About Emerald Ash Borer - Video Blog

Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect that has been in Louisville since 2009. Infected Ash trees will die in 2-4 years if left untreated. Unfortunately, at a certain point, it is too late to treat the tree, so it is important to be proactive.

The Oak - The Patriarch of Trees (Part Two)

White Oak in fall (Quercus alba)

There can be few people I’m sure who have mastered the whole catalog of Oaks. This is an ambitious, even lifetime quest, one that, for me, involves my kitchen table covered in leaves, and forgotten acorns bouncing around the washing machine.

There are three characteristics in particular that single out certain Oaks as trees of real majesty and beauty:

The Oak - The Patriarch of Trees (Part One)

Of all the trees that grow so fair, / Old England to adorn, / Greater are none beneath the Sun, / Than Oak and Ash and Thorn.   -- Rudyard Kipling

I grew up close to one of the largest ancient forests in England and there was no shortage of large, old Oak trees. These knobby, gnarly, ancient giants of the forest were surrounded with local folklore -- tales of pixies, goblins, and forest spirits that would use the old, hollowed-out trees as dwelling places -- all very appealing and magical enough to capture the innocent curiosity of a child. It was in England's medieval virgin forests that I realized I needed to know more about trees.

Southern England is a place where you will find some of northern Europe’s oldest trees. Where you can find ancient Yews planted throughout graveyards, old enough to have been witness to the end of the Romans’ rule over England and the Dark Ages. Where it is not difficult to find 500-year-old European Beech trees. This is where, each year, my family would brave the cold October winds to forage for the nuts of the Sweet Chestnut, so delicious for roasting.

Ginkgo - "The Living Fossil"

It’s a rare thing for me to step outside the comfort of recommending native tree species but there’s one non-native that’s been around for many a year that deserves respect beyond all others: the Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba). 

One must feel a certain respect for a tree that has survived the drift of continents and the rise of mountains, the comings and goings of reptiles and ages of ice. To have survived all this unchanged for 200 million years, in my mind, deserves to be talked about. It also deserves consideration as a possible future tree planting, especially if you’re looking for a disease-/insect-free, tough tree that tolerates all the abuses of urban living. 

One of the advantages, I guess, of surviving for so long is that your enemies have all passed away. I’m sure there were countless epidemics of Ginkgo diseases and many a Ginkgo-eating insect millions of years ago, but today, as Oaks wilt and Elms wither and Ash succumb to the cancer that is Emerald Ash Borer, the Ginkgo is looking pretty indestructible by comparison. 

The Beautiful Shagbark Hickory

Hickories are the beauties of the Walnut family with their sweetly scented, richly textured compound leaves that turn beautiful shades of warm yellow in the fall. The smoke from their fragrant wood wafts up like incense from many an American barbecue in the summer.

Of the 19 species of the genus Carya (Hickory) found worldwide there are around 11-12 species native to the eastern deciduous forests of North America.

The easiest Hickory to identify is the Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata). If ever there was a case where the botanist who gave the tree its latin species name (which means "ovate") should have seen the whole tree first, this is it! The species name that was applied was chosen after the botanist was given only a few leaves and nuts and didn’t actually get to see this tree’s most striking characteristic, its peeling strips of bark. If he or she had seen the whole tree, the botanist would probably have chosen a name more descriptive of an old, shaggy yak!

Jason Sharman does not work for the Bob Ray Tree Company...

I just wanted to clear up something I read in the Courier Journal. In this article about Emerald Ash Borer and Cherokee Triangle, I am incorrectly identified as being in charge of the treatment of these trees.

I was not working for the Bob Ray Tree Company when that article was done. I was interviewed because I am a certified arborist.

Jason Sharman (Sharnan?) interviewed on WHAS11 TV re: Emerald Ash Borer

Here is an excerpt from a segment on WHAS11 about Emerald Ash Borer. Enjoy!

The full page on WHAS can be accessed at http://www.whas11.com/community/Project-Green-Asian-beetles-cause-tree-damage-in-Kentuckiana-122458999.html.