Dr. Alex Shigo, reported "gone"

For those who love trees and tree care, you may know who Dr. Alex Shigo is. To arborists, he's a legend.

It's reported on arborist forums today - like most - that he just passed away.

His books were some of the most useful I've ever read about trees.

I have not seen a news report, but suspect that the posted information is likely to be correct.

Sad to hear of Dr. Shigo's passing , but as with all stalwarts and legends, their day comes.

His passionate and studiously detailed efforts to understand how trees were born, grew, and responded to injury were monumental. He did more to dispel the myths and OWT (old wives' -- and husbands' -- tales) about trees and the care thereof than most anyone in the profession, at least during my lifetime.

Just taking the anthropomorphism out of the language of tree care was phenomenal. Tree surgeons, as if a plant was a person. Tree paint, as if one could cover up a problem and make it go away.

CODIT: Compartmentalization Of Decay In Trees, the seminal description of the multiple ways that trees fight back against insults to their integrity.

The man deserves the homage of any who presume to perpetuate perennial plants. May many build upon the knowledge he generated.

Oh my yes, he was on a level by himself in contributing to the body of knowledge of tree and plant biology. He set the bar very high for rigorous research and study. What I will remember him for is his ability to distill and communicate what he learned to those with doctorates and the common Joe. This is the second great plantsman we have lost - Christopher Lloyd last year. Although Christopher Lloyd's focus was entirely different he too was a tremendous inspiration in his own way. Crud, who's out there to carry on? I hope Dirr is in good health.

The new millenium has been bitter sweet. We lost David Brower, Sara Stein, Floyd Swink, Rob Gardner, Rupert Barneby, Elizabeth Czarapata, and Lawrence Heckard. Shame to have now lost Alex Shigo.

I'm afraid I am not familiar with Christopher Lloyd. Who was he may I ask?

He was a renowned British plantsman and writer. To visit the gardens at Great Dixter is a pilgrimage everyone should have the opportunity to make.

By Graham Rice: Profile - Christopher Lloyd

There are few garden writers whose work can be described as literature rather than simply writing. Add creative fire, humour and an independence of spirit to enhance plant knowledge and horticultural insight and you have a unique writer and plantsman whose influence has spread to gardeners across the world. His pre-eminence has been recognised by his award of the Victoria Medal of Honour by the RHS in 1978, an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University in 1997 and an OBE in the Millennial Honours List.

I first encountered Christo, as his friends know him, in the mid 1980s when he reviewed one of my first books in Country Life where he���s written a weekly column, without a break, for almost forty years. He was very complimentary and, after an exchange of letters, he invited me to stay at Great Dixter. I was nervous to say the least, awed by my by own respect for him, but his hospitality, not to mention his cooking, made the visit very special.

He enjoys the comforts of his house, with large log fires vying for supremacy with draughts; he enjoys his food and is an excellent cook, using produce from Dixter���s garden. After a heart bypass operation a few years ago he returned home to the sort of meal his doctor���s would surely have advised against on strictly health grounds but Christo is determined to enjoy life.

A later visit to Dixter was not without incident. His house is a wonderful coming together of two houses, in 1910 Edward Lutyens extended the original house, the earliest parts of which date from 1464, by moving a house from a nearby of village and adding it on. The result, for the visitor, is an incomprehensibly rambling warren of passages, rooms and staircases with the light switches hidden in bewildering nooks.

We sat by the fire after dinner reading and talking about plants and then he went to bed and left me to enjoy the cosiness. But when I left the room to make my way upstairs I found the whole house in darkness. I had enough trouble finding my way to my room in daylight - at night it was hopeless. I inched around the walls feeling for a light switch, cracking my shins on ancient oak chests and fearful of tumbling down invisible stairs. Eventually I was able to light my way and reach my room. When, at breakfast, I mentioned the fact that he���d switched off every light in the house his ���Did I? Oh dear.��� was accompanied by a decidedly mischievous twinkle.

And that���s one of the features about his writing that sets Christopher Lloyd apart from other gardening writers - he sparkles, he makes jokes, and sometimes he makes mischief. Reading Foliage Plants first made me aware that garden writing did not have to be earnest and worthy but could be funny.

He tells you what he thinks and if you don���t like it - too bad; his writing is not about trying to make his readers feel so comfortable that they doze off. The point is that by reacting to his ideas you think about what he���s said and, even if you continue to disagree with him, working out why you think he���s wrong enables you to hone your own opinions. He makes you think as well as laugh and gardening is as much about thinking about what you���re doing, and what you���ve done, as it is about actually doing it.

Christo is a great one for encouraging young gardeners, parties of students from Wye Collage, in Kent, where he once taught, and from the Royal Horticultural Society���s garden at Wisley, are regular visitors to Great Dixter and he also enjoys collaboration. He worked with Tom Bennett on an invaluable revision of his Clematis (first published in 1965), he enjoyed having novelist Frank Ronan select from nearly 40 years of Country Life columns for the collection, In My Garden. He���s exchanged letters on plants, gardens, cooking, opera and much else with Beth Chatto for Dear Friend and Gardener and I had the pleasure of collaborating with him on Garden Flowers from Seed.

