‘Flame Creeper’ Azaleas: Virginia Historic Garden Week’s Hottest 2016 Azaleas

Summary: Bright, evergreen ‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas, the hottest 2016 azaleas and Virginia Historic Garden Week 2016’s iconic flower, are easy to grow and maintain.

Azalea 'Flame Creeper,' iconic flower of Garden Club of Virginia's Historic Garden Week 2016: Historic Garden Week in Virginia, via Facebook Feb. 23, 2016

‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas are the hottest 2016 azaleas and the iconic, versatile flowers of the Garden Club of Virginia’s 83rd annual Virginia Historic Garden Week 2016 of April 23 to April 30, 2016.

‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas become attractive reminders to set aside the last full week of every April for eight days of garden restoration and historic preservation tours. They constitute equally welcome reminiscences of what the Virginia Historic Garden Week 2016 guidebook calls “America’s largest open house” and the Commonwealth’s “oldest volunteer tourism project.” They do much more than fill exterior and interior gardening spaces with cheerful souvenirs of ventures into colonial and post-revolutionary mindsets toward landscape construction and cultivation. They embellish indoor and outdoor planned and wild garden habitat niches with low-maintenance, multifunctional plants whose survival and sustainability can be extended through microclimates and mulches.

The hottest 2016 azaleas easily fit into the equivalents of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zones five to 10 in terms of survival outside.

Organic mulches layered 2 to 3 inches (5.08 to 7.62 centimeters) high, warmer microclimates within climate zones and wind-shielded locations give ‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas greater hardiness. They help extend hardiness to lows well below zone 5’s range of minus 10 to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23.3 to minus 28.8 degrees Celsius). Heat tolerance is unproblematic, except for the most extreme of severe weather and wind events, as long as drainage, moisture, mulch and shade are not compromised.

Inattentiveness to appropriate cultivation techniques and healthy growth requirements jeopardize the sustainable survival of ‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas in particular and non-woody and woody plants in general.

‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas, cultivar clones of Rhododendron indicum and interspecific hybrids, keep year-round foliage, with autumnal reds, springtime light greens and summery and wintery dark greens. Their branch end-clustered, cherry-red, coral-pink and orange-red, slightly ruffled, trumpet-shaped blooms and re-blooms, borne coupled or solitary, look bright for three seasons, from spring through autumn. The dense, multi-stemmed, open, slow-growing, upright shrub matures to the shape of a low-lying mound, 2.5 feet (0.76 meters) high and 3 feet (0.91 meters) across. Pruning need not be either extensive or frequent other than for removing damaged, diseased or dying shoots or for shaping immediately after the flowering season ends.

Cultivation-related challenges rarely occur when the hottest 2016 azaleas are planted in well-drained clay to sandy loams whose acidic soil pH ranges from 4.5 to 6.

Powdery mildew, treatable with fungicides, pesters azaleas when humidity reaches 95 percent whereas nutrient shortages such as chlorosis, treatable with supplemental iron, proliferates in alkaline soils. Azalea lacebugs, black vine weevils and sun scorch respectively qualify stressed ‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas for horticultural oil and insecticidal soap applications, imidacloprid treatments and pruning schedules.

Virginia Historic Garden Week’s hottest 2016 azaleas require daily morning sun and afternoon shade and granular, slow-release, spring-spread, well-balanced azalea/camellia fertilizers on east- or north-facing slopes. Heath family membership stresses inputs of ericaceous composts, fertilizers and mulches for outputs as rock or woodland groundcovers and hedges alongside allspices, hyssops, lilacs and spiraeas.

‘Flame Creeper’ azaleas turn Virginia Historic Garden Week’s hottest 2016 azaleas into memory-filled home gardens accentuating America’s largest open house’s past, present and future iconic flowers.

Hampton's Fort Monroe National Monument is on the cover of the 2016 Historic Garden Week Guidebook: Historic Garden Week in Virginia @HistoricGardenWeekinVA, via Facebook Nov. 4, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Garden Club of Virginia's Historic Garden Week 2016 iconic flower: Historic Garden Week in Virginia, via Facebook Feb. 23, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/HistoricGardenWeekinVA/photos/a.452111432862.245724.190385007862/10153973168317863/

Hampton's Fort Monroe National Monument is on the cover of the 2016 Historic Garden Week Guidebook: Historic Garden Week in Virginia @HistoricGardenWeekinVA, via Facebook Nov. 4, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/HistoricGardenWeekinVA/posts/10153733744667863

For further information:

Culpeper Media Network. "Virginia Historic Garden Week." YouTube. April 22, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuGUOajXNdk

Garden Club of Virginia. “Historic Garden Week April 23-30, 2016, Guidebook.” Garden Club of Virginia > Historic Garden Week > Tour Guidebook > 2016 HGW Guidebook.
Available @ http://www.vagardenweek.org/warehouse/fm/documents/HGW%202016%20Pressroom/2016_HGW_Guidebook.pdf

