jhofley, Author at Michigan Gardener

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

Growing pasque flower from seed

January 16, 2020 • 2 Comments

I picked and planted seeds in a pot from a pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) this summer. They are growing and are about 3 inches tall now. How do I keep them alive over the winter. Do I plant them in the garden or keep them in the pot in the house?

Michigan is well into fall now and winter is right around the corner. That means your pasque flower seedlings won’t have enough time to establish themselves in the garden soil before a hard freeze. It would be best to maintain this as a houseplant through the winter. In his book Herbaceous Perennial Plants, Allan Armitage recommends that propagation by fresh seed is the best. Pasque flower seeds go dormant soon after maturity. This means the seed you picked could have been directly planted in the garden, giving it time to establish a viable root system to carry it through the winter. Pasque flower, in general, does not transplant well. Established plants can be carefully divided, but there are no guarantees.

So enjoy your pasque flower this winter as a houseplant. You can gather seed and continue the chain of propagation with new seedlings that can mature and produce seed in time for next spring when you can directly sow them in frost-free soil. They love full sun and good drainage. They are excellent rock garden candidates, and thrive in moderate summer temperatures and low humidity.

Propagating star magnolias

January 13, 2020 • Leave a Comment

My star magnolia has some strange-looking pods where the buds for next year’s flowers appear. Out of curiosity, I cut one open to find orange seeds. Is this normal? Can I plant them and when?

The strange-looking pods are just your star magnolia’s (Magnolia stellata) fruit. They are completely normal and if left to open naturally, the orange seeds would have scattered on the ground. They could possibly germinate or be eaten by birds and other wildlife. Because the habit of a star magnolia is that of a rounded shrub, they are often grouped in a bank or hedge. They also can be limbed up and shaped to a small tree. The smooth gray bark is exemplary on mature plants. Although star magnolias are hardy to zone 4, their early spring flowering is at the mercy of weather. Late freezes and damaging spring winds take a toll on the delicate, white, and fragrant multi-petal blossoms. If your star magnolia is not a named cultivar, such as ‘Centennial’ or ‘Rosea,’ but the species, then the orange seeds could be viable and produce the same plant from which they came. However, the method most often used to propagate star magnolias is rooted stem cuttings. This ensures that the same plant characteristics will be generated. That is not to say collected seed will not germinate. For production propagation, stem cuttings and occasionally grafting are used to maintain and ensure consistency in genetics. The fact you cut the pod open could mean the seeds are not yet fully matured, and if planted before the ground freezes, may not germinate. If you want to experiment, plant the seeds in a protected area, in full sun and preferably in a peaty, organic, well-amended soil and see what happens.

ReLeaf Michigan announces Big Tree Hunt winners for 2018-2019

January 10, 2020 • 2 Comments

The largest tree in Michigan was submitted by James Wegner: a red oak measuring 384 inches around (32 feet!), located in the city of Marion in Osceola County.

ReLeaf Michigan, a non-profit tree planting and education organization, celebrated the conclusion of its biennial Big Tree Hunt contest, which awards participants for identifying the biggest trees in Michigan.

Running from spring 2018 through fall 2019, more than 700 entries were sent in from people all across the state, including 80 of Michigan’s 83 counties. The winning entry for each county was verified on-site by professional arborists and foresters. The trees were found in all sorts of places, including backyards, local parks, cemeteries and hiking trails. Since many trees are on private property, the specific location of every winning tree is not made public.

ReLeaf Michigan began the Big Tree Hunt in 1993 to celebrate Michigan’s beauty and create a fun way to gather information about Michigan’s biggest trees. The contest is an opportunity for all age groups to get outside, enjoy trees, and help track these vital historical living landmarks. For more information, including photos and the winners list by county, click here.

Hidden Lake Gardens announces Tree Tower and Canopy Walk groundbreaking

December 10, 2019 • 2 Comments

The ADA-accessible tree top top tower will rise 10-stories and the canopy walk will stretch 700-feet-long.

This summer, Hidden Lake Gardens of Michigan State University announced a new attraction that will be coming to the Tipton, Michigan botanical garden and arboretum. The Tree Tower and Canopy Walk project is scheduled to open in 2020, the 75th anniversary of Harry Fee’s gift of Hidden Lake Gardens to MSU.

