KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE ITEMS   Landscaping for Winter Energy Conservation By Vernon Quam City Forester When the temperatures drop down below 0 degrees and windchills are between -20 to -50 degrees, then heating bills are bound to rise. Energy conservation can be more than more insulation and turning the lights off. Efficient landscaping can address energy conservation as well. Studies since the 1940's have shown that trees planted as windbreaks can reduce energy costs anywhere from 8 to 15% no matter what type of fuel used. This is important whether you live out on the open farmstead or an unprotected section of town. Residential areas that are devoid of boulevard and yard trees and no windbreaks or natural wooded areas to the north and west are losing more energy than homes in older neighborhoods with 40-50 foot trees and well-landscaped yards. So wind protection can be accomplished in your yard by placing one or more tall trees on the north and west sides of your house. This will help push the winter prevailing winds up an over your house and better yet use evergreen trees such as spruce and pine combinations to make a denser wind block and winter color. The planting of trees on the east, south and west sides are important for summer shading and reduced air conditioning costs. The key is to look at trees with a more open branching system that allows winter sun in to help heat the house. Examples may include oaks, Ohio buckeye, butternut and black walnut, hackberry, Kentucky coffeetree, honeylocust and resistant elm varieties. The next areas to look at are the foundation plantings of your home. Shrubs or vines can act as an added layer of insulation with the creation of a semi dead air space between the house and the plants. The most efficient type of plants would be densely branched shrubs or evergreen shrubs. Vines that are allowed to grown over large areas of the house can be effective. Developers should keep these energy conservation ideas in mind when planning a housing development. A windbreak planting on the north and west sides of the entire development. If there are existing windbreaks or wooded areas consider protecting these areas from construction and design around them. Provide a cost incentive of buying two to three evergreen trees for each yard as the homes are built. Remember when trees are planted for energy conservation, they don't cost, they pay.   Yes! Now is a Good Time to Prune Your Trees By Vernon Quam City Forester Late winter and early spring can be one of the safest times to prune many types of trees and shrubs. Fireblight is a bacterial disease of apple, crabapple, mountain-ash,pear, and cotoneaster shrubs that causes branches to dieback. In most cases the brown wilted leaves hang on the dead branch throughout the winter. Pruning infected trees this time of the year will prevent spread as the bacteria are dormant. The telltale sign of fireblight are dead leaves and the curved branch tips called 'the Shepherds Crook'. Check the stem for the cankered area, which appears as if someone took a torch and scorched the branch. Follow the cankered area to healthy wood back about 10"and cut the branch at the next closest branch crotch. Dipping your saw or pruning shears into a 10% solution of a chlorine bleach will prevent disease spores from being carried from one cut into another. This is the best time to do any regular pruning you may have on any of these trees. Remember to follow a logical approach to prevent any cuts that you may regret after you're done. When pruning any tree follow the pruning procedure of pruning: 1) remove deadwood, 2) remove any injured or broken branches, 3) remove any cross-over branches that are rubbing on each other, 4) any branches that are interfering with structures (house or garage, etc.), and 5) remove lower branches sparingly interfering with maintenance. I say sparingly because it is always a temptation to remove too much too soon. The ideal size of branches for pruning are ˝ inch to 2 inches and the smaller the wound the better. No more than 25 % of the total canopy of the tree should be removed at a time. Topping is a practice of removing the entire canopy of the tree to the major trunk or branches. This practice is not recommended and is also illegal within the City Limits. You may ask, Why? Usually when topping is done it is to reduce the tree's height significantly or lessen the need for regular pruning. The problem is when so much of tree's canopy is removed the natural response of the tree is to replace that loss of the canopy now! The regrowth in the next few years will be 3 times the normal rate and leaf size is larger. It is because of this so call luxurious growth topping may be done as well. The problem is that the original branch system took many years of growth and laminations of wood to build its strength. Regrowth after topping is trying to replace all that growth within a few years with many branches growing 8 to 10 feet per year, 3-4 inches in diameter and growing out at the cut end of the branch rather than at a natural branch crotch. What you get is a tragedy waiting to happen. In a high wind these branches snap off and cause major injury or damage wherever it falls. This tree regrows so fast that if the branches survive the trees will require pruning more regular than if done right in the first place. Other diseases that should be removed during the month of March are dead or dying branches of Colorado spruces due to Cytospora canker. These are identified by dieback in lower branches and a presence of a bluish white sap from the lower sides of the branches. These branches should be removed back to the trunk. Cytospora is fungus disease that invades the lower branches and moves back to the trunk but does not infect the trunk of the tree. The spores are released in the bluish sap which carried to other branches. Trees infected by this disease for several years without control are characterized with continuous dead lower branches moving up the tree.   