I know what it means … saw through my telescope … woodsmen … sawing down trees … with Xs on them … like ours….  They’re going to cut down our tree!

As both author and illustrator, Ruth Brown brings to life bustling, bickering neighbors of the animal-variety in her 2007 children’s story, “The Old Tree”.  Birds, bunnies, badgers, and a few other boarders, who share not only living space as well as uncannily human personalities, join forces for a common, greater cause – to save their home by outsmarting the woodsmen.

This “book for the growing years” is the motivation behind the efforts of Garden volunteers Nancy Butler and Alexandra Slusher in the West Wing of The Conservatory at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, in following our tradition of bringing a storybook to life for GardenFest. In keeping with the Dominion Gardenfest of Lights 2011 theme, Nature’s DeLights, Nancy and Alexandra will indeed bring to life “The Old Tree”.

Their methodology is simple … or not:

1. Begin with a naval orange tree approximately 15 feet in height.
   

   The framework of the tree. Built with chicken wire & pots.

2. Layer terra cotta flower pots graduating in size, upside down and stacked, spidering towards the base of the tree from four directions (these are the roots).
3. Cover the whole thing with chicken wire and subsequent paper mache.
4. Complete with paint and animal vignettes.

Nancy Butler

Nancy inherited her love of art, and paper mache’, from her father, a former float-builder.  She expresses her talents by also making and decorating extraordinary cakes for friends and family, and by volunteering here at the Garden, where she met Alexandra.  Alexandra is a Virginia Commonwealth University School of Art graduate and now a portrait and mural artist.  Together, these volunteers extraordinaire have contributed over 560 hours to Lewis Ginter since they joined in 2010.  Consequently, because they spend so much time in the “Jewel of the Garden”, the Conservatory, they are regularly approached with horticulture-related questions, which prompted them to pursue and complete the Hanover Master Gardener program together in March, 2011.

Alexandra Slusher

The work-in-progress in The Conservatory is a collaborative effort.  Frank Robinson, President and CEO of the Garden, chose the story.  Dick Abbott of the “Geezers” volunteer group handcrafted two mini-wooden and engraved arched doors for the tree.  And, of course, there are the tireless efforts of volunteers like Nancy and Alexandra, among others.  They are even testing the waters as mini-seamstresses by fashioning the little animals in hand-designed couture, as the carrier pigeon vignette in its little red cap and mailbag can attest.

The Old Tree

’HIP, HIP, HOORAY!’ everyone cheered.  And that night they had a wonderful party.

Candlewick Press’ “The Old Tree” is also available for purchase in the Garden Shop.  The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden version is scheduled to be completed for Dominion GardenFest of Lights, opening  on Friday, November 25,  and is available in the 11,000 square-foot classical domed Conservancy – the only one of its kind in the mid-Atlantic.  We hope that this vignette will appeal nature-lovers everywhere, from the young to the young-at-heart.

I write the following to document and interpret the impact of our weather on the Garden, but more so to commend the horticultural, operations, maintenance and volunteer staff for the superb job you have done under really difficult conditions in recent weeks, with special thanks to Jay, Danny, Mike, John and Karen for their efforts to ensure we have adequate water to get through the next month!  Thank you! Thank you!

You may have noticed in the last few weeks  evidence of extreme stress on trees in the landscape. I mention this for two reasons — the dramatic nature of the change, and the various ways in which these plants respond to extreme environmental stress.

You may think trees can die from drought alone, but in truth, when we have prolonged drought and no intervening rain to reduce both air and soil temperatures, trees (and other plants) actually die from root systems shutting down from soils that are too warm.  Both lack of water and soil temperatures reduce root metabolism, but once soils reach temperatures beyond 95 degrees F, root respiration slows to a stop, and the trees virtually suffocate.

Oak species tend to have the greatest fragility levels, literally reaching a stress point and sometimes “die over night,” including very mature specimens.

Other species cope by defoliation or segmental death of the plant – individual branches or certain segments (top half) of the tree dying to reduce the amount of strain on the plant’s attempts to support foliage, flowers and fruit through the uptake of water and nutrients.

Urban trees suffer the most under these conditions. The greater the soil mass, ability of soils to hold water, quantity of understory plants which help to shade and cools soils, mulch and accumulated organic materials covering root zones, etc. all impact a tree’s ability to survive these extremes.

Irrigation provides both water and soil cooling, and can make the difference between life and death, but water alone can’t overcome the impact of hot soils – 100-degree wet soil and 100-degree dry soil are equally fatal. Trees living in small soil volumes, with large tree-to-soil ratios, in compacted soils, with limited root systems, without the benefit of other “communities” of plants to mitigate their environment, etc. really suffer in this kind of weather.

There are ethical discussions about irrigation and whether it should be used during water stress. Luckily, the vast majority of Lewis Ginter’s irrigation water comes from rain we collect in our lakes from surface run-off, roofs and clean paving. The issue of using treated water from public utilities gets more complex (and that is subject for another discussion), but I believe trees do so much good for our environment, the use of water to sustain them is inarguable.

We had a very wet winter and spring, and ideal pollination conditions for many spring flowering trees. This is now seen in particularly heavy fruit set, as seen in our venerable female Ginkgo at Bloemendaal House. Maples (Acer species) and Redbuds (Cercis species) also had very heavy fruit set this year. Plants invest the majority of their energy into their flowers and fruits – their next generation. Sadly, our Ginkgo has invested so much nutrient in its fruit that the accumulated weight has resulted in the spontaneous loss of several major branches in the past month. This is highly uncommon, but in this case, it is too much of a good thing. Trees currently in flower or fruit are subject to especially high stress as they attempt to survive in order to reproduce.

Not all trees within similar conditions respond the same. There could be multiple factors involved, (disease, insect infestation, etc.), but under these extreme conditions, the genetics of a plant have huge influence. In truth, we have limited clones in most landscape plantings, and genetic variation is an important factor in a tree’s longevity. As in all of nature, it is the survival of the fittest. So, if you see one tree thriving in a landscape and another in stress, it could well be its genetic make up – just as some of us humans live to a ripe old age, and others do not.

It has long been my contention that the entire Botanical Garden is one big research project – that so many plants in so many conditions have never been assembled in Central Virginia before. As they mature, grow into communities, impact one another with shade, root competition, etc., adapt to micro-climates, and are tested by time, weather, disease, insects and cultivation, our accumulated learning will be rich indeed.

In spite of many weeks of record-breaking temperatures and drought, we have very few plants which are “at risk” or which have been damaged by the conditions. Those few which are struggling will teach us all more about nature in general, and the plants species, varieties and cultivars specifically.

I want to commend the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden horticultural and maintenance staff and volunteers for an outstanding job of keeping the Garden’s collections healthy and strong through this period. Their steadfast dedication seven-days-a-week keeps this “research project” an oasis of beauty and a center of education which benefits the entire region.