When we started the iPhone app and worked with the developer, we realized quickly that there was nothing natural about the technology at all, no matter how smooth they make the interface look.  We realized that to continue growing and for technology to work with nature it must act like nature, be built like nature and grow like nature.  The pieces and parts must be able to work together to grow the ecosystem as a whole.  Unfortunately since 1992, when the USDA started building the first database, technology for horticulture has been moving the wrong direction.  The medium has been used to store, organize, and dictate what nature is rather than grow the information like the plant kingdom, has grown itself.  As a result the information is fractured, isolated and has not been allowed to grow and become the knowledge it wants to become. 

We experienced the stifling complexities of this paradox before the iPhone app was ever complete, but were limited by the technology of the device.  As users started giving us feedback, we saw the limited use of the iPhone to ATT and the iPhone platform create the same separations as traditional horticulture information on other platforms.  Nature is made up of symbiotic relationships that are not limited by species let alone by the brand of your computer or phone, and we realized to meet the needs of gardeners, growers, and the horticulture industry as a whole we had use the whole world as our ecosystem, just like nature does.  So just as we ran from the USDA and turned to Linnaeus as the inspiration for our data structure, we have moved from the native applications to a web based platform that can grow as freely as the Internet has itself.

Gardens are about growing… plants, places, people, minds, and relationships.  For growth to happen you have to learn, which requires listening, communicating, adapting, and experiencing.  Using data structures and technological devices that prevent and stifle this growth, have kept the entire industry from being able to grow technologically as well as the plants in their gardens grow themselves.  When it comes to reference sources for horticulture, rather than treating them as a growing medium, technology has acted more like a pre emergent or pair of pruners to control the growth of information.  In the end it has prevented or limited the experiential activities necessary to grow and has turned gardening on the web to a collection on limitless libraries and opinions.  Other than prolific and wonderful discussions in social media little has been done to grow the industry as a whole through the use of the information.

Some who will read this have seen what we are up to in our cyber-greenhouse, and have watched us toiling in the soil, and even seen some of the seeds germinate.  Finally the seeds have all germinated, their roots are reaching the edge of the pots and are ready to be potted up.  Like those first liners going to the wholesale market, that is who we have been working with first to bring this to market, and for some of those larger nurseries who do it all, we are planting our flowers in their greenhouses as well.  Soon it will be spreading nation, continent and world-wide just like those seeds on the Magnolia.

Like nature itself, the technology is proving that it can grow symbiotically with all these different groups regardless of their individual environments and species.  It is working, just like all of those original experiments that came from Linnaeus and those little bitty peas.  It is working because instead of fighting and controlling nature we worked with it, embraced it and emulated it.  We are able to grow all of these different tools for all these different people, because like nature we have one life force driving everything we do for everyone in our garden, and have used nature’s structural models to make it all work together.

We are not ready to release our individual or education tools yet, if you sign up for news on our main site we will keep you posted.  If you are in the nursery or landscape industry and looking for ways to better communicate with, or education your clients, staff, and end users feel free to contact us, and I’ll gladly give you a tour or the cyber-greenhouse and show you what we are growing for you.

It’s that time of year again, and if you have read me before, I have already chimed in on my support for your local garden center when you buy your Christmas tree.  I always like to support my local businesses, and this is one year where they could really use your help.  Where I live, this is usually a pretty “green” option as well since we are in the heart of Frazier Fir county.   The trees in our local nurseries usually come from less than an hour away.  However,  some people want to make the “greenest” decision when it comes to this ritual, and cannot imagine that  “Sustainability” could require cutting down a living tree.  Since being sustainable is contingent on those who have to do the sustaining, I thought I would put together this little guide to help you choose the best and “greenest” tree for you.

THE WORST:  Artificial Trees. These are without a doubt the most damaging to the environment.  I know that common thinking would be that not cutting down a tree would be the greenest option.  However, this is without a doubt the worst.  Artificial trees are loaded with PVC and toxic fire retardants.  Most are made in countries with little regard to water pollution and the manufacturing plants themselves do more to damage the environment that the toxins used to make the tree.  Even worse is the shipping.  Most of these trees are shipped half way around the world before they ever make it to the states. Then they are shuffled from state to state and warehouse to warehouse before they ever make it to your door.  Besides the “green” aspects of this, when it comes to sustainability you are lucky if five cents on the dollar actually makes it into the local economy.

