Imagine an environmentally friendly machine that recycles carbon dioxide into usable oxygen. This machine also works tocool the atmosphere and clean the air of harmful chemicals. Itfeeds wildlife and adds value to our homes. Fortunately, we have millions of these machines in our community. They are called TREES!

In recent decades, our tree canopy in the greater Philadelphia areahas lost hundreds of thousands of trees to development. In thespring of 2011, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society announceda regional partnership to plant one million trees throughoutthirteen counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey andDelaware. The goal is to restore the “tree canopy cover” to 30percent. Plant One Million is off to a fast start, with 200,000 treesalready installed.

There are many ways to get involved with Plant One Million. The website, www.plantonemillion.org, offers opportunities to join in planting trees, become a tree tender, donate money and registernewly planted trees. Any trees planted on your property can beregistered with Plant One Million.

We are fortunate to live and work in a community that places ahigh value on trees and appreciates their numerous benefits. Iencourage everyone to consider planting a tree this year. If youryard cannot accommodate a new tree, Plant One Million willgladly work with you to accept a donation of money or time.

Thank you for allowing our company to care for your trees. We approach 2013 with great enthusiasm and are committed to provide the highest level of professional tree and shrub care to your landscape.

I encourage everyone to consider planting a tree this year.

John B. Ward & Company, Inc.

Arborists Providing Fine Tree Care

A message from

Jim Ward

In this issueFeature Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 2Espalier Project . . . . . . . . . . . .page 3Plant Health Care . . . . . . . . . .page 4Tree Pruning . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 5Tree Watering . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 6

Winter 2013

ISA Certified Arborist

Above photos are from Jim and Nancy Ward’s garden

An American Elm tree grows on the grounds of HaverfordCollege. Not just any tree, this Elm is a descendant of thegreat Treaty Elm that once grew along the Delaware River at Shackamaxon. Standingunder its wide crown andswooping limbs, one canimagine the great treeswaying in the Octoberbreeze of 1682 as WilliamPenn accepted a wampumbelt from Tamanend, thechief of the Lenni-Lenape.One can still view thewampum belt at theHistorical Society ofPennsylvania and one can still stand under theelm’s boughs.

The story the tree tells is astwisted as its limbs.According to horticulturist Carol Wagner of HaverfordCollege, the original tree at Shackamaxon blew down in agusty March wind of 1810. However, a shoot of the tree hadbeen transplanted by General Paul Oliver to his new home

in Bay Ridge,New York.When GeneralOliver movedback toPennsylvania,he had the treetransplanted tohis new homegrounds inWilkes-Barre.The Committeeof Friendspresented ascion (cutting)from thisTreaty Elm toHaverfordCollege, whereit was planted

on Founders Green in 1842. One hundred years later, in1942, it was measured and recorded with a height of 100feet, a spread of 120 feet, and a trunk circumference of over

10 feet (40 inchesdiameter breast height,dbh). Gardenerspropagated and plantedprogeny from this tree oncampus throughout theearly 20th century, andalso distributed slips toother Friends groups. TheFounders Elm succumbedto Dutch Elm disease in1977. The tree shown inthe photograph growingabove the Duck Pond onwhat is known as BarclayBeach is a descendant of apropagation project made

in 1915. It is the only one of seven to survive and isconsidered a great grandchild of the original Founders Elm,a direct descendant of the Penn Treaty Elm.

Haverford College shared a Penn Treaty Elm with theFriends of Penn Treaty Park around 2000, but that tree died. Not to be deterred, Carol Wagner donated anotherPenn Treaty Elm in 2010 to commemorate the 200-yearanniversary of the original tree’s uprooting in a March 1810 storm.

Carol has also shared Penn Treaty Elms with a Lenni-Lenape community in New Jersey, and with the Friends at Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia at 4th and Arch Street.

It has been many, many moons since Penn and Tamanendwere together under the Treaty Elm. It’s fantastic to think of the persistent efforts of the people involved over all theseyears to keep the tree growing and disseminated. The TreatyElm is one of the most iconic trees in America. It speaks tothe natural world William Penn found here, and the nativepeople with whom he respectfully engaged in a treaty ofpeace. Last, but not least, it speaks to the Quakerconsciousness of valuing trees and the nurturing of naturethat still permeates the Delaware Valley in 2013.