The design, fundraising, and site preparation phases of the project are on the docket in 2019. Then the tree tower and canopy walk will be pre-fabricated during the winter months. The Canopy Walk is set for construction and installation as soon as the winter weather breaks, with an opening by June 2020. The Tree Tower will begin construction and installation over the summer of 2020, with an anticipated opening of October 2020, just in time for fall foliage season.

The Tree Tower and Canopy Walk attraction will provide people of any ability the opportunity to have a woodland and forest immersion experience. The 700-foot long canopy walk will take visitors through the tree canopy some 65 feet above the ground via the wheelchair friendly boardwalk and suspension bridge. The tree tower will be a 100-foot tall “climb” up into and above the trees via a wooden staircase. For visitors that cannot access stairs, the ADA-compliant elevator—the only tree elevator of its kind—will move people up and down the trees. To learn more, click here.

Daffodils4Detroit celebrates 10th annual Daffodil Day on Belle Isle

November 12, 2019 • 1 Comment

This spring, hundreds celebrated the 10th annual Daffodil Day on Belle Isle, while 700,000 daffodils were starting to bloom outside. This project, created by the Michigan Division of the Woman’s National Farm & Garden Association, began in 2009. Claudia Scioly, of Ann Arbor, was inspired by New York garden designer Lynden Miller and her Daffodil Project in New York City, where one million daffodils were planted as a living memorial to those who died in the September 11 attacks.

Scioly recognized the parallels between New York’s Daffodil Project and Detroit’s need for hope and beauty. Belle Isle had fallen on hard times and seemed the perfect place to start. In 2010, Scioly and Cecily O’Connor organized the first Daffodil Day Luncheon on Belle Isle. Lady Bird Johnson’s words, “Where flowers grow, so does hope,” became the group’s motto. A goal was set: plant one daffodil on Belle Isle for every Detroit resident. As the group neared that intermediate goal, they announced the ultimate vision and a new name: Daffodils4Detroit. The goal is now to plant four million daffodils—one for every resident in Metropolitan Detroit.

Daffodils4Detroit has become a true community effort, garnering strong support from groups, businesses and individuals alike. Proceeds from the Daffodil Day Luncheon and other donations fund the bulb purchases. Each fall, volunteer groups from garden clubs, schools, companies, and nonprofit organizations help plant thousands of bulbs in various locations. To learn more or make a donation, click here.

Janet’s Journal: What makes a good quality garden center?

September 30, 2019 • 2 Comments

Good garden centers don’t have to carry everything. In fact, I prefer it when they stick to doing a superb job with plants. The coral bark maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’) that reflects the bridge color came from a local Michigan nursery. — Good garden centers don’t have to carry everything. In fact, I prefer it when they stick to doing a superb job with plants. The coral bark maple (*Acer palmatum* ‘Sango Kaku’) that reflects the bridge color came from a local Michigan nursery.

Where’s a good place to buy…? It’s a simple question, ending in the name of a flower, tree, tool or material used in the garden. When people ask, I know they want a simple answer, such as, “Flo’s Flowers on the corner of Main and Fifth Street.” Yet there’s a lot that goes into the definition of a good garden center.

First things first. Michigan is, in general, a great place to buy just about anything for the garden. I travel to garden for clients in other regions, speak at conferences, and for fun. Some people make it a habit to sample regional cuisine in their journeying. I check out garden centers. My count is now 18 states and 5 countries shopped, yet Michigan’s nurseries remain top on my list, with equals but no betters.

Perhaps we can thank our long-established garden centers for that, for setting the bar high for all who set up shop here more recently. Maybe it’s the savvy of a few managers who are influential in the field, who lead the way in taking the best of what they see and bring it here to us. Or it may be a combination of many factors including customer sophistication and demand. Regardless of why, I’m very glad that it is the case and hope that you, too, recognize and respect it.

I am most likely to become a regular buyer at a nursery if the staff understands what will happen to its plants out “in the field.” For instance, experienced staff know that they must remove, or advise that the buyer remove, tight ties such as these on a dawn redwood’s trunk. That staff knows their end of the business, that the ties may have been necessary in production or shipping, but they also know they will kill or permanently injure the tree over time.

When a garden-wise staff is in charge of up-potting or rewrapping woody plants like this laceleaf Japanese maple that have outgrown their temporary garden center containers, they know to remove any cords that remain from the original wrapping. Through their own experience, or working with returning customers and failed plants, they’ve learned that if they don’t take off girdling cords, they may be hidden by the new cover, planted with the tree, and eventually cause its death.