THE ALMOST AS BAD:  Cut Trees From Box Stores. This year’s tomato blight should tell us a little about this.  In their desire to  get the cheapest possible tree to sell these companies will not hesitate one second to ship a Frazier Fir from coast to coast to save a penny.  Secondly, as evidenced by the tomato blight they will have little regard to shipping exotic invasive species such as Woolly Adelgid with them.  Since Christmas trees are “harvested” they have little regulations regarding interstate shipping of diseased plants, and with the condensed harvest season their is no way such regulations could be successfully enforced.  On the sustainability side, once again, this does little for you local economy unless you happen to live in Bentonville, Arkansas.

GETTING GREENER:  Cut Trees From A Local Garden Center. Obviously I am a little partial to this one for convenience and support of the industry, and if grown locally these trees can be extremely green.  However, many of these will often be dyed, and garden centers like to get all crafty and carry “Boutique Trees”  That tend to come from different parts of the country.  My favorite tree is actually a Noble Fir, but since moving to Frazier country I have given that option up to be green.   As for sustainability, these trees are usually bought from coops or regionally which cuts down on shipping, and puts more money back into the local economy.

YOU WOULD THINK THIS GREENER:  The Living Tree. Growing in popularity has been has been the living tree that is brought inside for a short period of time and then taken out to be planted immediately after the holiday.  Sounds “green” to me.  However, the amount of labor and chemicals that go into growing a live tree for retail sale is far greater than what it takes to grow a cut tree.  The water to keep them alive while out of the ground must be figured in.  The shipping of the soil means they can only get a fraction of the trees on the truck, and the chances of them actually surviving this torture is about 30 percent.  Very few places handle evergreens properly at this time of year, and even fewer homeowners will, even if they have the best of intentions.  Add to all of that the terrible timing of trying to plant in frozen soil and getting it backfilled correctly, this just rarely turns out as intended.

GREENER AND CAUSAL:  Local Roadside Stands for Charity. Lately it seems like the local roadside stands have been taken over by local charities, and to save money these are almost always stocked locally or regionally.  Grant it these are typically lower grade trees and they are never as pretty as the prime stock that goes to your local garden center, but if this is the season of giving this is a good way to go.  You are less likely to have artificial dyes, the shipping should be limited, and you are giving the proceeds straight back to your community.  These are also usually bought from the same folks that are supplying the box stores without the damage to the environment caused by the shipping, and since these are second grade trees you are saving them from a burn pile.

THE GREENEST COMMERCIAL OPTION:  The Local Tree Farm. Going to a local tree farm, picking out the perfect specimen, drinking some cocoa, and strapping it to your car for the sentimental journey home is without a doubt the “greenest” and most sustainable commercial option.  The shipping is limited to a drive you would make anyway.  Cut your own growers tend to use far less chemicals, and machinery.  You don’t have all the over the road trucking, and every dollar goes right to the person that grew the tree.  You also know that they are going to plant another tree right in its place because they are dependent upon it for the continued revenue.  These growers are also going to practice selective harvesting since you are choosing the tree.  They wont be clear cutting field and plowing mountain tops to keep up with the box store demand.

THE GREENEST OPTION:  Cut Down an Invasive Species: There are many parts of the country were cedars, certain varieties of spruce and pines are actually invasive species and need to be removed.  If you happen to know someone with some land that will let you cut one down, take them up on it.  You know they haven’t been sprayed or pruned and what is a nuisance to them can create a great memory for you.  At the same time you will be doing something good for the environment without taking anything from it.  This option also happens to be the cheapest.

What is the “greenest” may not be the best for you.  Allergies may prevent you from having a cut or living tree at all, and your travel, schedule, or specific traditions and needs may dictate less green options.  The important part is that you choose your tree thoughtfully because it will be creating memories in the days ahead for many years to come.  Hopefully this list will help you make the “greenest” decision you can and bring even more meaning to your holidays.

When I started this post it was going to be an all out attack on Lawn&Landscape Magazine.  Over the past several months they have taken a corporate political stance that has ceased to be an educational service to their industry and turned into an all out chemical and economic attack on garden consumers and professionals.  Their publication has obviously become an effort to carry water for the equipment,  chemical and insurance industries that pay for all their advertising and write their content.  It has ceased to be an educational service to the industry.