Black Hills spruce -- tree of month By Vernon Quam, City Forester The Black Hills even from a long distance are appropriately named black. The black appearance is actually caused by the dense growth of conifers. One of the prominent trees in those stands is Black Hills spruce. The Black Hills spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) is a distinct variety of White Spruce that only grows with in the Hills local area. As the scientific name indicates with the variety called densata, the tree has a denser branch system, which gives it a dark color. The uniqueness of this species varies from the Colorado spruce in several ways. The needles are darker green and less of a color variety in the Black Hills spruce. The Colorado spruce can vary from a bright green to an almost steel blue appearance. Grab a hold of the needles of each tree and you'll find that the Colorado spruce will feel pricklier than the Black Hills spruce. The needles of the Colorado spruce come out of the branch at a 90-degree angle whereas Black Hill spruce needles come out at a 45-degree angle and allow the needles to bend instead of pricking your hand. Another difference is that Black Hills spruce cones are smaller in size (1 ˝ to 2 inches long) while Colorado Spruce cones are larger (2 ˝ to 4 inches long). The Black Hills spruce is well adapted to the climate of northern Great Plains. The conifer has been popular in windbreak and conservation plantings and can be found in city parks and private yards. The tree is very drought tolerant and the dense branching makes it an excellent windbreak and snow stopper. Birds love to nest in the protective cover of the tree's branches. It has relatively few pests compared to Colorado spruce. In dry years spider mites can become a problem. In wet years, fungus diseases like needle casts can be a problem. Rhizosphera needlecast has been a plague for Colorado Spruce trees through recent years but the Black Hills spruce is less susceptible. This makes it a great tree to inter plant with Colorado or other spruce trees in mass or windbreak plantings. There are ornamental dwarf varieties of White spruce in the landscape trade. Dwarf Alberta Spruce grows very slowly and compact. It gets winterburn easily and subject to spider mites. It is an attractive tree but requires patience and protection from winter sun and wind. The largest Black Hills spruce in North Dakota is 95 feet tall and has a canopy spread of 42 feet. More commonly the crown height is between 30 and 60 feet with a crown width of 15-25 feet crown width.   Growing zones of wind protection By Vernon Quam, Jamestown City Forester Have you ever experienced driving under snowy conditions where visibility is about an eighth of a mile or less? Visibility was poor; you were lucky to be able to see brake light of cars in front. The wind tugs at your car. The feeling would creep in of whether you were actually on the road or traveling into white space. When you came into the protection zone of a windbreak or tree planting near the road. Then all of a sudden conditions would change, the visibility was better, the wind was reduced and the road was ice-free. As soon as you passed the section of trees, the winds and snow returned. Then you have realized the protection of a living snow fence. The earliest records of planting trees as a living snow fence were done along railways in North Dakota. The Great Northern Railroad planted trees along its right of way between Grand Forks and Williston in 1905. It was reported four years later that 96,000 trees and shrubs were planted and survival rate was better than 80 percent. By 1915, the Railway Company had planted over 500,000 trees and shrub seedlings. In early prairie settlement, living snow fences continued to play an important role as windbreaks to protect fields and farmsteads. Today, living snow fences provide safer driving conditions on highways. They control blowing snow conditions, which come up suddenly and cause visibility problems. Ground drifting causes visibility problems along with icing of the roadway. For lighter weight vehicles, wind protection is important under good conditions. Who can put a price on safety when lives are at stake? A well-designed snow fence should also reduce the need for snow removal. Snow fence plantings will collect snow away from travel lanes and hold it where it is more manageable. Reduced use of snow removal equipment means less equipment costs and labor costs. In Wyoming, it has been estimated that snow fences save up to $4,933 per mile every year or $246,650 over the life of each planting. The average lifetime of most wooden structural snow fences is approximately 5 to 10 years and maintenance is an annual cost in