Show me the way to my prize

Now, on to specifics. The first thing I look for when I walk into a garden center that’s new to me is organization. Can I tell where to look for the item I’m seeking or is the layout such that I have to find someone and ask for help? If you think that’s a given, that’s because you’re from Michigan and you’re spoiled.You won’t often find here the unfathomable clutter that sometimes confronts and confounds me on buying trips in other states. I look for guideposts as soon as I walk in, which may be signs with arrows, maps of the store layout, or tall and easily seen markers that point the way to “Annuals,” “Shade Trees,” “Pest Control,” or “Water Garden Supplies.”

As a seasoned gardener I may be able to discern an organization by looking at the items that are grouped together: “Oh, these are all annuals, so I won’t look for perennials here,” or “Since everything there looks woody and tall, that must be where all the trees are.” But that leaves a lot of room for error. For instance, I may decide that the vine I’m looking for isn’t in stock at an establishment when in fact it’s there, mixed into the section I decided was “Shrubs” but the management has in fact assembled to display all of its “Tall things for privacy.”

Don’t roll your eyes. I’ve seen that kind of organization, and if it’s defined it’s fine. Having shopped in garden centers where the wares were arranged like the initial assembly of goods donated for a rummage sale, I truly appreciate the garden center manager who not only flags me to a spot with a banner proclaiming “Vines” but also sets up placards within the vine collection saying “More vines inside in the Tropical section.”

I can get past a lack of organization, or any one other item on the list I’m presenting you here, so long as the garden center measures up or excels in other categories, the second of which is product labeling.

Love those labels

Those who garden with me have heard me rail as we plant, about “All these blasted tags!” I gripe about them, but I can’t live without labels. Imagine shopping in a place where the plants do not bristle with identifying sticks, wear adhesive labels on their pots, or sport plastic bracelets.You can’t? Then you’ve chosen or been blessed with good garden centers so you can’t know the frustration of walking aisle after aisle without a clue of what you’re looking at, or the disappointment of growing something selected from a group in which only one front-row pot was marked, only to find a year later that it does not bloom the color, aspire to the size or live up to the character described on that marker.

What makes a good label? Common and scientific name, at the minimum. Given those, I can determine for myself the other things I wish could be on all labels: ultimate size, flower color, season of bloom, and any other significant seasonal interest such as fall color or winter berries.

All of the garden centers I love have books available for use by salespeople and interested customers. When I find that the variety of viburnum or species of soapwort for sale at that establishment is not quite the one I set out looking for, I can check for myself, right then and there, to see if the substitution would be a good one. Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants and Allan Armitage’s Herbaceous Perennial Plants are two mainstays of garden center reference materials that also include specialty catalogs and binder-collected magazine articles.

Even though it takes time to figure out if I should go with an alternate, that’s fine by me because it’s part and parcel of my third criteria for a good garden center: choices.

Organization! It’s what we need, especially when time is short during spring planting season, so that we can walk into a garden center and be certain that over here are the groundcovers, and over there are the dwarf conifers. Although we can make good guesses about organization based on appearances, signs or maps that confirm the whereabouts of various items are what make a passable garden center, great.

How can a buyer know that their garden center sells a reasonable size for the price? Buy some test plants from several sources, depot them and see if they have grown to just fill the pot (daylily, center), have been held too long so that they’ve become rootbound (ornamental grass, left) or were too-recently up-potted so that roots have not yet filled the container (right). No grower can achieve perfection in every one of hundreds of crops, but I know to buy from the ones who most frequently achieve the full-but-not-rootbound stage.

I’m in heaven when I can choose

A wide variety of plants, and various sizes of plant, impress me and keep me coming back.Did you know that garden centers here carry plants that I have not been able to find in Chicago, Boston or Los Angeles, even though they would be great additions to gardens there? Are you aware that our homegrown growers are on the cutting edge of new varieties and resurrected heirlooms? Take it from me, they are. I often drive to Massachusetts or Illinois to work, rather than fly, so I can take plants with me.

Does that mean that we should expect every good garden center to carry everything? No way, no possible way. There are 23,979 species listed in Hortus Third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. No one carries everything. It’s remarkable enough that growers hereabouts manage to grow five or six hundred different species well enough to sell. So it’s never a mark against a garden center that it doesn’t carry a particular plant.

