Scanner art by Craig Cramer, gardening & more
Trees and shrubs I grow.
Dallas Morning News article, Unsanctioned pruning at Oak Cliff park drew complaints, but 67-year-old’s arrest makes neighbors uneasy raises some interesting issues.
Update 4/21/2010: And speaking of raising issues: The Dandelion King in the NYTimes Opinionator blog.
Fred (right, below) kind of likes the new view.
The trunk of the Norway maple always cut your focus short on the tree itself and surrounding plantings. Now, the eye wanders to the bed on the north side of the veggie garden and the woods, wetland and ridge beyond.
It’s going to take some getting used to.
Bonus grass shots from last weekend …
The them for this month’s Picture This Photo Contest over at Gardening Gone Wild is End of the Line. Here’s my entry (click for larger view):
Volunteer ivy growing on concrete retaining wall outside the Campus Store, Cornell University.
Technically, not the best shot I’ve ever made. But I’ve probably had more comments about this picture than any other I’ve taken.
Update: Visit Lucas’ Wooster memorial site.
Remembering Lucas Wooster from Cornell Horticulture on Vimeo.
It’s been a long week.
We lost Lucas Wooster, a dear friend and member of the greater horticulture family at Cornell, who died unexpectedly Sunday.
Lucas was finishing up his PhD. He was working on developing drought-tolerant maples that could thrive under tough urban environments. I worked most directly with him as a key person in the development of the Woody Plants Database website at Cornell. But where I really got to know him and see him at his best was in his role as a teaching assistant in the ‘Creating the Urban Eden’ course taught by Nina Bassuk and Peter Trowbridge.
The course is essentially a woody plant materials course, but oh so much more. Every year student work out a design for an area on campus and then install the planting. It’s hands-on learning at it’s best. And every spring, I’m out there with my camera trying to capture what I think is the best thing that ever came to the Cornell campus.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised that when Nina asked me to pull together some pictures of Lucas for his memorial service that I had scores of them that I really didn’t remember taking. But there he is in his element, teaching the next generation how to plant and care for trees. Lucas planting. Lucas shoveling mulch. Lucas chuckling at the students playing hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. And the only one with the sense to drink Guiness instead of green beer on St. Patrick’s Day.
Lucas was funny. He was smart. He worked hard but never took himself or his work too seriously. We miss him terribly.
Keith and crew from Limbwalker Tree Care drop our Norway maple — and make it look easy. More pix and the whole story to come. It’s worth watching the HD version.
Gone in 200 seconds from Craig Cramer on Vimeo.