See? Wasn’t that easy to understand? I bet you are already half way out the door to find a tree to hug. Well go ahead. You can come back later to finish this blog.

Now I could go on and on about how much carbon trees soak up, or how they lower the temperatures especially in urban areas, or how they increase the value of your home. But really, does everything in nature have to do something for us or have economic value as a prerequisite for us to care about it? Can’t we just appreciate the trees for what they are? Do you hug your family and friends so you can get close enough to rummage through their pockets for a few dollars? Really people. I’ll stop ranting now.

A musical interlude to calm my nerves.

National Tree Hugger Day is sponsored by American Forests (a conservation group founded in 1875) and IKEA (a fabulous place to shop founded in 1943). They have been working together on environmental projects since 1998. I have been to forests in America and to IKEA and I can honestly say on both accounts – Loved it!

So now that you have decided you are going to hug a tree where do you find one to hug? I like the idea of hugging one near your own home. You know: Think globally, hug locally. But if you cannot find one near you, or you just can’t stop once you start, then come on over to our trees at the IMA. We have lots of huggable trees. Please be careful not to step on surrounding plants. Bad Tree Hugger! Bad!

We love our trees so much here at the IMA that some of us got an early start this week.

Here Katie hugs a sugar maple by our offices.

Jim hugging an American beech along the horseshoe drive at Lilly House.

Native Hoosier Gwyn with a native Tulip poplar.

Another musical interlude.

Some trees are so large it takes a group to hug them properly. Katie’s out of view. This is our big ash tree near Garden Terrace.

Another group hug on the Sutphin Mall red maples.

So as you can see, one can celebrate National Tree Hugger Day alone or with family and friends. Just be sure to get out there and start hugging.

Of course what tree blog would be complete without this song to get stuck in your head all week-end. Enjoy, my tree hugging friends.

After a full day of shouting “Watch your eyes!” as the strobes went off, we found the results well worth our efforts. The shoot took place on a Monday in the IMA’s new Design Center (store) for easy access to product. Our challenge was to include items from the Museum Store, Design Center, Greenhouse Shop and the newly opened Nourish Café. Keeping a consistent look and feel between these entities took some extensive product planning, and having holiday products in early September also posed some limits. Luckily, we had Tascha as our pro photo editor, Matt the daring designer, and Tad and Mike, two amazing photographers on the team.

A little humor you won’t spot in the published pages of the magazine — We included a pair of cat salt and pepper shakers in the shoot full of bird decorative items. A porcelain origami crane ornament took the hungry kitties’ place in the final shot. We also all fell in love with the Charles and Ray Eames House Bird available in the Design Center for $210. You might call that funny too…

Look for the “Shop & Celebrate” photo spread in the new issue of the magazine this October, and have your holiday shopping list handy.

I love it when you hear people from the dessert southwest say “Yeah, it was a 108 today, but it’s a dry heat”.  Dry heat my foot. At a 108 you can damn near start baking cookies. I just don’t think I’m a dry heat person or even a low humidity person anyway no matter how much I complain. I remember going to the Denver area for PPA a few years back. While there I didn’t notice the difference in climate and vegetation being all that dramatic. But on the way home? My lands! The farther east we traveled the more green and lush the world became. I could almost feel my skin becoming elastic again as it absorbed moisture right out of the air. So it puts me in quite a perplexing situation what with wanting heat but hating heat, wanting humidity but hating humidity, wanting to eat right but hating anything not made with butter, brown sugar, and salt. Ooops. That last one really has little to do with horticulture.

So what does one do when summer truly arrives? Well, we horticulturists and gardeners eventually take it all in stride and settle on a battle plan. Regardless of the actual temperature some sunscreen is a pretty good idea. I have a hard time remembering to put it on let alone reapply in two hours. Even the greaseless formulas make me feel sweaty already at 7:30 in the morning, a feeling that, believe it or not, is not the least bit pleasurable. But that’s the way it is. I was listening to Fresh Air yesterday and the guest said we need at least a teaspoon just to do the face and neck. If I’m like most people (I know, not likely) then we are way under applying. So now I will put it on thicker ‘cause I dread the thought of ending up with little chunks cut out of my nose or jagged pieces of my ears missing. Now isn’t that a pretty picture?

