Author Archives: julian

Beware the Ides of September… Trees & Storm Damage

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I had this all ready written about 2 months ago (because it was going to be topical now) and then forgot it. Hopefully the warning will go unneeded (as opposed to unheeded).

The Autumn equinox passed almost unnoticed (apart from it being the nicest day of the "summer" so far). But the equinox in September is every bit as dodgy as the one in March. Remember poor old Julius Caesar and "beware the Ides of March"?

From a tree perspective the greatest risk at an equinox is of severe gales during the period from three weeks before to three weeks after the 21st September. With climate change there is a suspicion that these storms tend to happen later. So the high risk month is October (as in 1987 and again in 2000 and in 2007).

There is not much you can do at short notice, but I would advise giving your trees a quick visual check. What you are after is the sight of a bare branch without leaves. (Unless it is a long suffering chestnut) your trees should still be carrying a good bit of leaf. Bare branches are dead or sick, and dead or sick branches are the ones that tend to come down in a storm. Let prudence be the better part of valour and take any suspect limbs off before they fall on your house or you..

With younger trees that have been staked for the whole of this year and are growing well, get rid of the stake. You need a good reason to leave them staked. Stakes are just crutches; temporary supports and should be done away with as soon as possible. A young tree can’t bend as much in a storm if it is staked and tied, and so is more likely to snap. If it has to be staked, LOOSEN the tie, so it can move more in the wind.

When the stormy season is past, and the planting season is on us, I will put up a post that gives you a few hints as to what longer terms steps you can take to minimise the risk to trees in a storm. But for now, here is hoping for gentle winds.

Relax (if you can) and watch your plants grow!

Lighting Trees

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Uplighting is the most commonly used garden lighting technique, for shrub borders and trees especially. By uplighting trees, one exploits a unique opportunity to add vertical emphasis and drama in a garden lighting scheme. Trees with an open habit allow light to fully display the branch structure, while the contrast of colour between subjects can be emphasised. The light coloured bark of a silver birch, the coppery stems of Prunus serrula Tai-Haku, the golden fern-like foliage of Gleditsia triacanthos “Sunburst” or the subtle green and white striped bark of Acer pensylvanicum are all examples of good lighting subjects.

For trees with dense canopies and darker foliage, uplighting rarely works well on its own. Uplighting through the central branch structure and crosslighting the canopy from a second source is one alternative; really dense canopies, such as conifers, can only be lit from outside. Where there are several trees in a view, avoid lighting them uniformly (unless you are lighting an avenue). Light some from the front and others from the side to provide contrast.

Lighting a house wall to silhouette a tree in front is an interesting effect if the tree has an open structure. Alternatively a spotlight in front can project the shadow of a tree onto the wall behind, a good way of using a small acer to create a big effect in a newly planted garden. Try to “fit” the lamp beam to the tree shape to avoid wastage of light and energy by studying the lamp beam diameter and the pool of light it provides at a given distance. To uplight small to medium size trees, use one or more a tungsten halogen lamps of 50 – 75 watts and a beam angle to suit the tree – 24 degrees for a slender silver birch, 60 degrees for a weeping tree and 36 degrees for most tree shapes in between. A site that provides useful helpsheets on subjects such as choosing the right lamps for your spotlights and uplighting trees is www.garden-lighting-tips.co.uk.

Trees can be good lighting platforms in relation to shrub borders, as well as a way of lighting terraces, driveways, paths, steps and seating areas. A favourite technique is “moonlighting” down from low power lights fixed in a tree to shadow the lower branches and foliage onto the ground below. This provides a subtle, dappled lighting effect over a tree seat and is also a creative way of integrating the lawn into the lighting scene or lighting a path or drive in a rural garden. For moonlighting, or if you are spotlighting a feature from a tree, use a dedicated tree spotlight on a tree or surface-mount, with a glare shield to hide the light source from view and a brown or “bronze textured” powder-coat finish which blends well with tree bark. You can find more advice on designing lighting for trees and on choosing the right lighting products at www.lightingforgardens.com.

Top Tips for Tree Planting

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The tree planting season is nearly upon us, so it is time to brush up your tree planting technique. By the way, most of this applies to shrubs, hedging, roses and fruit as well.

1. When your plants arrive, trim roots and stems that are damaged. Clean cuts lessen the chance of disease.

2. When you dig your planting hole, reserve the topsoil for when you are filling in around the roots. The less good stuff will go back in the bottom of the hole…

3. It is good to improve topsoil with well rotted compost or manure. It works wonders for the structure of your soil. Adding sand, grit or even straw improves the drainage of clay soil.

4. Always make a small “molehill” in the bottom of the planting hole to put the roots on. This, quite simply, stops them becoming waterlogged and rotting before they have started to grow away.

5. Square planting holes prevent roots from “circling” and so are better for root development.

6. Use mycorrhizae . These friendly fungi are an incredible help to the establishment of a tree.

7. Always step back from the tree before returning soil to make sure you have planted it so it looks its best. It is going to be there for a long time and you don’t want to spend the rest of your life saying ” if only…”

8. Try to make some provision for watering. We generally bury a bit of drainpipe or drainage hose while we are planting so that it is really easy to get water down to the roots while the tree is establishing.

9. Backfill around the roots using the improved topsoil.

10. Guard your tree. Not only do rabbits and deer take chunks out of it, so do strimmers and lawnmowers.

11. Use a stake and a good tree tie to stabilise your tree. You can get rid of it after the second year. Always tie the tree low down otherwise the head can snap off in a gale.

12. Give your tree a good mulch after planting or use a hemp mulch mat which is biodegradable. Either will reduce weed competition (the mat removes it entirely) and both help water retention.

Sit back and watch your trees grow

Chestnuts Come Early… Unfortunately

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You maybe aware that our conker trees (Aesculus hippocastanum and its varieties) are under threat. The horse chestnut leaf miner grub eats the tissue between the outer layers of the leaves, reducing their ability to breathe and ultimately causing them to fall off. At the same time Horse Chestnut Leaf Blotch – a fungal condition is having exactly the same effect.  If your chestnut is shedding its leaves now, you know why.

In turn, this causes the conkers to fall early, which ought to be good news for conkerers except that they will be a bit smaller this year…. because the trees have not been able to take  full advantage of that lovely sunny summer you have all being enjoying.

The activities of the leaf miner and the leaf blotch weaken the tree and make it more susceptible to bleeding canker (which may well kill it). One in ten of the UK’s horse chestnut trees have bleeding canker and there is no treatment available.  It is of greatest danger to  young  chestnut trees -  up to about 35 years old.  Beyond that age, the tree is more likely to survive, and there are recorded instances of older trees actually curing themselves.A healthy, forty year old Horse Chestnut

The horse chestnut leaf miner seems to be pretty unstoppable as well – the adult moth which is 5mm long has no natural predators. It was first seen in South-Eastern Europe in the 1970′s and reached the UK in 2002. Since then it has spread from London (where it was first identified) into the Midlands, to Kent and down to Devon.

Our (albeit pessimistic view) is that until either the miner has been stopped or there is a treatment for the canker, it is probably best to avoid planting horse chestnuts in clumps.  Keep them away from one another. The one photographed is in a village where every horse chestnut is in some way diseased (except this one). It is just over 100 metres  from the nearest infected tree.. .