Historic Garden Week in Virginia @HistoricGardenWeekinVA. 4 November 2015. "Take a behind the scenes look at our 2016 guidebook cover photoshoot. Be sure to wait until the end for the big reveal!" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/HistoricGardenWeekinVA/posts/10153733744667863

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Gardens: Bluebirds’ and Hummers’ Best Friends

Summary: Planned and wild yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens in Canada, Mexico and the United States offer what bluebirds, hummers and sapsuckers need and want.

yellow-bellied sapsucker at Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts; Saturday, July 7, 2012, 10:06:39; credit Bill Thompson: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr

North America’s yellow-bellied sapsuckers arrive in northerly yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens in Canada and the United States between February and May and in southerly yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens in Mexico, and southward, by November.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers bring in their immediate wake ruby-throated hummingbirds, all of whose distribution ranges, migration times and transportation routes and some of whose food sources overlap. North Americans generally consider yellow-bellied sapsuckers less welcome garden visitors than ruby-throated hummingbirds even though North America’s iconic hummers need sapsuckers far more than vice versa. They typically describe ruby-throated hummingbirds as nectar-drinkers even though the iconic hummers arrive before spring’s liquid and solid flowering non-woody and woody plant refreshment is plentiful.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers drilling holes for amino acid- and sucrose-rich tree sap to drip into accessible, clean depressions enables ruby-throated hummingbirds to leave before migration traffic jams.

North America’s yellow-bellied sapsuckers follow sap-filled trails through the groves, mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, orchards, wooded river bottoms, woodlands and woodlots in yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens.

Aspens and birches in particular give yellow-bellied sapsuckers opportunities to drill cavities for eggs and nestlings and holes for sap and to forage for protein-rich arthropods. The holes, whose regular horizontal spacing may girdle the bark, have pecked-out depressions whose well-like looks attract winter-parched hummers, songbirds and squirrels and recall maple sugar-tapping. The nest is at the bottom of a 5-inch- (12.7-centimeter-) wide, 14-inch- (35.56-centimeter-) deep, gourd-shaped cavity 8 to 40 feet (2.44 to 12.19 meters) above ground.

Bluebirds jump for nesting opportunities in abandoned, predator-proof yellow-bellied sapsucker cavities as alternatives to their (and passenger pigeons’) traditional nesting tree, the American chestnut (Castanea dentata).

Seven-year life cycles keep one couple adding cavities to one heartwood-weakened, tinder fungus- (Fomes igniarius-) afflicted home tree that is preferentially aspen (Populus) or birch (Betula).

Monogamy leads to 8-day-long co-building new nests annually and 13-day-long co-incubating four to seven elliptical or oval, smooth-shelled, 0.88- by 0.67-inch (22.44- by 16.92-millimeter), white eggs. Fledglings independently may find berries and fruits and handle tree-trunk feeder-station doughnuts, grape jelly, suet and sugar-water within four weeks of hatching in yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens. Master gardeners and master naturalists note resemblances of immature females and males to adult females, except for dark-brown foreheads in juveniles and red in all adults.

Adults obtain 8- to 9-inch (20.32- to 22.86-centimeter) head-to-tail body lengths, 1.5- to 1.9-ounce (42.52- to 53.86-gram) weights and 16- to 18-inch (40.64- to 45.73-centimeter) wingspans.

Yellow bellies and breasts provide the common name for yellow-bellied sapsuckers, whose cat-like calls go wheer-wheer-wheer and whose scientific name is Sphyrapicus varius (variegated hammer woodpecker).

Ants, bees, butterflies, hummers, squirrels and woodpeckers queue up even before the yellow-bellied sapsucker’s signature drum of rapid staccato beats followed by slow rhythmic taps stops. The 250 arboreal species that yearly are sap-tapped generally remain clean since ruby-throated hummingbirds and yellow-bellied sapsuckers feed upon both the sap and the sap-drinking arthropods. Adults, with black-and-white lined backs and tails, black-lined red foreheads and white rumps and wing patches stand out in yellow-bellied sapsucker gardens as birds to thank.

Differentiating bigger, red-throated males and smaller, white-throated females flapping, gliding, undulating during flight sometimes takes discerning eyes even though lovers of fine sap know the difference.