What good garden centers do carry is a mix of the tried and true alongside the exciting and new. They stock trees and shrubs that are good for ornament as well as those that make a fine hedge or groundcover. They know their perennials well enough to feature more of the ones that they know experienced gardeners will like: non-invasive, long-interest species that may be so slow-growing that they’re little more than a collection of leaves after a year or more of growing in the pot, as well as the ones that novices must have: fast-growing, even thuggish creatures beautiful enough in bloom to catch the shopper’s eye.

The best carry plants in various-sized containers. There, I can cut my costs on one item by buying four-inch pots while splurging on another in a fifteen-gallon tub. The people who work at that good garden center, the ones who decide what to stock, understand that sometimes I need things with tiny root balls that will adapt more quickly to tough spaces under trees or on dry slopes, and at other times I need the same plants in more mature sizes for immediate fill.

Quality, of course, but second chances mean more

Of course it’s a requirement that a good garden center have quality plants, and if an establishment meets the other criteria here, it’s likely it has them.

It takes time to learn all there is to distinguish a good plant from a bad one, and along the way you will buy a bad plant or two. My evaluation of a garden center includes plant quality but accepts that living things will sometimes fail. So my measure of excellence puts more weight on grace in the face of trouble. If a plant fails and there is a warranty, does the seller honor that with good cheer, intelligent questions to determine the cause and helpful suggestions? Then that’s a good garden center.

Notice that I say “if” there is a warranty. Personally, I don’t believe in guaranteeing living things. If a garden center offers a guarantee, fine, but if they offer a reduced price on purchases without guarantee, I’ll take the discount because in fact I am the only guarantee that plant has. It’s up to me to find a place for it where it will get what those good reference books say it needs to thrive, to plant it properly, then check it regularly to see if it’s doing well, and to diagnose problems before they become terminal. If I return to a grower for advice, employ his or her suggestions and don’t see improvement, it’s my responsibility to follow up with more questions, just as I would with a medical doctor for a physical problem.

At a garden center worth shopping, the staff will work with me to resolve problems. Sometimes we’ll win, sometimes we’ll lose, but there will be no hard feelings either way as long as those on the retail end give it an honest go.

Variety is a big factor in garden center rating. No one business can stock every plant but if it’s good it will carry both the tried and true, such as pines and junipers for foundation planting, and the new and exciting, such as this sculpted Scots pine and Chinese juniper trained as a small tree being readied for shipping at a wholesaler.

Sure, you can order by mail. But why bother if everything is available locally? Very rarely do I order by mail, since Michigan’s garden centers are stocked so well. A friend complained to me that he could find the plant he sought at just one mail order firm and it was very pricey. Within half an hour of making some calls, I found it locally for less.

Please understand me

That’s my final measure of a good garden center, whether the people who work there understand what it is to garden. Do they know their plants only as they are in the pots or do they know them as mature and even old inhabitants of a landscape or garden?

It’s not necessary that everyone on staff is a gardener, but there should be enough of them, in positions of influence, that everyone on staff recognizes that quality as one to aspire to. When new employees see, hear and feel in every aspect of their work that experience counts, they are more likely to seek it themselves, to respect it in their customers and to learn who on staff they should turn to when they need to tap it. At the finest garden centers, by design or chance, the experts on staff are people who can discuss a plant’s maintenance, honestly admit its faults and recommend companion plants. They can also say “I don’t know” with the assurance that comes from glimpsing the vastness of the gardening world, and “I’ll check on that for you” in a way that sets an example of good service for everyone around them. Those who know plants are special, and in Michigan they are the cream of the crop.

Article by Janet Macunovich and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

Plant Focus: Sourwood

September 30, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Photo: Steve Nikkila / Perennial Favorites

by Eric Grant

The autumn winds of October bring thoughts of pumpkins, apple cider and hay rides. The season is announced with the anticipation of a kaleidoscopic array of fall colors. These changing hues celebrate the landscape at one of its finest moments. Few trees can herald the autumnal change with the vibrancy of sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum). Sometimes called the sorrel tree (referring to its leaves), or lily of the valley tree (for its blooms), fall is only one of four outstanding seasons for this little known tree of wonders.

