them.