A garden in proximity to birches attracts yellow bellied sapsuckers as well as synchronous birds such as bluebirds and ruby-throated hummingbirds; holes drilled by yellow bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) in dying white birch (Betula papyrifera), Jacques Cartier National Park, Québec, Canada: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

yellow-bellied sapsucker at Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts; Saturday, July 7, 2012, 10:06:39; credit Bill Thompson: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/8574372949/

holes drilled by yellow bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) in dying white birch (Betula papyrifera), Jacques Cartier National Park, Québec, Canada: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YellowBellied_Sapsucker_Holes.jpg

For further information:

Wild Bird Video Productions. "Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers." YouTube. July 7, 2011.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj-nXi-c3gM

WRC of Minnesota‏ @WRCMN. 10 April 2016. "Recently admitted Yellow-bellied Sapsucker [Updated]." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/WRCMN/status/719271331292798977

“Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.” Audubon > Animals > Birds > Guide to North American Birds.
Available @ http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-bellied-sapsucker

“Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.” National Geographic > Animals >Birding.
Available @ http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/yellow-bellied-sapsucker/

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Gardens for North America’s Iconic Hummers

Summary: North America’s iconic hummers never forget their new and old, planned and wild, ruby-throated hummingbird gardens in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Male ruby-throated hummingbird guards his territory from atop a tomato stake; east of Ohio River, west of Ohio River Levee Trail, southwest of Riverside, The Farnsley–Moremen Landing, south end Louisville, Jefferson County, north central Kentucky; Wednesday, June 28, 2006, 20:15: Joe Schneid, Louisville, Kentucky, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are in their northerly ruby-throated hummingbird gardens in Canada and the United States between February and May and in their southerly ruby-throated hummingbird gardens in Mexico southward as of November.

Atlantic, central and Mississippi migration routes bring North America’s most iconic hummers, Aristolochus colubris, back and forth between their spring and fall and their winter residences. The 60-mile- (96.56-kilometer-) per-hour low-flier, whose heart beats 1,200 times per minute and wings 75 per second, crosses the 500-mile (804.67-kilometer) Mexican Gulf shortcut non-stop.

Similarly flowering open woodlands and liquid and solid food sources draw the plucky aerialist to both sides of the United States’ borders with Canada and Mexico. One part sugar, boiled and then cooled, and four parts water in red-decorated tubes on red-embellished feeders exert strong pulls on the sharp-sighted migrant to stop.

Planned and wild ruby-throated hummingbird gardens fill habitat niches and follow distribution ranges similar to those of yellow-bellied sapsuckers in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds get liquid refreshment from apple and birch tree saps dripping into depressions drilled by yellow-bellied sapsuckers and from flowering non-woody and woody plant nectars. Non-woody and woody ornithophilous (bird-pollinated) plants have protein-rich arachnid and insect pests that ruby-throated hummers swallow and pollen that the ruby-throated hummer chin- and crown-feathers transfer. Bristled ruby-throated hummingbird tongues impale arthropods, remove insect prey from spider-webs and serve as anti-gravity, capillary-acting split troughs that transport liquids to the throat for swallowing.

Citrus orchards, hackberry groves, scrubby fields, second-growth shrub-lands and tree-scattered bogs and swamps join coniferous, deciduous and mixed forest and woodland clearings and edges as habitats.

George H. Harrison, author of Garden Birds of America, knows of male ruby-throated hummers chasing away unrelated, not related, adults and fledglings from quarter-acre (0.10-hectare) territories.

Mothers-to-be leave two elliptical, 0.51- by 0.33-inch (12.9- by 8.5-millimeter), smooth-shelled, white eggs in nests built within five days and lined 1-inch- (2.54-centimeter-) thick with down. They make 1.75- by 2-inch (4.45- by 5.08-centimeter) nests of bud scales, down and fibers with lichen-covered exteriors and spider-web silk attachments to downward-sloping, leaf-filled branches. Eggs need 14 to 16 days to hatch, and hatchlings 14 to 31 days to fledge, 6 to 50 feet (1.83 to 15.24 meters) above ground.

Month-old fledglings obtain independent living arrangements at 10- to 20-foot (3.05- to 6.09-meter) heights in hickories, hornbeams, maples, oaks, pines and tulip-poplars in ruby-throated hummingbird gardens.

Immature ruby-throated hummers pass for small-sized adult females in ruby-throated hummingbird gardens even though immature males hint of incipiently orange feather-lined throats and of rufous rumps.

Adulthood qualifies ruby-throated hummers for 4.25-inch (10.79-centimeter) wingspans, 0.21-ounce (6-gram) weights, 3.5-inch (8.89-centimeter) lengths and 9-year lifespans for flying backward, down, forward, sideways, up and upside-down. Adults reveal white eyespots and underparts while females showcase brown bodies with white chins and throats and males green bodies with black-billed, green-crowned, red-throated black faces. Adults spend mornings and afternoons around beebalm, buckeye, cardinal-flower, columbine, gay-feather, gladiolus, hibiscus, honeysuckle, jewelweed, mimosa, nasturtium, petunia, sage, thistle, tobacco-plant, trumpet-vine, willow and yellow trumpet-bush.