Ours is a unique book, in which we each discuss the same plants, in a conversational interchange. We agree, disagree, or sometimes just allow the other to have his say. These days we would have done it all by email but ten years ago we exchanged contributions, cutting them up, pasting them together then reviewing and rewriting the result. It was great fun; Christo���s eye for a good plant, and a good phrase, was a real inspiration and I���m sure my own writing improved as a result. And we gave readers two strong opinions with which they could disagree.

Another great strength is simply his productivity. He���s been writing every week for Country Life since May 1963 and for many years has also been writing every week in The Guardian. He���s had regular stints in The Observer, who were so loath to let him go, even when they had no room for his column, that they continued to pay him, and for the now defunct Popular Gardening. Occasionally, his columns are no more interesting than those of only ���good��� gardening writers but over the decades the spark has very rarely dimmed.

He���s written twenty books, revised a number of them for republication and illustrated many with his own pictures; he lectures all over the world, judges for the RHS at shows and at the Wisley flower trials, and takes parties round his garden. Ah yes, his garden.

It���s a bit of a standing joke that most garden writers��� gardens hardly stand the scrutiny of the neighbours, let alone their peers, but at Dixter, Christo has made one of the country���s finest. And this is the source of his inspiration. He, with his invaluable head gardener Fergus Garrett, grows plants, and the garden is constantly evolving. A recent transformation came when the family rose garden was swept away, constant replanting over the decades having led to increasing weakness of the plants. There was uproar amongst more conservative gardeners but the new tropical style plantings are a triumph. And the nursery too is being re-vitalised so visitors can buy the plants they see in the garden.

There is little space here to quote from Christopher Lloyd���s writings. I re-read a number of his books in preparation for writing this, and dipped into more, and could have quoted you whole chapters. Many of his books are still in print, and most of the others available secondhand - so get hold of them.

But I leave you with these two excellent pieces of advice, all the more valuable in a field where so many gardeners are so afraid of enjoying change: ���The great thing is to be receptive to ideas, from wherever they may have sprung,��� he says in Foliage Plants. But the advice which even more people seem unable to put into practice was slipped into the introduction to In my Garden: ���Gardening, like living, should be fun,��� he says. I couldn���t agree more.


Christopher Lloyd���s Garden Flowers

Almost four hundred pages of experience and insight on perennials, bulbs, grasses and ferns fill Christopher Lloyd���s most recent book. I disagreed with his view on the very first plant I looked up but have been checking his opinions, and then reading on, ever since. This is not a dry-as-mulch encyclopedia but a stylish personal view of the plants he knows best. (Cassell, ��30)


Garden Flowers from Seed

A combination of my own and Christo���s experiences of raising a vast variety of annuals, perennials and a few shrubs from seed. Presented as a conversational exchange of views, we don���t always agree but we have fun explaining our views and trying to convince each other. And there are often two views with which readers can disagree. (Timber Press, ��25)


Read Christopher Lloyd

This is a full list of titles by Christopher Lloyd up to 2001. Some or in print, some are not, others are published in the USA but not in the UK. The best sources are online, at amazon.co.uk and, for used copies, bibliofind.com.

The Mixed Border (1957)
Shrubs and Trees for Small Gardens (1965)
Clematis (1965, revised 1989)
Hardy Perennials (1967)
Gardening on Chalk and Lime (1969)
The Well-Tempered Garden (1970, revised 1985)
Foliage Plants (1973, revised 1985)
The Adventurous Gardener (1983)
The Well-Chosen Garden (1984)
The Year at Great Dixter (1987)
Cottage Garden (1990)
Garden Flowers from Seed (1992)
Christopher Lloyd���s Flower Garden (1993)
In my Garden (1993)
Planting Your Garden (1993)
Other People���s Gardens (1995)
Gardener Cook (1997)
Dear Friend and Gardener (1998)
Christopher Lloyd���s Garden Year (1999)
Christopher Lloyd���s Garden Flowers (2000)

My addition: Not all gardening need be exclusive to the perpetuation of natural habitat. Christopher Lloyd was on a level with Gertrude Jekyl.

I love the cottage garden look. I love Gertrude Jeckyl. It was because of her that I planted literally thousands of Hollyhocks, Clematis, Peonies, Iris, Delphinium, as well as a host of other species she artfully incorporated into her gardens. I admired her ram packed gardens that were teeming with life and bursting with color throughout the seasons. The woman had incomparable style and an unparalleled eye for design. Something I am sorely lacking. Garden design is a gift. It's a gift I don't have no matter how many books I read that give me ideas. I don't think it is something one can learn. You either have the gift or you don't. Probably the difference between an artist and a craftsman. Jeckyl was an artist only her medium was plants. I probably would have loved Christopher Lloyd too.