labor to repair and materials. It is estimated that tree and shrub plantings are approximately 10 times cheaper to install and maintain than slatted snow fences. The average lifetime of a living snow fence is 35 to 50 years with regular weed control while young. The living snow fence also has the advantage in height as well, reaching 15 to 50 feet depending on the tree species used. This fall, several green ash trees were planted on the north side of the Jamestown Waste Water Treatment Plant as a living snow fence to provide wind protection and snow collection away from roadways and buildings on the site. The trees were donated by the US Corps of Engineers at Pipestem Dam and a grant made by the Chamber of Commerce Beautification Committee. The 10 feet high trees were planted into a staggered design to maximize wind protection and growing space. In the spring of 2003, lilac and dogwood shrubs will be planted around the trees to provide low level wind protection and reduced weed control needs. Woodchips will be used around the trees as mulch to provide weed control, prevent soil moisture loss and added organic matter. The Chamber of Commerce awarded the City of Jamestown its Beautification Annual Award for 2002. Future benefits hope for may include energy use reduction with reduced winter heat losses. A snow trap away from main roadway to the plant. As all tree plantings are established, so wildlife will nest, seek cover and food in the windbreak. The lilacs will provide attractive flowers and scented fragrance. Dogwoods will provide attractive red stems in winter against the white snow. The use of woodchip mulch around the tree creates a more sustainable planting and one that completes the circle of recycling. We will learn from this planting about Snow Control and Environmental Stewardship. The greatest part of this project was the inter departmental cooperation between Waste Water and Forestry, and inter agency cooperation between the Corps of Engineers, Chamber of Commerce- Beautification Committee and Volunteers.   Dogwood: Their bark is more impressive t If you are from well south of North Dakota and asked if you were familiar with the Dogwood. The large white flower on a small tree would be the first thought. But in North Dakota the hardy dogwoods are mostly shrubs and the winter bark is the most impressive. There are about 45 species of dogwood native to the Northern Hemisphere in North America, Europe and Asia. Most of these species are shrubs or small trees. In the northern Great Plains, there are 3 native and about 5 more that are adaptable. Of the native species the red osier dogwood is the most common and similar to it is the adapted bloodtwig dogwood. As the names indicate the stems in winter have a deep red color. The yellow twig dogwood is a cultivar of the red osier dogwood that has a bright yellow branches in winter. A mixture of red and yellow twig dogwoods will add interest to your landscape. These shrubs are also attractive when in leaf, but the winter color sets them apart. The Tatarian dogwood is native to Siberia, Manchuria and northern Korea has proven to be very hardy for our winter conditions. The Tatarian is also popular for its cultivated varieties that have variegated leaves or green leaves with white to yellow margins. The twig color will vary from variety to variety with a coral red to red to yellow colors. The gray dogwood is another native small tree that is hardy for North Dakota that grows about 12 feet tall and 10 wide. The tree has small clusters of white flowers in June and small white fruits on red pedicels in September. The gray dogwood has no special twig color but is an interesting little tree. With our winter season sometimes 5 months or longer, the dogwood should be a consideration for any landscape. List of Hardy dogwoods for Our Area: Tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba) Cultivars with variegated leaf margins & red stems: European Variegated dogwood(C. alba 'Argenteo-marginata') Ivory Halo dogwood(C. alba 'Bailhalo') Mottled dogwood(C. alba 'Gouchaulti') Cultivars with green foliage & red stems: Coral Beauty dogwood(C. alba 'Coral Beauty') Siberian dogwood (C. alba 'Sibirica') Cultivars with green foliage & yellow stems: Bud's Yellow dogwood (C. alba 'Bud's Yellow') Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea ) Cultivars with variegated leaf & yellow twigs Silver and gold dogwood, (C. sericea 'Silver and Gold') Cultivars with yellow twigs Yellow Twig dogwood (C. sericea 'Flaviramea') Cultivars with red twigs Cardinal Red osier dogwood (C. sericea 'Cardinal') Isanti dogwood (C. sericea 'Isanti') Kelsey Dwarf dogwood (C. sericea 'Kelseyi') Bloodtwig dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) Winter Flame dogwood (C. sanguinea 'Winter Flame')-has yellow-orange fall color and yellow turning to red twigs Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)-is a small tree to medium shrub with a layered appearance, red fall color Gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa)-is a small tree with gray to red-brown bark, white flowers are followed by white fruit and red pedicels Snow Mantle dogwood (C. racemosa 'Jade')-is a hardy cultivar introduced by North Dakota State University   Adding color to your winter landscape The winter white is usually welcome through the Christmas season, but can become monotonous and