Nestlings begging, fledglings peeping and adults sounding out t perching, tchew-tchup flying, tchip singing, tic-tic feeding and tsitsitsitsitsitsitsitsi or zeek-ididididid chasing tell of ruby-throated hummingbird presences.

photo by nature photographer and writer Dotty Holcomb Doherty: NPS Chesapeake Bay @ChesapeakeNPS, via Twitter Aug. 31, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Male ruby-throated hummingbird guards his territory from atop a tomato stake; east of Ohio River, west of Ohio River Levee Trail, southwest of Riverside, The Farnsley–Moremen Landing, south end Louisville, Jefferson County, north central Kentucky; Wednesday, June 28, 2006, 20:15: Joe Schneid, Louisville, Kentucky, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archilochus_colubris_(Male).jpg

photo by nature photographer and writer Dotty Holcomb Doherty: NPS Chesapeake Bay‏ @ChesapeakeNPS, via Twitter Aug. 31, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/ChesapeakeNPS/status/638362541752733696

For further information:

Birds Inc. 28 February 2015. "hummingbird sound - call and wing flapping." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXLHNFkJxw

Harrison, George H.; and Harrison, Kit. April 1996. Gardens Birds of America: A Gallery of Garden Birds & How to Attract Them. Minocqua, WI: Willow Creek Press.

NPS Chesapeake Bay‏ @ChesapeakeNPS. 31 August 2015. "An amazing pic by Dotty Holcomb Doherty: a female ruby-throated hummingbird (males have the iridescent red throat)." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ChesapeakeNPS/status/638362541752733696

“Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.” Audubon > Field Guide > Birds > Guide to North American Birds.
Available @ http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/ruby-throated-hummingbird

“Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.” National Geographic > Animals > Birds.
Available @ http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/ruby-throat-hummingbird/

North America’s Water Rationed Lawns Can Be North America’s Green-ups

Summary: Drought and rations make North America’s water parched lawns lush green-ups if equipment, fertilizer, grasses, mulch, nutrients and pH work together.

A simple soil moisture sensor adequately conveys important water information to gardeners; Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014, 19:47: Sealman, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Water rationed lawns are greening up nicely when equipment is maintained properly, grass is mowed high and fertilizer and water are portioned smartly, according to the May 2016 issue of Consumer Reports.

Kimberly Janeway and Ed Perratore, co-authors of The Grass Is Greener, base their findings upon the experiences of Peter Sawchuk, lawn mower and outdoor gear tester. Prolonged drought and water restrictions can bring a local water authority employee to check premises that look green and lush in a brown and parched neighborhood. A healthily dense, verdant lawn draws upon properly functioning soils, whose structures and textures can be eyeballed and felt and whose pH levels may be adjusted.

Agents, master gardeners and master naturalists at North America’s extension offices, arborists and tree stewards excel at conducting and interpreting pH and squeeze tests in lawns.

Below-ground moisture and nutrients follow unobstructed pathways through soils that break easily into dark-colored, fresh-smelling, small-sized clumps whose consistency resembles that of a gently squeezed-out sponge.

Soil pH tests give, at 0 to 6.3 and 6.8 to 14 respectively, the acidic and the alkaline ranges, whose occasional imbalances alter access to nutrients. Acidic soils sometimes have such nutrient imbalances that aluminum, iron and manganese become overabundant; calcium, magnesium and potassium become deficient; and nitrogen and phosphorus become inaccessible. Phosphorus sometimes is inaccessible, and selenium and sodium overabundant, in alkaline soils whose pH aluminum sulfate lowers, just like finely ground limestone raises acidic pH levels.

Care of lawn equipment, choice of region-friendly grasses and commitment to fertilizing and watering schedules join establishment of balanced nutrients and pHs in the healthiest yards.

Resourceful schedules keep fertilizers to once during fall in Canada and the northern United States and during spring in northern Mexico and the southern United States.

Mulched clippings and slow-release organic fertilizers without pet-unfriendly blood, bone or fish meal let grass reach 4.5-inch (11.43-centimeter) heights before cutbacks to 3.5 inches (8.89 centimeters). Mower blades sharpened monthly during mowing seasons and mower decks cleaned after uses make clearer, faster slicing cuts that do not brown-tip, stress or tear grass. Combined weekly totals from hoses or irrigation systems and from rainfall, measurable by rain barrel accumulations, need to deliver no more than 1 inch (2.54 centimeters).

Ideal rainfall and supplemental watering combinations occur with one long, slow release that grows roots not only outward but also downward in search of soil moisture.

Barrel-accumulated rainwater and timer-based irrigation systems, whose output moisture sensors, rain sensors and weather station data-fed controllers adjust, prevent water losses through evaporation, run-off and winds.