Sunglasses are essential anymore. When I finally bought my prescription Ray-Bans my eyes practically moaned in ecstasy. I swear I forget I even have them on. I try to remind myself to remove them when talking to visitors. I do not wear them at night. Nor would I wear them to indoor events the way so many idiotic celebrities do. It is unacceptable to wear sunglasses while presenting or accepting at the Oscars, Tonys, GRAMMYs, etc. All of you stop immediately.

A wide brimmed hat is handy for shading the eyes and face. Just ask Scarlett O’Hara. It’s not as good as an oak tree but unlike an oak tree it can move with you.

Water, for me, is like the sun block. I don’t think about it. Don’t get me wrong. Anybody that knows me knows I drink pretty much nothing but water. But I don’t carry a bottle out into the gardens often. When I do it usually comes back to the office full or nearly so. When it gets really hot, close to mid-90’s, then I will consciously drink more water making sure every half hour or so I take the time to open the bottle.

I can’t say enough about the relief of working in the shade in hot weather. Weeds abound in the shade same as in the sun, plants in the shade need mulch too, and since every garden looks better with a good edge, there is never a shortage of work needed in the shaded areas of the gardens. In the summer months shade work is saved for the afternoons when the sun is at its meanest.

And if the areas that need the most attention are in the sun – well, fiddle-dee-dee, that’s life. As God as my witness, I’ll never go without sunscreen again.

Currently, biking to work is more difficult. However, last year I heard about Bike to Work Day, which occurs during Bike to Work Week in the middle of May (you guessed it, Bike to Work Month). I knew that I was not quite in shape for it then, but made it a goal to take on the challenge of biking to work this year during Bike to Work Week.

Don't worry mom, I've already stopped

As spring came around this year, I was back in the morning workout groove. I had lost a few pounds, but more importantly, I was feeling more fit – feeling up to the challenge. The time had come to do some research. I looked at bike routes in the area, and did a weekend trial run on the shortest commute using Indy Parks bike routes that I could come up with.

Unfortunately, I have a hybrid-style bike (not a road bike), which limits my speed, and I’m not comfortable riding on the street. The quality of the shoulder varied from good to poor to non-existent. Fortunately, I have a hybrid, but this was not really the experience I was hoping for. So, I reworked my route to use higher quality, well-used paths, extending the length of the commute to about nine and a half miles but improving my safety.

Gooselings out for a morning swim

During Bike to Work Week, I decided to ride on the day with the best weather forecast. It was a little cold when I started, but the skies were blue and it wasn’t long before I was enjoying the cool breeze. As I came to the canal that eventually runs by the museum, I rode past ducks sleeping along the water in the morning sun. Further along I rode past geese, and I can only assume that both parties were wary of any sudden movements. The toughest section is the climb up to the museum from the bridge… I’m glad I have plenty of gears.

While the morning commute has a serene quality to it, I enjoy the ride back even more. My drive back home can be fraught with decisions about which route will have less traffic, and I see examples of poor driving behavior just about every time. Although there’s just as much need to pay attention whether driving or biking, I feel that it’s easier to attain a peaceful awareness when cruising on two wheels.

Starting out for home

This is why I’ve done the commute four times already. The ride is still pretty exhausting, so I can’t do it every day, but I think once or twice a week is a good goal. It’s a great way to keep in shape, reduce stress, and minute though the effect may be, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions. I couldn’t help working the equations, so let’s take a look at the numbers.