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A direct descendant of the Penn Treaty Elm

Feature Tree

Penn Treaty ElmBy Ken LeRoy, ISA Certified Arborist

Penn's Treaty with the Indians, by Benjamin West, 1771-2

DIY:

We have a bare wall at our shop and I thought this would be a simple addition to sprucethings up. The project takes about two hours and will be fun to prune and train in the future.

Purchase a tree. I bought a peartree from the closeout bin atHome Depot for $20.

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By Jim Ward, ISA Certified Arborist

Simple Espalier Projectfor a Bare Wall

John B. Ward & Company, Inc. 610.293.9430 www.johnbward.com

1

Plant the tree up high where thefirst structure roots emerge fromthe truck. Use soil amendments:leaf compost or whatever youhave. Firmly pack soil aroundroots. Remember we loosenedall the potting mix in Step 2.

3

Take the tree out of the container,loosen the compacted root ball,and feather out the bounded roots.Much of the potting mix will falloff. Don’t worry about it. HereI’m pointing to how deep the treewas buried in the pot.

2

Set-up the support wireshorizontally. Use a masonry bitand appropriate hardware for thetype of wall. Just screw eyes andplastic anchors as shown andattach the wire to the screw eyes.

4

Prune the tree and chosestructural limbs and tie eachlimb to the horizontal wire.

5

Japanese Cedar Longhorned BeetleA relatively new pest toour area called theJapanese CedarLonghorned Beetle(JCLB) is beginning toinfest some of the mostpopular largerevergreens, namelyarborvitae, cryptomeria, andchamaecyparis. This is avery difficult pest to detect early in its lifecycle because itlives beneath the bark of its host, invisible to the outside.As the larva matures, one might notice some bark splittingand resin oozing. Once the larva matures, it tunnels directlyinto the trunk to complete its lifecycle, spends the entirewinter inside the trunk as an adult, and then tunnels out inthe spring to mate and lay eggs. Once the beetle emerges, itleaves behind an oval-shaped exit hole. The tunneling thatthe larvae do under the bark can kill entire trees in oneseason. In our experience, this pest is coming intolandscapes on nursery stock, so inspection of new trees iscritical.

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Arborists Providing Fine Tree Care

PlantHealth Care By Chris Ward, ISA Certified Arborist

Boxwood BlightIn 2011, a new disease calledBoxwood Blight wasdiscovered in North Carolinaand Connecticut. In 2012, itwas discovered in Chester andLancaster Counties inPennsylvania. Boxwoods are the most popular landscapeevergreen shrubs in our area. Boxwood Blight is spreadinginto established landscapes by way of new plant materialthat is infected in the nursery. It isvery important to inspect any newboxwoods you are planting for telltalesigns of Boxwood Blight. At this time,there are no control recommendationsfor this disease. Infected boxwoodsshould be removed promptly andproper State agencies notified. If youwould like us to check your boxwoods,please call our office.

2012 was the warmest year ever recorded in the Delaware Valley. In terms of plant health, thishad various consequences. The very warm winter allowed most insect and mite pests to survive,and the quick warm-up in the spring brought very rapid infestations of spider mites andarmored scale insects. An extended dry period in the summer predisposed trees and shrubs toattack by opportunistic diseases of which will be seeing the effects this season and beyond. It ischallenging, but we do our best to stay a step ahead of the pest outbreaks and advise our clientsthe best way to maintain healthy trees and shrubs.

Please give us a call if you have any questions about your trees and shrubs or would like to schedule an appointment to walk your property.

Emerald Ash BorerThe Emerald Ash Borer(EAB) is an invasive insectfrom Asia that feeds on andkills ash trees. Since beingdiscovered in westernPennsylvania in 2007, it hasmoved steadily east and wasfound in Warrington, BucksCounty in the spring of2012. Now that EAB isclose to the Main Line, wefeel that it is time to start protecting valuable ash trees. Ifyou would like us to inventory your ash trees and discusstreatment options, please call our office to make anappointment.