Frank Rossi, Associate Professor of Horticulture and turf scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, quantifies soil-moisture sensor-controlled lawns as guzzling 60 percent less water. Professor Rossi recommends drought-resistant/tolerant buffalo grasses in northwestern North America and tall fescues in northeastern North America, for 30 percent lower water consumption during active growth. He suggests drought-resistant/tolerant Bermuda and zoysia for Mexico and the southeastern and southwestern United States and tall fescues and zoysia from the Mid-Atlantic westward to Missouri.

Clean decks, 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) weekly watering, organic fertilizers and mulches, sharp blades and site-correct grasses and pH turn North America’s water parched lawns into lush green-ups.

A variety of buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) developed cooperatively by the Native Turfgrass Group and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 'Cody' has good winter hardiness and excels as a low-maintenance turfgrass for lawns: Garden Life Today @GardenLifeToday, via Twitter March 4, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

A simple soil moisture sensor adequately conveys important water information to gardeners; Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014, 19:47: Sealman, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soil_moisture_sensor.JPG

A variety of buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) developed cooperatively by the Native Turfgrass Group and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ‘Cody’ has good winter hardiness and excels as a low-maintenance turfgrass for lawns: Garden Life Today @GardenLifeToday, via Twitter March 3, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/GardenLifeToday/status/705629485333217280

For further information:

Cornell SIPS. 9 March 2016. "Make Your Lawn an Attractive Environmental Asset." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKQMCP6U-bw

Garden Life Today‏ @GardenLifeToday. 3 March 2016. "Cody Buffalo Grass -- drought tolerant, warm season." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/GardenLifeToday/status/705629485333217280

Janeway, Kimberly; and Perratore, Ed. May 2016. “The Grass Is Greener.” Consumer Reports 81 (5): 18-21.
Available @ http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2016/05/index.htm

Rescued Green Sea Turtle Comber Leaves Vancouver for San Diego

Summary: On Wednesday, April 20, rescued green sea turtle Comber leaves Vancouver for San Diego where temporary lodging at SeaWorld precedes his eventual return to his native waters.

Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre has been Comber's home since January: Vancouver Aquarium @vanacqua, via Twitter April 20, 2016

Almost three months after beaching Jan. 23 on southwestern Vancouver Island, rescued green sea turtle Comber is well enough to leave British Columbia for temporary lodging at SeaWorld San Diego, according to updates Wednesday, April 20, 2016, via Vancouver Aquarium's AquaBlog and Facebook page.

"There is nowhere in Canada with water warm enough for his survival," Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre's head veterinarian, Dr. Martin Haulena, explains in Vancouver Aquarium's AquaBlog posting of April 20, 2016.

On April 20, Comber leaves Vancouver for an overnight stay in Seattle before heading to SeaWorld San Diego. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is picking up Tucker, a male olive ridley sea turtle who has been an inpatient at Seattle Aquarium since Dec. 14, 2015.

On Thursday, April 21, both Comber and Tucker are scheduled for transport to SeaWorld San Diego via a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 Hercules. The four-engine C-130H is recognized as a mainstay of the U.S. Coast Guard air fleet and as the primary military transport in the western United States.

Comber's transfer from Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre to SeaWorld San Diego is preparatory to his eventual release into the wild.

"From day one, our goal has been to get the turtle healthy enough for release back into the wild," Haulena explains.

The juvenile male green sea turtle's name, bestowed upon him by staff at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, harks back to his beaching site. On Saturday, Jan. 23, a visitor to Vancouver Island's portion of Canada's Pacific Rim National Park Reserve contacted Parks Canada about a hypothermic green sea turtle stranded at remote Combers Beach. Parks Canada rangers relayed the turtle across Vancouver Island to a team from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. The turtle was then conveyed to the aquarium's mainland harbor location in Stanley Park.

During his inpatient stay at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, the rescued green sea turtle has rebounded outstandingly and has acquired the personal name of Comber.

At admission, Comber registered a critically low body temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius (52.16 degrees Fahrenheit). The normal body temperature for green sea turtles ranges from 20 to 25 degrees C (68 to 77 degrees F). Comber's initial rehabilitation entailed the painstakingly slow raising of his body temperature by a few degrees each day.

A barely discernible, irregular heartbeat figured among the listless symptoms of Comber's hypothermia, usually described as cold-stunning for animals.

"His condition was so poor that breaths were few and far between," Haulena recalls. "We needed an ultrasound to keep track of his heartbeats."

Treating Comber as an inpatient has provided Aquarium staff with a rare opportunity to learn about a turtle species that is an uncommon visitor to Canada's coasts. Green sea turtles normally range in the world's subtropical and tropical waters between the latitudes of 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south. The exploratory attraction of El Niño-warmed waters is thought to have encouraged Comber's journey far form home to Vancouver Aquarium's location on the 49th parallel north.

