I am a Purdue graduate with a degree in Forestry. One particular area of forestry that I enjoyed was the Urban Forestry program run by some very smart and talented people. After college I went to work for the USDA Forest Service - Forest Inventory Program measuring trees throughout Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. A few years later I met my wife in Madison and, once she was finished with her medical degree, we moved to Memphis, TN for her residency in Pediatrics through the University of Tennessee at Lebonheur Children's Hospital.
In Memphis, I was an ISA certified arborist and truly enjoyed answering questions and spreading the knowledge of trees and plants in the landscape to lay people. I was also a Tennessee Master Gardener while I lived in Memphis. The experiences of volunteering and helping to educate the public regarding trees, shrubs, and other plants was formative in my life because it is never just about the trees. Like most things in life, it is never just about the one thing that someone asks about.
Rarely is it ever just that someone wants to prune their tree because they think it needs to be pruned. Likely, the homeowner (and therefore, tree owner) wants to prune a tree because the tree branches rub on the roof and are destroying the shingles. Or perhaps they have squirrels and want to keep them off of their house. Or it could be that the homeowner wants more grass and the tree's shade is killing the grass (trees and grass are a common struggle and there are a lot of reasons behind this that I will get to in a future post). All of the reasons behind the 'Why', and there are many, many more, shape the reasons behind the tree care. This is true for a lot of other items in the urban landscape as well. I intend to get into many of these.
I have missed these outlets for helping educate the public once we moved to St. Louis, MO in 2012. While I am sure that Missouri has a Master Gardener program (and they do!), I have not had the opportunity to join in with these rowdy rose garden and lawn jockeys....yet. Until then, and probably after then, I hope to be able to spread around some knowledge about plants and yard work through the use of this blog.
I am happily married, have 2 wonderful children, another blog, and a full-time job so my life is fairly full. It seems, however, that I ALWAYS have yard work to do: grass to mow, leaves to rake, lights to fix, something needs to be done no matter how full my life is with all the other activities.
If you have any questions about things in your 'ard please feel free to shoot me an email and I will be happy to address it in a reply. Who knows, it may become a future post. I look forward to all of your questions and comments below.
Get your hands dirty,
-E
In Memphis, I was an ISA certified arborist and truly enjoyed answering questions and spreading the knowledge of trees and plants in the landscape to lay people. I was also a Tennessee Master Gardener while I lived in Memphis. The experiences of volunteering and helping to educate the public regarding trees, shrubs, and other plants was formative in my life because it is never just about the trees. Like most things in life, it is never just about the one thing that someone asks about.
Rarely is it ever just that someone wants to prune their tree because they think it needs to be pruned. Likely, the homeowner (and therefore, tree owner) wants to prune a tree because the tree branches rub on the roof and are destroying the shingles. Or perhaps they have squirrels and want to keep them off of their house. Or it could be that the homeowner wants more grass and the tree's shade is killing the grass (trees and grass are a common struggle and there are a lot of reasons behind this that I will get to in a future post). All of the reasons behind the 'Why', and there are many, many more, shape the reasons behind the tree care. This is true for a lot of other items in the urban landscape as well. I intend to get into many of these.
I have missed these outlets for helping educate the public once we moved to St. Louis, MO in 2012. While I am sure that Missouri has a Master Gardener program (and they do!), I have not had the opportunity to join in with these rowdy rose garden and lawn jockeys....yet. Until then, and probably after then, I hope to be able to spread around some knowledge about plants and yard work through the use of this blog.
I am happily married, have 2 wonderful children, another blog, and a full-time job so my life is fairly full. It seems, however, that I ALWAYS have yard work to do: grass to mow, leaves to rake, lights to fix, something needs to be done no matter how full my life is with all the other activities.
If you have any questions about things in your 'ard please feel free to shoot me an email and I will be happy to address it in a reply. Who knows, it may become a future post. I look forward to all of your questions and comments below.
Get your hands dirty,
-E
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