The article that finally pushed me over the edge wasn’t the one last month on how limiting turf use to 4000 sf per yard was an attack on our ideals, or the one the month before on how landscape employees that are constantly exposed to chemicals and physical danger don’t deserve health care.  Instead it was this month’s on how the industry was being attacked because municipalities in Canada where restricting chemical use in residential and environmentally sensitive areas.  Their fear was that the socialist tendencies of these Canadians might drift south like a cloud of RoundUp and make us little salamanders in the states start caring about the future of our children and water supply.  The full article is here…water bucket and all:  Best Defense

As most of you who read me know, I have spent my entire career in the landscape design build business.  One of the things that has made this business great is that as long as I can remember is that nurserymen, landscapers, and gardeners are typically true tradesmen who learn, love and teach their crafts.  They are not just tradesmen, but true craftsmen.  Probably the most notable reason this industry has been able to grow as fast as the customers isn’t just the demand that has paid for it, but also the numerous organizations, associations, and schools that have collaborated and been a part of that education.  The main goal of all these groups is the advancement of the industry by networking and educating.  For the most part all the various state associations, the ANLA, and various other groups make this their calling.  These groups also have one other thing in common, they are all in the business of growing, and understand that to do it successfully you can never stop learning.  They also know that the most important part of learning is listening to their industry, and their consumers.

(This is where I originally paused to figure out how to handle this tactfully)  then…

This morning I woke up to this wonderful post from Garden Rant: “A Chemical Reaction” Makes the Case.  It chronicles the grassroots efforts of the Canadian people to protect their children and resources, and the woman who made it her life’s cause.  This is a wonderfully positive take on what happens when industry and government listen to the needs of their customers and in the end grow together for the benefit of both.  What happened in Canada is a case of consumers driving change and an industry growing to meet demand in trying times rather than screaming that they are under attack.  This is an example of what our industry has always been about when it is at it’s best.

Lawn & Landscape Magazine used to be dedicated to advancing and teaching a growing industry but has gradually become increasingly consumed with maintaining the status quo.  Now obviously for them the status quo is the never ending supply of equipment and chemical vendors who cover %70 of their publication with adds.  However, for the people in this business the future isn’t in buying up their vendor’s over saturated, unwanted, and unaffordable inventories, it is in learning their changing market’s needs and desires and adapting their businesses to them.  In short they need to learn, and education requires two things; listening and thinking.  Both of these Lawn & Landscape  has been too busy screaming how we are under attack to do.

Before I started Botany Buddy I had to go through some serious reconciliation.  I was giving up 25 years of designing landscapes usually for the sake of prestige and money.  It wasn’t necessarily desired by me, but by my clients who at least wanted to portray that image.  I was just paying for my gardening habit and overdosing on it with their money.  It was a viscous cycle, and for twenty years I watched the industry make the same mistakes as the clients.  Firms became more concerned about the appearance of the trucks and mowers than if the equipment best met the needs of their clients.  In the end, we even pushed this image to our clients, by focusing on the resale value of our product rather than how it made their lives or environment better.

Well as the false economy that paid for these false ideals has crumbled, a return to the values that started this industry are coming back.  In the last five to ten years sustainable landscaping has come into focus.  Everyday people are making decisions based upon their environments and lifestyles, and finding the essence in both rather than trying to create an image of a place that doesn’t exist.  Lawn & Landscape surely isn’t going to listen to little old Botany Buddy, and I’m sure after this Monsanto won’t let them promote my little $10 app.   That’s O.K., I didn’t get into this for them, I did it to return to my roots as a gardener, out of a love of the world around me, and to hopefully find a new way forward.  We may not be able to change the giant of industry, but maybe if all of us gardeners rant a little more, we can “uproot the gardening world” like the women of Garden Rant and change the world around them.

