All Blog Posts (587)

The tulip poplar has the distinction of being the state tree of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. Since Tennessee’s Arbor Day is March 4, we’re going to focus on the Volunteer State and its history with the tulip poplar.

The Tennessee legislature adopted the tulip poplar as the state tree in 1947 because it was used extensively by the Tennessee pioneers to construct their houses, barns and other buildings.…

" 'Climate change will not leave the green lungs of our cities untouched. We already know that some species will not get along with the associated weather extremes in the long run', said Klaus Körber of the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture in Veitshöchheim, Germany.

Therefore, the research organization tries to find the best urban trees for the future in a large-scale attempt. Currently on a five acre test site near the German town Würzburg 450 trees are being…

Instead of having a single Arbor Day, Alabama celebrates Arbor Day during the last full week of February every year.

The Alabama legislature first designated the Southern pinetree as the state tree in 1949. Because there are so many kinds of…

Mycorrhiza and trees, a symbiotic relationship worthy of our praise!  Mycorrhiza is a type of fungus that grows like small hairs off the the roots of trees within the soil and helps the trees absorb water and minerals while the mycorrhiza receives carbohydrates in the form of sugar from the tree? Trees will also draw on the carbohydrates stored in the mychoriza when its own production and storage is low.  In the early 1990s mycologist Suzanne Simard and her team at Oregon State University…

Georgia celebrates its Arbor Day on Feb. 18 – a great reason for The Grove to celebrate the live oak, Georgia’s state tree. The live oak became the official tree on Feb. 25, 1937, at the request of the Edmund Burke Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.…

RE: the recent WFTV article about the Turnpike widening project’s landscape budget

http://www.wftv.com/news/26793570/detail.html

(The following is what I just wrote as a comment on WFTV's website regarding the article. I hope fellow grove members will also write their Florida congressional representatives in favor of funding landscape budgets for State, FDOT & Turnpike projects.)

I am in…

T o celebrate Mississippi’s Arbor Day on Feb. 11, we’re spotlighting the state tree – the Southern magnolia. The Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) has the distinction of being Mississippi’s state flowerand its state tree. School children selected the Southern magnolia as the stateflower…

The Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee, Knoxville has a M.S. Assistantship available beginning in the fall of 2011. The assistantship is full time and carries a stipend of $12,500 per year. The assistantship comes with a tuition waiver, fee waiver, and health benefits for academic years 2011-2013.

Project: The assistantship will serve as baseline data for the city of Knoxville, one of ten metropolitan cities in the State of Tennessee. There…

Trees and soil have a fascinating relationship.  Trees thrive in healthy soil and in turn soil is fortified by the presence of trees.  Trees stabilize soil and help prevent erosion.  Leaf litter protects the soil from cold injury, like a blanket on a bed, in addition to suppressing weeds and conserving water.   Soil contributes many of the 19 essential elements needed by trees in addition to providing it a place to anchor.  Trees are majestic but the ecosystem within the soil of an old tree…

In 2006 the United Nations’ General Assembly announced 2011 to be the International Year of Forests. The official launch of the Year is this week, February 2-3, at United Nations headquarters in New York City. The launch event will include panel discussions, media activities, film screenings and an issuance of…

"Old dogs may have a hard time learning new tricks -- but it doesn't seem to be a problem for a group of endangered trees from Canada, some of which are around 1,500 years old. In 2009, so many of Alberta's mountainous five-needle pines were killed by beetles and fungi that they became listed as…

The benefits of mulch to trees in the urban environment are numerous, as pointed out in a paper written by Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State that summarizes the scientific studies of mulch over the last 50 years.   The benefits range from disease suppression, to nutrient supplementation and water conservation.  Mulching newly planted trees has been shown to have a significant…

Florida and Louisiana begin the state-by-state recognition of trees leading up to National Arbor Day on April 29. This Friday, January 21 is the state Arbor Day for both of these Gulf Coast states, so The Grove would like to take a moment to recognize Florida’s state tree, the Sabal Palm, and Louisiana’s state tree, the Bald Cypress.

Florida - The Sabal Palm…

"California’s majestic oak trees have been felled by the hundreds of thousands by a disease first reported in 1995 and dubbed 'sudden oak death'” To get a broader perspective on the disease, UC Berkeley scientists have developed a Smartphone app for hikers and other nature lovers to report trees they find that have succumbed to sudden oak death.

While out in a park or forest, iPhone users can…

New Year’s Day is a time for new ways and new habits – a time for change and improvement in life and in the world around you. Each year people reflect on their health, careers, relationships, or education and resolve to make some changes for the better. The Grove challenges you to consider each of your…

As we mentioned on December 6, having a real tree in your home is far more eco-friendly than buying an artificial tree – one of the reasons being that real trees are recyclable!…

"In San Francisco, you can use your smartphone to hail a cab, track a bus and pay a parking ticket. There's even an app for the most ardent of tree huggers. With SF Trees, approach any tree in the city and you can find out the type you are looking at. Like nearly everything else in the Bay Area these days, the info is available on your cell."…