Armored Scale Insects2012 proved to be a difficultyear for keeping armored scaleinsects at bay. The populationsof euonymus scale andprunicola scale seemed toexplode overnight, and normaltreatment regimens were notas effective as we hoped. In2013 we will be trying avariety of techniques to keepyour plants pest-free.

Distinctive D-shapedemergence hole

Defoliated plants

Stem damage from JCLB

Prunicola scale

Infected leaf

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Foxfield Homeowners Association is a communityof homes built about five years ago in GarnetValley. The land was cleared for construction andstreet trees were planted as part of the landscaping

plan. The ownersare committed tocaring for theiryoung trees andrecognize thenumerousbenefits ofhealthy streettrees to thecommunity.

John B. Ward &Company wascontracted to carefor the new trees

and we recentlycompleted a winterproject of structurepruning 463 young

trees. Structure pruning can begin as soon as a treebecomes established. Winter is an excellent time forthis pruning because leaves do not obscure thebranches. Our goal is to develop healthy limbstructure by establishing a single dominant stemand evenly spaced branches. Trees should beinspected annually for the first ten years and prunedas needed. Pruning cycles can be extended to everytwo to four years during the 11- to 25-year periodfollowing establishment.

Case Study

ISA Certified Arborist John Cotterall

structure prunes a zelcova tree in January

By Matthew Ward, ISA Certified Arborist

Both ornamental and large canopytrees need to be pruned in order to promote health, resist disease and decay, and lessen the chances

of storm damage.

Structure Pruning

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)Best Management Practices recommend thefollowing steps for structure pruning:

Clean the crown by removing dead, broken,diseased and dying branches. Also removecrossing/rubbing limbs and those with weakattachment.

Choose and develop one dominant leader. This can take multiple years of pruning ascompeting leaders are subordinated (reduced)in preparation for their removal and theestablishment of a central leader.

Establish the lowest permanent scaffold branch.

Select and establish additional permanentscaffold branches in a radial pattern around the stem.

The diameter of a branch should not exceedhalf of the diameter of the stem they areattached to. Sometimes these branches aresubordinated and removed at a later pruning.

Strictly avoid removing any more than 25percent of the tree’s foliage in one year.

Thin out closely spaced branches as the crowndevelops.

Delay in removing lower branches to maintaina 2/3 live crown ratio.

With structural pruning, a good long-lastingbranch and crown form are created and futurestorm damage is reduced. The useful life of the tree is increased and more expensive treecare practices, such as cabling and bracing,which are often needed later in the life of atree, are avoided.

Young Trees

John B. Ward & Company, Inc.PO Box 280Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010610.293.9430www.johnbward.com

Stress caused by drought is by far the most common reasonwe are asked to look at and evaluate an unhealthy tree orshrub. Mother Nature has not exactly been cooperatingwith us; with the exceptionof 2010, every summer inrecent memory has had asignificant period ofdrought. During a drought,a plant will go into“survival mode” and stopmaking new carbohydrates.Fine roots will begin to dieoff and vegetative growthstops. The accumulation ofthese stresses leaves a tree orshrub very susceptible toattack from insects and disease.

To avoid drought stress, one deep watering per week is agood rule for most established trees and shrubs. This willencourage a healthy, deep root system and will also allowthe root area to drain properly. Some shrubs such as

hydrangea and rhododendron require more frequentwatering during very hot periods.

Proper mulching with woodchips or shredded bark will helpconserve water during hotweather and will improve the soilconditions over time. We usuallyencourage clients to mulch aslarge an area under their trees asthey can; reduced competitionfrom grass and othergroundcovers is a big help,especially for older trees.

If a tree has been stressed bydrought, it should be closely

monitored for secondary insect and disease pests that canhurt a tree long after the drought has passed. Additionally,dead or diseased branches should also be pruned out andvery full trees should be carefully thinned out to reducewater needs and improve structure.

Water Your Trees Properly

John B. Ward & Company, Inc. 610.293.9430 www.johnbward.com

By Hugh Darlington, ISA Certified Arborist

to Keep Them Healthy