My biking offsets 9.0 miles of driving. I’ve been getting about 48mpg lately, so that’s 0.38 gallons saved per commute. At $2.50 per gallon that saves me 95 cents. According to the EPA, burning 0.38 gallons of gas emits 7.4lbs of carbon dioxide. So assuming that any additional respiratory exhalation of CO2 is negligible (biochemists, is this true?), I’m eliminating an amount of carbon dioxide emissions that would weigh almost as much as a gallon of milk with each commute.

That seems significant, on a personal level, considering that annual per-capita emissions are estimated to be on the order of 16 tons (working out to about 88lbs per day). Of course, eliminating hundreds of millions of metric tons of emissions with a new emissions standard is much more significant on a national level. Someone getting the average 35mpg in 2016 would still save 8.6 cents (at $2.50 per gallon) and 0.55lbs of carbon dioxide per mile if they biked instead. Someone getting around 20mpg could save 13 cents and 0.97lbs of CO2 per mile today. Feel free to check my math… that’s what peer review is all about.

Better health, less stress, less traffic, less carbon… seems like a win-win to me. Are there any other bikers out there? What are your thoughts?

Photo by gullevek via Flickr

Coincidentally, I also recently came across the USA National Phenology Network. Phenology (not to be confused with phrenology), is the study of phenophases (recurring plant and animal life cycle events). Whereas Weathernews was running the “My Sakura” project to collect data from citizen scientists, the NPN collects data from the public on a variety of species through the “My NPN” project. They do have a preferred set of “calibration species”, but their database includes dozens of species that can be tracked using the system. Because phenophases are sensitive to changes in climate, recording and studying phenological observations can reveal the ways in which our ecosystems change in response to global warming.

In addition to creating a massive dataset, this project is great for another reason. Maybe it’s just the scientist in me, but I get excited about going out and making the observations. I have two of the calibration species in my yard, and I’m starting to think of them as amazing organic instruments. In addition to the foliage and blossoms, there is a beauty to the unfolding growth process that I’m appreciating more by learning about the phenophases and making observations over the long term.

The convergence of nature, technology, and research in these projects is really quite remarkable. I hope that we see many similar efforts in the future.

Stone Mason, courtesy of old-picture.com

This fall the folks in Horticulture, led by Geoff Von Burg, proved once again they know more than plants by completing two important hardscape projects. The first came about when The Toby was renovated and the handicap emergency egress ramp had to be added into the existing landscape.  This left a 2-3 foot grade change along the path. To prevent erosion and save as many trees as possible a beautiful stacked limestone wall was installed. This project required Geoff’s considerable skills and the handy work of several other garden staff to cut and lay the stone.  The area will be planted in the spring and will make a nice transition between the building and the gardens.

The second project was in the historic Oldfields area of the IMA. When the Border Gardens were installed nearly 80 years ago the trees and shrubs were small and there was plenty of sun light thus allowing grass paths. As the gardens have matured the now large trees cast great amounts of shade – wonderful for strolling the gardens in summer but terrible for growing grass. Add to this mix some drainage problems and thankfully more foot traffic because of more visitors and things get worse. In the Southwest Border Garden some stones had been put in over 15 years ago. These were removed, a new sand base put down, and the stone re-laid. At the same time we extended the area covered by stone so nearly half the path is now paved.

Geoff's stone wall handywork

Lovely stone pathway

Where to get stone in this time of tight budgets? Do the green thing and recycle and reuse. The area on the backside of the museum known as Hilltop has been a depository for excess stone from past building expansions or construction projects. With an edict from above to get this area cleaned up it gave us a chance to use the limestone that once was clad to the outside of the building.  These large 3’x 6’slabs of limestone were cut done to various sizes and used for the path and the wall. We will also be improving paths in the Northeast Border Garden. Its paths are bluestone but again we are incorporating the reuse of materials when possible.

If you get a chance to wander the gardens take a look at the upgrades. It might even inspire you to add or improve an existing hardscape element to your garden. And you thought you would never use those pavers you pulled out of the neighbor’s trash. Here’s a little tribute to all those that helped on these two projects.