What happens when you combine politics, various county governments, Academe and community organizing?  Usually not much.  Having been been raised in Academe and involved in plenty of politics, when I first heard of a BYGL I definitely had my preconceived notions.  In fact the first image that came to my mind was the Spoofhound.  That was the name of my high school mascot. Rumor had it in the early days our football team was so inept at coming together and working as a team that the coach said they all looked like a bunch of  Spoofhounds.  The name has stuck as long as anyone can remember.  Of course when the teams are good everyone tries to change their name to “The Hounds”.  However being a dog lover I have always been fond of the name Spoofhound.  I couldn’t have been more proud of that name when they recently gained national notoriety for an act of selflessness that became a network and Internet sensation and showed how greatness can be reached when unlikely partners come together to do something good. (story)

When I first heard of  ”The Bygles” (at least that is what I call them), I have to admit I imagined somewhat of a Spoofhound effort in the purest sense of the name.  After all how could so many competing entities possibly come together to beat the odds for the benefit of everyone.  Anyone who has worked in horticulture or been a gardener knows that when you are working one on one with an extension agent it can be a wonderful experience.  However, if you knew what it requires to allow that to happen you would be surprised you had the chance to meet with an agent at all.  Typically University Extension Services are are funded by a combination of federal, state, and local or county funds.  Most are also usually torn between a university system and local governments.  This makes it really easy for someone be turned into a research assistant or someone who has to do the biddings of a politician trying to seek reelection.  Yet somehow through personal care and a love of their jobs by individual agents those of us on the receiving end are rarely aware of this paradox.  These agents are friends, educators, and ambassadors between the farmer in the field or the gardener in their yard and many different figments in ivory tours that hold the fate their existence in a very fragile web of funding and interests.

Somehow in the story of  ”The Bygles” all of these odds are overcome to create an effort more worthy of the name Superdog than a Spoofhound.  BYGL is a statewide newsletter put out weekly through the growing season by The Ohio State University Extension Service.  This seems like no big deal.  All of our local agents put out at least monthly newsletters, or at least most do.  However this one is different.  Every week during the growing season agents from every county in the state come together via conference call to discuss not only what is happening in their districts, but how diseases, insects, and trends are acting across the entire state and their region of the country as a whole.

For one day every week these people bring all of their local perspectives but put aside their local agendas to see how they can address these problems as a state and on a statewide level.  After the meeting everything is compiled into one document and not only faxed out to all of their various members and users, but also put together online where the report can be accessed.  Not only can the report be accessed, but through the effort of some dedicated agents and university staff, wonderful photos are taken and information is gathered to tell the story as it needs to be addressed today and not just recycled from some old files.  Not only that, they reach outside of their own circle to other agencies and resources, and all the appropriate links and references are included so people can quickly find what they need.  As a result they are able to address problems and needs for the entire state as an ecosystem rather than one county at a time, and over come all the bureaucratic odds.

As gardeners our biggest challenge is learning the ecosystems we work in and learning how to help the plants and animals in them to work together for the good of the entire garden.  Gardening can be challenging, but working across all the various bureaucratic boundaries, and hierarchies to pull this off has to be harder.  One of  ”The Bygles” likes to say “Information is not Education”  As someone with a philosophy degree, I have to agree.  Having managed lands in many states and across state and county lines, I have become familiar with many extension services and their resources.  They are loaded with information and are extremely valuable resources, but BYGL is definitely designed for education, not just to disperse information.

The last BYGL was just published for the season until next spring, but I highly recommend you check this site out.  I would be proud to call this dog a Spoofhound in the greatest sense.  *Note: when you go to this page the links to older newsletters are at the bottom.  The links at the top are under construction as they are archiving this years content.

As long as I can remember I have been hanging out in Garden Centers.  As a small child, my father was a competitive rose grower, so the smell of malathion is as iconic to my childhood memories as the smell of a bakery is to most people.  Of course I have gotten all green with age and what I can only assume is some sort of wisdom.  I can only think my father would have too if lung cancer hadn’t gotten him first.  Especially since he always swore it was the roses that gave it to him and not the Chesterfield Kings.  My father was a very ritualistic man, and no matter how much he loved those roses, spraying every other week, and fertilizing on the off weeks, there was one ritual that he loved even more.  It had to be rooted in his desire to find the prefect specimen, with the perfect color and shape, and then to manipulate it even more than he could the perfect rose.  That most monumental of annual quests was for the perfect Christmas tree.