Staff who have participated in Comber's phenomenal recovery have enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the juvenile's species appreciate the successful outcome for the juvenile green sea turtle's stay at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. Comber's progress has also been popularly covered by the media, so his good news is celebrated by concerned nature lovers who have never met him.

"Comber beat the odds and will soon return to his native waters, where he can contribute to the growth of the endangered sea turtle population," Haulena notes.

Comber has come a long way since his near-death rescue Jan. 23, 2016: Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre has been Comber's home since January: Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua, via Twitter April 20, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/vanaqua/status/722824537549770753

Comber has come a long way since his near-death rescue Jan. 23, 2016: Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/vanaqua/photos/a.488362465799/10153228491940800/

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. "Hypothermic Green Sea Turtle Beached in British Columbia Far From Home." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/01/hypothermic-green-sea-turtle-beached-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Rescued Green Sea Turtle Comber Awaits Travel to Sea World San Diego." Earth and Space News. Monday, April 4, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/04/rescued-green-sea-turtle-comber-awaits.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Rescued Green Sea Turtle Comber Soon Leaves Vancouver Aquarium." Earth and Space News. Saturday, March 26, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/rescued-green-sea-turtle-comber-soon.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Vancouver Aquarium Reports Hypothermic Green Sea Turtle Steadily Heals." Earth and Space News. Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/vancouver-aquarium-reports-hypothermic.html

Vancouver Aquarium. "Comber Continues His Incredible Journey." AquaBlog. April 20, 2016.
Available @ http://www.aquablog.ca/2016/04/comber-continues-his-incredible-journey/

Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua. "Rescued and rehabilitated green sea #turtle, #Comber, continues his journey home." Twitter. April 20, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/vanaqua/status/722824537549770753

Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua. "The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is currently treating a sick sea turtle that was found Saturday on a B.C. beach -- a long way from its home in the tropics." Facebook. Jan. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/vanaqua/photos/a.488362465799/10153228491940800/

North America’s Peregrine Falcon Gardens for Native Peregrine Falcons

Summary: Raptor gardeners in Canada, Mexico and the United States know that peregrine falcon gardens sustain North America’s peregrine falcons and vice versa.

Peregrine falcons adapt to environments, such as busy city centers, that dramatically contrast with preferred habitats of open landscapes with trees and water sources ~ captive American peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum) during feeding at Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park, Nova Scotia, eastern Canada; Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 11:35: Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

North America’s raptor gardeners are business, home and industrial landscapers who understand such planned and wild settings for birds of prey as peregrine falcon gardens in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Raptors, also known as birds of prey, belong in Mother Nature’s feeding chains and food webs as natural enemies and predatory controllers of other animal populations. Peregrine falcons, also known scientifically as Falco peregrinus, consider as priority prey doves, pileated woodpeckers and pigeons and as secondary sources bats and other small mammals. They do not represent daily entries in raptor gardener logs despite household recognition and worldwide reputations as a species whose near extinction is a recent event. They entertain inhabitants of North America’s big cities, inland mountains, open grasslands, salt marshes and sea coasts with the aerial feats that astound generations of falconers.

Two to five brown-blotched, cream-white to white-pink, 52- by 41-millimeter (2.05- by .61-inch), fine-grained or smooth-shelled, oval eggs deposited every other day fill repeat-use, same-site nests.

Mothers-to-be get to choose nesting sites and scratch out 1- to 2-inch- (2.54- to 5.08-centimeter-) deep hollows for incubating the year’s broods 33 to 35 days. Eggs hatch successfully regardless of whether nests are on building ledges or roofs or on cliff ledges now that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is banned throughout North America. The interval from the 1930s to the 1950s involves dark days for peregrine falcons, whose breeding DDT jeopardizes by causing eggs to develop shell-less or thin-shelled.

Captive breeding and successful releases into planned and wild peregrine falcon gardens join with pesticide bans to hatch eggs into juveniles that mature into monogamous adults.

North America’s raptor gardeners know of juveniles as brown-bodied, with blue-grey cere (upper jaw base) and eye-ring, blue-grey or yellow feet and toes and brown-and-buff-streaked underparts. Juveniles, like mature peregrine falcons, look darker from coastal Canada through coastal Mexico, intermediate throughout inland North America and paler in the Alaskan and Canadian tundra. Three-year-olds mature to 16- to 21-inch (40.64- to 53.34-centimeter) head-to-tail lengths, 3.25- to 3.5-foot (0.99- to 1.07-meter) wingspans and 22- to 35-ounce (623.69- to 992.23-gram) weights.

