Scott Geer; photo by Mary Ann Rich
Barbara Anderson
On Monday, January 16, the Robson Ranch Garden Club heard a presentation by Scott Geer from The Tree Shepherd about the value to our home landscapes of trees and the proper planting, care and maintenance of those assets. Trees are usually a permanent fixture of our landscapes, even as we redesign garden beds and the plantings that go into those beds. As trees grow they change the sun/shade patterns in our yards, and those changes often necessitate changing garden plantings. But the trees usually remain. Take care of them, and they add value to your home every year that they are “happy” and healthy.
Here’s a tip for happy trees that you can use right now: as our lawncare teams begin their springtime work in our yards, if you have had mulch placed around your trees lately make sure that the mulch is no more than four inches think and that the mulch is shaped like a donut around the trunk, NOT a volcano with the mulch piled up around the bark of the tree. That is an invitation to disease of the bark, which can kill a tree. Sometimes our lawncare folks do not know how to place mulch. So if you have mulch volcanoes around your tree trunks, take a small rake or put on some gloves and pull that mulch away from the bark at least two inches, right down to the dirt. The tree will thank you for that by having healthy bark, and the mulch will still enrich the soil around that tree!
The Garden Club will be having an election of officers later in the spring, and we encourage anyone who might be interested in serving the club and the Robson community in some capacity to please call the club president, Barbara Anderson, at 940-239-6504 or email her at [email protected] and we can “talk.” Board meetings can be a lot of fun!
Our next meeting will be on Monday, February 20, 10:30 a.m. in The Lone Star Room of the clubhouse. After a short business meeting our program will be given by Cecil Carter who will speak about “Landscaping For The Birds.” As we enter the planting season this should be a very informative topic. For those of you with new homes who are early in your landscaping projects, we encourage you to join us. Our meetings are open to the whole community, but membership in the club, $10 per year per household, can bring perks. We hope to see you there!