I grew up in Northwest Missouri, about 30 minutes south of a little town called Shenandoah,  Iowa.  Most people don’t realize that for the first half of the 20th century Shenandoah, Iowa was the nursery capital of the world.  More nursery stock moved through that little town with nothing but a radio hall and the Tall Corn Motel than any place in the world for almost a half a century.  I grew up working for a company called Earl May.  Their headquarters was there and the location I worked at was one of the first satellite locations outside of Shenandoah.  Earl May grew into fame for having one of the first nationally broadcast gardening radio shows, and one of the largest distributed seed catalogs ever.  What has made it one of the largest grossing nursery retailers though wasn’t nursery stock at all.  It was Christmas and Pet Supplies.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s retail chains like Kmart and Pamida (not even Walmart yet) were emerging and with them came seasonal garden shops.  When garden centers realized they needed to stay open year round to compete and keep customer loyalty they started looking for seasonal sales to carry them through the winter.  Gone were the days of having roadside stands and taking winters off.  You had to be a part of the the buyers’ year round ritual to keep up us gardeners coming in.  Earl was a smart man and so were his offspring.  While everyone else was deciding whether to take on animal and livestock supplies or to set up a Christmas trees on their empty nursery lots in November, Earl May decided they wanted it all.  Instead of focusing on one, they went for both and instead of focusing on livestock, they went for pets.  They developed a chain revolving around the lifestyle of people who love living and love living things.  It was pet supplies, birding goods, and holidays of all sorts year round.  Garden supplies were relegated to less than 1/3 of the store’s floor space.  If people needed it weekly Earl carried it.  When I left the company at a height of 62 stores, they had some of the most loyal gardening customers I have ever known, but their two largest departments were actually Christmas and Pets.

My earliest childhood memories of hanging out in that garden center were not lining up to check out the first arrival of bare root roses in March, or buying my first radishes seeds.  It was the magic of walking under strands of clear white bulbs through a forest of  Scotch Pine and Douglas Fir.  We would run up and down the aisles hiding behind the tallest of trees, and drink hot cocoa or cider while dad analyzed every single tree in that place.  It had worked and Earl got me.  Of course as I grew, Earl grew.  Soon they had lights and ornaments, flocked trees and artificial trees, even to the point of carrying Macy’s famed Department 56.  All the way through high school and college and for another fifteen years beyond that, not only had I become and accomplished nurseryman and successful landscape designer, for two months out of every year, I became an Elf.  Through three different nurseries and almost thirty years of my life, I flocked trees, made wreaths, put them in stands, created arrangements, tied bows and decorated some of the most elaborate places you have every seen.  It was only appropriate that one day I would design the landscape on the Country Club Plaza, on of the most magical Christmas places of all.

As the leaves in the mountains of North Carolina begin to fall, the underlying green of the Rhododendron and Hemlock that makes them so special is coming through.  But if you go up high enough, above 4,000 feet, something else is happening.  If you drive high enough and get back into the most remote corners of  the hills you get beyond the the hardwood forests to places with names like Little Canada and Little Switzerland.  From these mystical mountain tops were you can see for miles on end, sometimes four states at a time.  It is a magical place where what at one time were natural balds on top of mountains have now been turned into special forests.   The trees are perfectly lined in rows, rarely get over 12′ tall and are perfectly pruned as far as the eye can see.  The rich dark green with the little splash of blue is unmistakable and with the shorter days as the sun goes down the stars come out like strands of clear white bulbs over the fields.  This is the origin of the Frazier Fir.  The most sought after Christmas tree of all.

Yes I am a cheesy romantic.  As much as I like to preach all my virtues of environmental awareness and tree hugging elitism, nothing excites me more than that in three short weeks I will take out my little girl and walk the aisles looking for that perfect specimen.  We will strap it to the roof, bring it home, cut off the stump and put it in water so the branches will lay perfectly open by Thanksgiving Day and the rituals will begin.  Of course I will hold back my excitement as I see it grow in her eyes over the coming weeks.  Mainly because I don’t want her to explode before Christmas day, but also because I know I look like a dork.  I will look weird enough at the annual Advent wreath making party when I break out my Felco pruners, floral wire, and perfectly pruned greens and berries.

In the meantime we’ll keep logs on the fire and marshmallows near by and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the best types of trees and how to be green through all of this.  But for now, the green that I am feeling is that cheesy looking elf suit that is permanently tattooed to my psyche.  That same suite in reality probably made me a gardener.  As much as I run from the chemicals that are the lifeblood of the garden center and loathe the grotesque commercialism that has taken over our holidays and lives as a whole, I also realize it has helped bring us a generation of gardeners.  For that I owe Earl a lifetime of memories and a lifetime more to come.