Linda K. Chalker-Scott - The Informed Gardener

I didn't start out as an urban horticulturist. My early dream was to be a marine biologist, and I followed this pathway through my first two degrees. As I faced a career crossroad in the early 1980s, my husband suggested I pursue a PhD in horticulture because I had always enjoyed growing plants.

I followed a fairly traditional laboratory-based program during my doctoral work, eschewing the horticulture classes for the loftier courses in biochemistry and physiology. After all, I reasoned, how hard could it be to plant trees and shrubs? This superior attitude toward practical horticultural science followed me until I moved back home to Washington State in 1997. At the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, I found myself having to teach the same practical courses I had managed to avoid.

Fortunately, my interest in plant stress physiology was a complementary match for my course teaching. I began to really notice urban landscapes and wonder why trees and shrubs seemed to do so poorly in a climate that should grow magnificent specimens. Why is the average life of a street tree in Seattle only eight years?

Lo and behold! I discovered it wasn't that easy planting and managing trees and shrubs, especially those in urban environments. Many of the recommended practices in soil preparation, plant installation, and landscape management seemed better suited for a cornfield than for a permanent, ornamental landscapeand, indeed, these practices were derived from traditional production horticulture. It is time for a paradigm shiftwe need to look at forest ecosystems rather than annual crop fields as the management model for our home landscapes, urban forests, and community greenspaces. As in a forest ecosystem, the mainstays of our landscape are trees and shrubs that are not harvested annually but should live for many decades. The idea for addressing common horticultural myths in a monthly column was born.

This book is a collection of columns written since 2000, initially for use by professionals in the nursery and landscape industry of Washington State. In response to many requests, I began an on-line version of the columns to increase their accessibility outside Washington State. Six years later, the columns are being used by university faculty and students, Extension agents, nursery and landscape professionals, Master Gardeners, landscape architects, and members of the ever-increasing gardening public. The columns generate hundreds of e-mails nationally and internationally. Although the Internet is fast and convenient, many people have asked that I publish these columns in book form.

My intention is not to point fingers but to raise consciousness about a number of misconceptions regarding the management of landscapes dominated by woody plants, or trees and shrubs. As aPhD student in horticulture, I myself made many of the mistakes discussed in this book because alternative information wasn't readily available and because tradition is a powerful force. I hope to help you avoid or correct these mistakes.

What will you get from this book?

1 You will get information that is science-based. There is a great deal of horticultural information available through scientific journals, but these resources can be difficult to find and even more difficult for a nonscientist to comprehend. This book is based on basic and applied science from university research, originally published in peer-reviewed journals, that has been compiled and presented in a readily understandable manner. The book has been published independently by the University of Washington Press and was not influenced by commercial practices or products. There is no vested interest in anything but the best practices based on currently available science. At the end of most chapters, I've included a short list of current references that are illustrative of those I read before writing about the topic.

2 You will learn to approach marketing claims with objectivity. Interest in gardening continues to grow, and new products spring up like weeds. Some gardening books and Web sites are nothing more than thinly veiled advertisements for products and services. In reality, plants managed to survive long before we (and our hundreds of miracle products) appeared on earth. This book will help you develop a sense of how garden and landscape plants respond to their environment, and in understanding these responses, you will learn how to interpret marketing claims.

3 You will save time. By recognizing and using natural processes in managing your landscape, you will spend less time overdoing soil preparation, weeding, pruning and staking improperly, and replacing plants that have died before their time. Instead, you will spend your time analyzing site conditions, selecting healthy plants, properly preparing the roots for installation, and providing appropriate aftercare. Properly installed trees and shrubs will not be high-maintenance nightmares but instead will allow you to spend your time enjoying the benefits of your landscape.

4 You will save money. Gardening should be a joy, not a financial drain. A landscape planting can be thought of as an investment of your time and money in developing a high-value amenity on your property. Properly installed and managed trees and shrubs have longer lives and seldom need replacingand the larger a tree becomes, the higher its value. Furthermore, by avoiding worthless or even harmful garden products, you will not only save money but will also produce a healthier, longer-lived, higher-value landscape.

5 You will appreciate your landscape or garden plants as living components. Like people, plants respond to their environment. Light, temperature, water, soil structure and chemistry, microbes, animals, other plants, and, most especially, people will all influence how successfully plants will establish, survive, and thrive. Too often landscape plants are seen only as design elements: While much time is spent choosing the perfect flower color or leaf shape, little thought is given to how plants grow, change, and eventually die. Much of a tree or shrub's survival is dependent on underground conditions and processesyet these topics are either ignored or misinterpreted in many gardening books.