Raptor gardeners note the adult’s barred under-tail feathers, blue-grey upper-parts, dark-hooded, dark-moustached head, dark-spotted buff chest, horizontally barred, light-colored underparts and yellow eye-ring, feet and legs.

Ecological awareness and environmental activism and education offer North America’s three peregrine falcon species 15- to 20-year life cycles in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Alarming situations prompt raucous, rising sequences of hak-hak-hak, hek-hek-hek or rehk-rehk-rehk, and aggressive encounters a mechanical-sounding series of wiSHEP-koCHE-koCHE-koCHEcheche, in planned and wild peregrine falcon gardens.

The flight patterns of peregrine falcons qualify as among the world’s most direct, most graceful, most powerful, with deep, fast wing beats and spectacularly soaring interludes. Adult peregrine falcons realize horizontal, straight-line flights of 70 miles (112.65 kilometers) per hour and straight-down, vertical stoop dives of 245 miles (394.29 kilometers) per hour.

Peregrine falcon life cycles stress monogamous parents solitarily raising eggs, eyasses (babies) and juveniles and united families, thousands-strong, traveling Atlantic, inland, Mississippi and Pacific migration routes.

Atlantic and Pacific coastal routes tend to host the most migrants to northern peregrine falcon gardens in April and to southern peregrine falcon gardens in October.

Peregrine falcons thrive in a range of environments, from canyons and cliffs to countrysides and urban habitats: David Custer @DavidLukeCuster, via Twitter April 7, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Peregrine falcons adapt to environments, such as busy city centers, that dramatically contrast with preferred habitats of open landscapes with trees and water sources ~ captive American peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum) during feeding at Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park, Nova Scotia, eastern Canada; Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 11:35: Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada, CC BY SA 2.00 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Falco_peregrinus_-Nova_Scotia,_Canada_-eating-8.jpg;
Dennis Jarvis (archer10 (Dennis)), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/2587959890/

Peregrine falcons thrive in a range of environments, from canyons and cliffs to countrysides and urban habitats: David Custer @DavidLukeCuster, via Twitter April 7, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/DavidLukeCuster/status/718086007816642560

For further information:

Brave Wilderness. 24 March 2015. "Peregrine Falcon is the Fastest Animal in the World." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mry7evAJHz0

David Custer‏ @DavidLukeCuster. 7 April 2016. "My friend Kristy snapped this picture outside her 15th floor office window in Flint of a Peregrine Falcon." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/DavidLukeCuster/status/718086007816642560

“Peregrine Falcons.” Peregrine Net.
Available @ http://www.peregrine-net.com/PGS_PGN_GENERAL/Falcon_Info.html

Tree Injection Methods: Treatment Option in Integrated Pest Management

Summary: Shawn Bernick and E. Thomas Smiley of Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories indicate when Integrated Pest Management needs to include tree injection methods.

Imidacloprid insecticide injections with original Mauget capsules; tree injection method for treating Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) infestation, Ravenswood neighborhood, northern Chicago, southeastern Illinois, May 2002: Dennis Haugen/USDA Forest Service, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Integrated Pest Management accepts tree injection methods when soil treatments or sprays are ineffective or pest damages major, according to Tree Injection (Part 1) for the April 2016 issue of Arborist News.

Shawn Bernick and E. Thomas Smiley of Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories also broach cost-ineffective and jurisdiction-restricted spraying, tree sizes near water bodies and vascular wilt diseases. Sap flow carries the two low- or no-pressure tree injection methods of dry pill, powder or tablet implants dissolved from drilled holes and of infusion injections. Macroinjection types of pressurized tree injection methods deliver, and sometimes distribute unevenly to the crown's detriment, diluted, high-volume, low-concentrate solutions from common reservoirs to multiple ports. Microinjectors with handheld guns, with macroinjection-like compressed-gas canisters, with macroinjection-styled pumps, with pre-measured capsules or with self-pressurizing capsules eject low-phytotoxic, low-volume, non-diluted solutions through injection ports.

All four tree injection methods favor shallow, small-diameter holes that fill in naturally, not with caulk or dowel backfill, and furnish lowest likelihoods of introducing decay.

Genetics and health give higher species-specific tolerances of drill and injection wounds whose external closure gets to be the "only observable indication" of internal xylem damage. Circles around, fluxes oozing from and "lines of dead bark above and possibly below" injection sites respectively hint at phytotoxic damage to cambium, wood and phloem. Defoliation, interveinal necrosis and marginal leaf scorch within seven days of treatments indicate phytotoxicity whose damage is minor if absent from foliage's "next flush of growth."

Manufacturers judge Integrated Pest Management products non-phytotoxic according to tests and to treatments per label instructions since active ingredients juggle application-specific drench, injection and spray formulations.

Applicators know that "relatively rapid" treatments and uptakes for "evenly distributed" solutions to "target tissues" keep tree injection methods "effective and affordable" Integrated Pest Management options.