bland. The white background can be utilized with other color provided by the landscape. Tree and shrub bark of most trees would help in most landscapes. There are browns, charcoals and grays, smooth and rough textures, fine branches to thick mature trunks. In town, this type of background may be limited to a hedge or a forested riverbank or less. On a small city lot, the view from the windows will be the most important. A shrub here or a shrub there may be enough. When you mention winter color, the first trees you may consider are evergreens. These trees should not be over used in the landscape in a manner that might fortress in your yard. The should be use as specimens or here or there for accent. The strong formal pyramidal growth form of spruce and fir trees are beautiful as accents. The use of coarser foliage and informal growth of pines provide excellent background with height. Smaller evergreen trees and shrubs should be used as fillers and to help tie the landscape together. The finer texture of foliage of arborvitae, juniper and yew are great nearer the house or viewing area. Lets not forget the smells of balsam fir, spruce, pine needles and bringing cut boughs and cones into the house. The use of specimen trees with accent colors such as the red and yellow colors of mixed varieties of willow trees and dogwood shrubs. The silvery gray bark of maples and lindens will compliment the white landscape. The white to greenish white bark of birch or aspen trees with irregular black spots provide compliment and contrast. Peeling and exfoliating barks of river birch, black cherry and Amur chokecherry add interest and coppery brown colors. Winged euonymous and some bur oak trees will have a gray bark that grows out from the twigs to appear as wings. The reddish brown bark of flowering crab apple is not its only contribution to the winter landscape, but also its small apples. Fruit of crabapples, hawthorn, mountain-ash will vary from purple to bright red to bright orange colors. Viburnums will vary from a red berry on Highbush cranberry to black purple berry on Arrowwood. Remnants of the aril type fruit on winterberry euonymous and wahoo will vary in color from yellow white to crimson and pink. With a slight dusting of white snow and the colors are complimented or enhanced. I learned several years ago in landscape courses that when people ask for more color in their landscape that they are really looking for more variety. With fruiting varieties of plants, wildlife will make visits and they make the landscape a dynamic one. Wildlife also appreciate water, so if this is your desire, you may want add a small water heater to the bird bath. And to supplement the food source with a bird feeder, suet or sunflower seeds mixed with peanut butter plaster in a tree knothole. Songbirds and squirrels will continually visit the site and further add color to the winter landscape. Plant List for Winter-Long Interest Evergreen trees: Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) several seed strains Mugho pine (Pinus mugo pumilio) shrub form Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) dark green and fragrant foliage Norway spruce( Picea abies) several dwarf and shrub forms Black Hills spruce( Picea glauca var. densata) Colorado blue spruce( Picea pungens) several bluer cultivars & shrub forms Serbian spruce(Picea omorika) dwarf form also Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) Douglas-fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii var. glauca) White fir ( Abies concolor) American arborvitae ( Thuja occidentalis) -numerous columnar, pyramidal, dwarf and shrub forms Rocky Mountain Juniper( Juniperus scopulorum)-numerous columnar, pyramidal and shrub forms Taunton Spreading Yew ( Taxus x media 'Tauntoni') small shrub Attractive bark: Quaking aspen ( Populus tremloides) Swedish aspen ( Populus tremula var. erecta) Wild Black cherry (Prunus serotina ) Amur chokecherry (Prunus maackii) Crabapples (Malus x cultivar) Dogwoods (Cornus sericea) Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) River birch (Betula nigra) Golden willow(Salix alba 'Vitellina') Redstem willow (Salix alba 'Chermesina') Flame willow (Salix alba 'Flame') Winged euonymous (Euonymus alata) Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) Attractive fruit or other colorful parts: Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpurea) Winterberry euonymous (Euonymus bungeana) Highbush Cranberrybush Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) European Mountain-ash (Sorbus accuparia) Showey Mountain-ash (Sorbus decora) Flowering Crabapple cultivars with persistent fruit into winter months Red fruit: Adams, Donald Wyman, Firebird, Guinevere, Red Jade, Red Jewel, Red Splendor, Robinson, Sugar Tyme Purple fruit: Kelsey, Pink Spires, Prairiefire, Red & Yellow fruit: Indian Magic, Snowdrift Yellow- Golden fruit: Harvest Gold, Lancelot   Overhanging branch removal in Northeast The City Street Department Crews have finished removing removing tree and shrub branches that are overhanging streets and alleys in the northwest area and are moving into the northeast area of the city. City Ordinances state that trees must be 16 feet high above, from curb to curb. This includes not only boulevard trees but trees in yards that have branches extending over the street. In alleys, overhanging branches of trees must be 16 feet high and a minimum of 20 feet wide to allow city access and grabage pickup equipment. Tree branches interfering with the view of Traffic signs and signal clearance shall be removed so as to be easily viewed within a 100 feet of the sign or signal. Any tree or shrub branches affecting vision obstructions at street and alley corners. Other things that City Crews will watch for include: 1. Any totally dead branches or partially dead branches above the clearance zones should be removed. Once the lower branches are removed these dead branches may lose support and fall later. 