“Spring green” must have been defined by the foliage of this tree. Its soft, but stately outline breaks the winter rest by cloaking itself in the freshest shades of green. Its glossy foliage always seems to shimmer as it progresses through its rainbow range of color. When other flowering trees have finished their brief show, sourwood is about to embark upon a stunning and extended display of fragrant blooms. By mid June, the branches of this tree are generously graced with delicate fronds, which gently hang amidst the now dark green foliage. These creamy white panicles are abundantly tipped with small white “bells” offering an effect not unlike Victorian lace thoughtfully woven throughout the canopy. Sourwood is a tree that refuses to leave its glory with faded flowers. It continues to build its drama beyond the blooms, which last for weeks. Even once the flowers fade, the skeletal lace that held them remains for months, and continues to endow the tree with visual pleasure from the end of spring to beyond the autumn. This is a showy feat upheld by few other trees.

Now comes October. Sourwood is in the midst of act three. The performance is one of color and form, which on its own upstages burning bush, sugar maples, and other outstanding fall color plants. In their presence, however, sourwood only stands to enhance and compliment their beauty. This tree now offers a vibrant display of yellow and purple splashed amidst its predominant color—one of the most brilliant reds I’ve seen on any plant! The intensity of color is richly translucent and always draws remarks of awe. By October’s end, even though it will have dropped its leaves, sourwood does not abandon aesthetic pleasure. As winter winds approach, it again reveals its soft structure and its dark and furrowed bark, a most appealing silhouette against the winter snow. It waits in rest, to begin its cycle again, secure that its series of encores will never disappoint its audience.

Native from the Midwest into the Smoky Mountains, this problem-free tree will mature to 25 feet or so. Given its medium size and a slightly rounded, pyramidal shape, it is easily incorporated into most landscape settings. It enjoys full sun, but tolerates light or dappled shade equally well, and is often found thriving along woodland borders. Sourwood performs well in average to acidic soils, and from loamy peat to sandy beds. While it prefers relatively moist soils, once established, it can even withstand dry seasons. This tree appreciates some shelter, but for the Michigan gardener, is generally less temperamental than dogwoods or magnolias, which are more common flowering trees of comparable size.

Sourwood is a tree of prominence in any season and deserves consideration in the modern landscape. It is rewarding to find a plant with so many attributes that has not been overused. In fact, as one of landscape’s best kept secrets, its novelty offers one of the highest prizes for gardeners—this is a plant your neighbor doesn’t have!

Sourwood

Botanical name: Oxydendrum arboreum (ox-ih-DEN-drum ar-BORE-ee-um)
Plant type: Deciduous tree
Plant size: 25-30 feet tall, 20 feet wide
Growth rate: Slow
Habit: Pyramidal shape, with drooping branches
Hardiness: Zone 5
Flower color: White
Flower size: 1/4 inch long on 4- to 10-inch long clusters
Bloom period: Summer
Leaf color: Green in spring, turning to dark green; red, yellow and purple in the fall
Leaf size: 3-8 inches long, 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches wide
Bark: Grayish brown to black
Light: Full sun to partial shade. Flowering and fall color are best in full sun.
Soil: Well-drained, average to acidic, moist soil. Does fairly well in dry soils.
Uses: Specimen tree
Remarks: Native American tree; four-season interest.

Plant Focus: Obedient Plant

September 4, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Physostegia virginiana ‘Pink Bouquet’ (Photo: Jonathon Hofley / Michigan Gardner) — *Physostegia virginiana* ‘Pink Bouquet’ (Photo: Jonathon Hofley / Michigan Gardener)

By George Papadelis

Obedient Plant is a truly versatile plant, with many desirable features that make this North American native an asset in a sunny perennial garden. The flowers somewhat resemble a dragon’s head and thus the common name of “false dragonhead” evolved. These one-inch flowers come in white or shades of pink and are formed in straight rows along a narrow, pointed, spike-like flower head. Although it is a bit deceiving, the common name “obedient plant” developed for another good reason. If pushed to one side, the individual flowers stay in that position for quite a while and are therefore “obedient.” In his book, The Harrowsmith Perennial Garden, Patrick Lima describes it this way: “If you have nothing else to do, you can reposition the individual flowers, which are attached to their stems by the botanical equivalent of a ball-and-socket joint.”

The term “obedient” cannot be confused with the plant’s growth habit, which is, in fact, quite the opposite. If left to do as it wants, this plant produces underground stolons that will make a large clump from a single plant in just one season. This is especially true in well-cultivated, rich soil. Therefore, I recommend planting in poorer soil or be prepared to divide this spreader every year or two in the spring.