My addition: not all gardeners who perpetuate natural habitat are purists. I'm not saying they plant invasives or noxious weeds but anything else goes.

Very good point Equil. To be painfully honest, there are some names on your list that are totally unfamiliar to me. Hence, again, I have some learning to do. Thanks
Bt the way, you aint kidding nobody lady. I hear your gardens rock.

Hey Snapple, there are areas on the property that are coming along better than others. I can honestly say not one area here is finished and many areas I flat out haven't even begun to work. There is one area that is so out of control that I have no choice but to hire professionals (environmental engineers and restorationists) to come in and address (wetlands) lest I get overwhelmed. That process will begin next year. My focus lately has been on all the ponds given I love herps and odonata. I've made countless mistakes. I took many steps backwards to move one step forward more times than I care to admit BUT... I've been at DG for a few years and there are a lot of extremely creative people with "vision" here so I've drawn from their posts and photos. A few members drew out diagrams for "unimaginative" me to follow and that's just what I did- I followed their diagrams. Such was the case with my little orchard as well as my fernery. My gardens don't rock, they sort of sputter along however with the help of generous people who have creative juices constantly flowing, a few more areas may begin humming along here in the next few years. Form is my downfall. Function I'm ok with.

David Brower
http://www.earthisland.org/brower/brower_legacy.html

Sara Stein
http://www.for-wild.org/download/stein1.html

Floyd Swink
http://www.weedpatch.com/hidden/wp_media/pdf/swink_sp98.pdf#search='floyd%20swink'

Rob Gardner- not much on line about him but this sums it up-
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/wildflower/1998wi_pitcher.html
http://research.unc.edu/endeavors/win2001/pitcher.htm

Rupert Barneby
http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben261.html

Elizabeth Czarapata
http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/InvasivePlants.html

Lawrence Heckard- oops on this man as he died much longer ago than I thought.
http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb7c6007sj&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00024&toc.depth=1&toc.id=

Snap, Thanks for the input. In one posting you did enough to make him seem very real to those who were not familiar with the man. Ken

I would like to see this put in the Classic Threads forum. Following the links will be a horticultural venture for many. One of my own icons across the pond that I don't think any one mentioned is Graham Stuart Thomas. There was a real plant person behind David Austin's climbing yellow rose.

EQ,

I just read an article about Wisconsin native Lorrie Otto, who is the founder(?) of Wild Ones and no doubt a hero of yours. She's now 87 years old, but apparently doing well and still fighting the good fight. For those who don't know, she spearheaded the move to ban DDT by the Wisconsin legislature in 1970 after finding several dead birds around her Milwaukee home. The entire country followed suit two years later. I love her description of those obsessed with keeping a perfect lawn and the frequent use of chemicals to do so as "the tyranny of tidy minds." What a lady!

Bob

Lorrie Otto is a good soul. Such a people person.

Actually, the movement against DDT started earlier then 1970, notably with the release of "the Silent Spring" by Rachel Carlson in 1962. Here is a link to a bazaar article that talks of the lastest interest to resume using this Chemical:

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=4&id=14369

Note the reference to its source...

This is in no way an attempt to down play the significant contribution made by Lorrie Otto. Just adding a little more history...

I dunno, we all use mosquito spray with Deet around here. They stopped spraying for mosquitoes well over 30 years ago in my community and I'd really prefer that they don't ever start spraying again. DDT is a contact poison that effectively kills not only mosquitoes but numerous anthropods. Food for thought, there are insects out there that are now resistant thanks to overuse of DDT. I can't help but wonder how many more species will mutate and become DDT resistant? I'm a major proponent of public health and mosquitoes are an integral part of the food chain. Remove mosquitoes and we humans may very well have bigger problems on our hands with which to contend.

That being said, I would be a proponent of the selective use of DDT in malaria riddled regions as a vector control only if it was used in combination with other chemicals to ensure the least amount of DDT possible was introduced into these regions. DDT is not a silver bullet.

Me thinks Keith Lockitch might be slightly biased himself-
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp35.html

Here, the county has an agency (Toledo Area Sanitary District TASD )which deals exclusively with mosquito control. Malathion is the chemical used. The spray program has been in operation for over 35 years. All spraying is done at night. They have a spray schedule, rotating through all areas on a regular basis as weather conditions allow. In addition they have an ongoing eduation program ie. old tires, blocked gutters, anything that can trap water and provide a breeding pool for mosquito larvae. The agency also delivers, on request, mosquito fish to pond owners, free of charge. They maintain an inventory of all standing bodies of water, private and public, and suppy fish where applicable. The millage they collect to support the program is reasonable for the service provided. This program has good public support. This summer some people actually stood at the curb, in advance of course, and applauded!

Are you all using mosquito dunks out your way? I religiously use them.

You all realize that most who might benefit from the pest control discussion will never see it attached to the Dr. Shigo thread?

Start new thread!

Please do the honors and then post a link here to the new thread.