Such factors as environmental conditions, injection device, product viscosity, required dosage, tree health and tree species lengthen or shorten the "time required to perform" injection treatments. Injection site numbers, placements and treatment times must manage an even product distribution even though solutions typically move upward and water moves along species-specific, variable pathways. The "relatively large vessels" in such ring-porous hardwood trees as ash and oak necessitate far faster uptakes than such diffuse-porous hardwoods as maple and pear need.

Uptake rates operate more slowly in conifers because of resin flows and because of small-diameter tracheids and in deciduous trees "after the onset of fall coloration."

The timing of environmental factors, pest activity, residual activity, seasonal growth and treatment schedules push all four tree injection methods toward treatment failure or treatment success.

Morning applications when humidity is low and when concentrations are high, pests susceptible, skies clear, soils moist, temperatures moderate, trees leafed-out and winds light quicken uptakes. Injections of trees in decline or with "compromised vascular systems," drought or heat stress or "serious dieback" and iron injections other than in autumn remain ineffective. The timing optimally shows extended intervals between treatment dates by scheduling products with longer anticipated times, called residual activity, for solutions to stay active inside trees.

Pests take many forms that Integrated Pest Management tackles through tree injection methods by timing treatments to best site, tree and weather configurations and worst outbreaks.

Postdoctoral scientist Francisco Posada injects spore suspension into stem of coffee seedling; the fungal injection attacks a wide range of pests, including the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei): Peggy Greg/USDA Forest Service, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

Imidacloprid insecticide injections with original Mauget capsules; tree injection method for treating Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) infestation, Ravenswood neighborhood, northern Chicago, southeastern Illinois, May 2002: Dennis Haugen/USDA Forest Service, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1393016

Postdoctoral scientist Francisco Posada injects spore suspension into stem of coffee seedling; the fungal injection attacks a wide range of pests, including the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei): Peggy Greg/USDA Forest Service, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1355050

For further information:

Bernick, Shawn; and Smiley, E. Thomas. April 2016. "Tree Injection (Part 1)." Arborist News 25(2): 12-17.

Gilman, Ed. 2011. An Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Third Edition. Boston MA: Cengage.

Hayes, Ed. 2001. Evaluating Tree Defects. Revised, Special Edition. Rochester MN: Safe Trees.

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 March 2016. “Bare-Rooted Ornamental Urban Transplants: Amendments Against Mortality.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/bare-rooted-ornamental-urban.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 February 2016. “Bark Protective Survival Mechanisms Foil Deprivation, Injury, Invasion.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/bark-protective-survival-mechanisms.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 January 2016. "LITA Model: Linear Index of Tree Appraisal of Large Urban Swedish Trees." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/01/lita-model-linear-index-of-tree.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 December 2015. “Tree Lightning Protection Systems: Site, Soil, Species True Designs.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/tree-lightning-protection-systems-site.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 October 2015. “Tree Lightning Protection Systems Tailored to Sites, Soils, Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/10/tree-lightning-protection-systems.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 August 2015. “Tree Friendly Urban Soil Management: Amend, Fertilize, Mulch, Till!” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/08/tree-friendly-urban-soil-management.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 June 2015. “Tree Friendly Urban Soil Management: Assemble, Assess, Assist, Astound.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/06/tree-friendly-urban-soil-management.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 April 2015. “Tree Wound Responses: Healthy Wound Closures by Callus and Woundwood.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/tree-wound-responses-healthy-wound.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2015. “Urban Forest Maintenance and Non-Maintenance Costs and Benefits.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/urban-forest-maintenance-and-non.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2014. “Tree Dwelling Symbionts: Dodder, Lichen, Mistletoe, Moss and Woe-Vine.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/tree-dwelling-symbionts-dodder-lichen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 October 2014. “Tree Cable Installation Systems Lessen Target Impact From Tree Failure.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/tree-cable-installation-systems-lessen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 August 2014. “Flood Tolerant Trees in Worst-Case Floodplain and Urbanized Scenarios.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/08/flood-tolerant-trees-in-worst-case.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 June 2014. “Integrated Vegetation Management of Plants in Utility Rights-of-Way.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/integrated-vegetation-management-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2014. “Tree Twig Identification: Buds, Bundle Scars, Leaf Drops, Leaf Scars.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/tree-twig-identification-buds-bundle.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2014. “Tree Twig Anatomy: Ecosystem Stress, Growth Rates, Winter Identification.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/tree-twig-anatomy-ecosystem-stress.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2013. “Community and Tree Safety Awareness During Line- and Road-Clearances.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-and-tree-safety-awareness.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2013. “Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/chain-saw-gear-and-tree-work-related.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2013. “Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/storm-damaged-tree-clearances-matched.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html