2. Any trees that have signs of hollowness in the trunk. These trees should be removed completely. The city forester will be notified to check out the tree and before the removal process. 3. Any trees with stubs left from prior pruning will be removed to a healthy crotch. These stubs maybe dead or dying back and /or have flushes of growth that are weakly attached to the branch and subject to easy breakage in wind or storm. 90% of the trees on the boulevard are American elm, green ash, boxelder, silver maple, linden, cottonwood or other poplar type. The above typical pruning policy will be followed, with the exotic trees that require significant pruning, the city forester will be notified to check out the tree and decide the course of action. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain the trees. When this responsibility is neglected, it becomes the duty of the city to clear overgrowth that threatens public safety. In some cases the only answer is the removal of the tree or shrub. This is a clearance procedure and should not be mistaken for a complete pruning of the tree. If this is what you expect, have your trees pruned by a local tree service. If there are any questions, please feel free to call the city forester at 252-5900.   Dutch Elm Disease losses less than 200 trees Vernon Quam, City Forester The final figures have been completed for impact of Dutch elm disease to the city of Jamestown for the year 2002. The losses from street boulevards, in yards and vacant lots are 181 elm trees. Of that total, only 84 were American elms and 97 Siberian elms. Dutch elm disease is a fungus disease that infects elm trees and kills about 95% of the trees. Between 1 and 5% may have resistance or escape infection. Once trees become infected, the fungus forms seed like spores that are carried on the backs of native elm bark beetles to other elm trees. This transfer continues from mid-April to mid-October from diseased trees to other elm trees. Understanding how the disease is spread helps us understand how to break the cycle. Accurate identification of the disease and quick sanitary removal is important in removing infected trees and a source of fungus spores. Another important source of fungus spores is elm firewood. As long as the elm wood is fresh where the bark remains attached the fungus can grow. It is between the bark and wood that the elm bark beetle will lay its eggs. If the wood is infected with the disease, the fungus will grow into the beetle’s tunnels and attach spores to the young emerging beetles. The beetles then fly to feed on twigs of other elm trees. Last year 9 firewood piles were found to have elm wood. The city forester inspects for diseased trees and elm firewood throughout the season. What can a homeowner do to help control Dutch elm disease? 1. If you have an elm tree in your yard, water it in dry periods of the summer and fertilize at the tree’s dripline during May-June. 2. If there is significant deadwood, larger branches have these pruned out during the winter months not summer when the disease is active. 3. If you have a firewood pile, check for any elm wood and if you wish to burn it, remove the bark and it is safe to use. It is illegal to have elmwood within the City Limits with the bark intact! 4. If you see trees in your yard or others around town that have a sudden leaf drop and systematic dying back of branches, please call your city forester. 5. If you see a firewood pile, any branches stored anywhere in your neighborhood, please call your city forester. You are not snitching on a neighbor; you are reporting someone who is endangering the future of your trees. 6. There are fungicides you can inject into the tree for protection from the disease. These are expensive, variable in effectiveness and may cause injury to the tree itself. It should only be considered on healthy trees and valuable trees. Check with your city forester before you have your tree injected. 7. If you lose your tree, please consider replanting. Many people are frustrated with the expense of removal that they never replant. Dutch elm disease has deprived a generation of the traditional canopy shade. If we fail to replant we are depriving another generation the same. Dutch elm disease has been a nemis to the stately American elm since the 1970’s. In the disease has been made such an impact on the City’s landscape in several ways. The James and Pipestem rivers have lost 40 to 50% of their canopy cover, which increases concerns of bank stabilization and soil erosion. City streets that once were shaded by cathedral shaped canopies are now sun scorched. Our parks are going through an adjustment from shade areas during the summer to open landscape with younger trees. Call the office of city forester at City Hall for more information, phone 252-5900.