TIPStricks

What are Public Food Forests?

Public food forests exist on publicly owned or stewarded land. They are designed to be open to local residents to participate in their implementation and development. The Sustainable, Secure Food Blog looked at recent research into some obstacles for small cities and towns in developing more public food forests. According to blogger Sarah Coffey, public food forests can vary in their design. An ideal design would use the vertical space of the forest well: low shrubs with tall trees, ground cover replaced with herbs. Coffey and her colleagues surveyed mayors of towns in Virginia with fewer than 25,000 residents. Only 20% of towns that included food production systems in their plans featured food-bearing trees and shrubs. (Most included vegetable gardens and annual crops.) The majority (80%) didn’t include municipal ordinances for implementing food forests. The study found the mayors’ greatest perceived concern was how the food forests would be maintained in the long-term. This included aesthetic and safety issues associated with downed fruits and obstructing visibility in rightsof-way. A lack of physical space and competing with other, more profitable uses were other barriers. The research team has several suggestions to increase adoption of public food forests, including: • Develop ordinances that protect food forests from competing uses. • Partner with non-governmental organizations, land trusts, schools, or places of worship to address long-term maintenance concerns. • Emphasize the benefits that are aligned with those of traditionally valued green space. “Our findings suggest that stressing these aspects of a food forest rather than just food production and ecological benefits could increase acceptance by elected officials or city/town staffers,” said Coffey. To read the entire blog, visit https://sustainable-secure-food-blog. com/2022/07/22/what-are-publicfood-forests/. o

Researchers Rediscover Oak Thought Extinct

Botanical researchers representing a coalition of more than 10 institutions have discovered an oak tree once thought to be extinct, and now in immediate need of conservation, in Big Bend National Park in Texas. Researchers led by The Morton Arboretum and United States Botanic Garden (USBG) were thrilled to find a lone Quercus tardifolia (Q. tardifolia) tree standing about 30 feet tall, even though it is in poor condition. First described in the 1930s, the last living specimen was believed to have perished in 2011.

“This work is crucial to preserve the biodiversity that Earth is so quickly losing,” said Murphy Westwood, Ph.D., vice president of science and conservation at The Morton Arboretum. “If we ignore the decline of Q. tardifolia and other rare, endangered trees, we could see countless domino effects with the loss of other living entities in the ecosystems supported by those trees.” Scientists anticipate that by studying why this tree is going extinct, they may be able to protect other organisms from the same fate. Whether this specimen of Q. tardifolia can be saved remains in question. The team that made the discovery described a dire scene. The trunk is scarred by fire and shows signs of severe fungal infection. A drought or another fire has the potential to end its life, said the scientists. Climate change makes this outcome more likely every year. The group is now working with the National Park Service to reduce the immediate wildfire threat to the tree, and conservationists in this collaborative effort are moving quickly to search for acorns and attempt propagation. “The United States Botanic Garden is thrilled about the success of this partnership and collecting trip that rediscovered such a rare oak,” said Susan Pell, Ph.D., executive director at the USBG, which is funding and collaborating on the project. “This discovery is just the beginning of the conservation work we are doing in partnership with The Morton Arboretum to better understand and conserve threatened trees.” o

Useful Tips for Planting Flower Bulbs

If you like a garden filled with color and atmosphere, plan to plant flower bulbs this fall so you can enjoy colorful flowers next spring and many years into the future. Here are five tips for getting you started. Tip 1: Many flower bulbs thrive under shrubs and trees. They get less rain and light there in winter because of the fallen leaves, and flower bulbs like it this way during the cold season. After flowering, the trees and shrubs grow their foliage again and the bulbs go dormant. During the hot summer months, the leaves of the trees and shrubs keep the bulbs pleasantly cool. Tip 2: To create a “wow” effect in your garden early in spring, don’t hold back: Plant bulbs in large clusters. The more bulbs, the more spectacular the effect. There are so many options: a large number of mixed varieties and colors, a cluster of the same type of bulbs in different colors, or bulbs all of the same variety and color. Tip 3: Don’t let the appearance of flower bulbs fool you. It may seem impossible that stunning flowers will grow from the often unusual-looking bulbs and tubers, but it’s true! Once the bulbs start growing, they undergo a true metamorphosis, not unlike caterpillars turning into butterflies. Tip 4: Some bulbs flower for a season, but there are also varieties that flower every year. These are called perennial or naturalizing bulbs. These bulbs can be left in the ground, which makes the bulbs larger and stronger. In fact, naturalizing bulbs even create new bulbs so they will grow in number each year. Tip 5: Plant bulbs in layers on top of each other; this is called lasagna or tiered planting. Since the flower bulbs are planted in layers, the earliest to bloom, such as crocuses, will emerge first. These will then be followed by the bulbs that will flower later. This successive flowering means that you can enjoy the results for a long time: from January until May, depending on the kinds of bulbs you plant. Learn more about planting flower bulbs and the many varieties available at www.flowerbulbs.com. o