Physostegia virginiana ‘Variegata’ (Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardner) — *Physostegia virginiana* ‘Variegata’ (Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener)

Left: Physostegia virginiana (Photo: Stephen Still) Right: Physostegia virginiana ‘Variegata’ (Photo: White Flower Farm/Michael Dodge)

Obedient plant likes full sun and may require staking if planted in part sun or in rich soil. It will begin blooming in August and will continue through the end of September. It has strong, straight stems and long-lasting flowers that make this a popular and beautiful cut flower.

Several different varieties are available. ‘Summer Snow’ is a nice 28-inch tall, white selection, but the most popular color is pink. ‘Pink Bouquet’ is widely used, but grows 3 to 4 feet tall. For a deeper pink on a less floppy, 20-inch tall plant, try ‘Vivid.’ For a wonderful combination of flowers and foliage, use ‘Variegata,’ which has the typical pink blooms but also glowing, white-edged leaves. These stand out in any flower bed and give this variety a much longer season of interest.

If you are willing to curb this plant’s appetite for space, Physostegia may work well for you. As a cut flower or a late-blooming perennial, this plant grows easily. If all else fails, you can always show a fellow gardener why this is called the obedient plant!

Obedient Plant

Botanical name: Physostegia virginiana (figh-so-STEE-jee-a vir-jin-ee-AH-na)
Common name: Obedient plant, false dragonhead
Plant type: Perennial
Plant size: 20 to 42 inches tall
Flower colors: White, rich pink
Flower size: 1 inch long, on spikes above the foliage
Bloom period: August and September
Leaves: Green, narrow, 3 to 5 inches long; also green with white edges
Light: Sun to partial shade
Soil: Grows in most soils; poorer soils will slow rapid spreading
Uses: Cut flowers, wildflower garden, larger naturalized areas
Remarks: Will spread aggressively. If used in the perennial border, plan on lifting and dividing every year or two. May require staking when grown in partial shade or highly fertile soil.

George Papadelis is the owner of Telly’s Greenhouse in Troy and Shelby Township, MI.

Plants can tell time even without a brain

August 20, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Yahoo News:

Anyone who has travelled across multiple time zones and suffered jet lag will understand just how powerful our biological clocks are. In fact, every cell in the human body has its own molecular clock, which is capable of generating a daily rise and fall in the number of many proteins the body produces over a 24-hour cycle. The brain contains a master clock that keeps the rest of the body in sync, using light signals from the eyes to keep in time with environment.

Plants have similar circadian rhythms that help them tell the time of day, preparing plants for photosynthesis prior to dawn, turning on heat-protection mechanisms before the hottest part of the day, and producing nectar when pollinators are most likely to visit. And just like in humans, every cell in the plant appears to have its own clock.

But unlike humans, plants don’t have a brain to keep their clocks synchronised. So how do plants coordinate their cellular rhythms? Our new research shows that all the cells in the plant coordinate partly through something called local self-organisation. This is effectively the plant cells communicating their timing with neighbouring cells, in a similar way to how schools of fish and flocks of birds coordinate their movements by interacting with their neighbours.

Read the rest of the story…

The Michigan Big Tree Hunt Contest deadline is approaching

August 8, 2019 • Leave a Comment

big-tree-hunt-0719 — ReLeaf Michigan, a statewide tree planting and education nonprofit, started the Michigan Big Tree Hunt in 1993 to celebrate our state’s beauty and gather information about Michigan’s biggest trees.

The Michigan Big Tree Hunt Contest, sponsored by ReLeaf Michigan, closes on September 3, 2019. All Michiganders are encouraged to find a Michigan big tree and enter it into the contest. Grab a friend or family member and hunt for the big trees that surround us every day in parks, on nature trails, or in our own backyards.

When the contest closes, certificates and prizes will be awarded for the largest tree submitted from each Michigan county, the largest tree found by a youth hunter (15 and younger) and adult hunter (16 and older), the largest eastern white pine found, and for potential state champion trees.

ReLeaf Michigan, a statewide tree planting and education nonprofit, started the Michigan Big Tree Hunt in 1993 to celebrate our state’s beauty and gather information about Michigan’s biggest trees. Contest entries provide potential state champion trees to Michigan’s Big Tree Registry as well as the National Register of Big Trees.

To enter your big tree or to learn more, visit www.bigtreehunt.com.

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