It seems impossible, but here we are, about to start a brand new year! Spring planting is just around the corner, even if it feels like the middle of a bleak midwinter when you read these words. As you begin to put the Holidays behind you, this is a good time to be setting your mind to how you want your landscape to look by the time the summer rolls around. Get out the catalogues or go online and get some ideas to get your creative juices flowing. If you need some idea-starters, just drop me an e-mail with a few basic details about where you are and what you'd like to achieve and I'll try to help. My e-mail address is steve@landsteward.org You might recall a recent column in which I talked about tree theft or "timberjacking". A few days ago, I received the following note from a reader. He wasn't exactly the victim of a timberjacker, but still, he probably wondered where his trees had gone! He wrote: "Your story about tree theft reminded me of last summer. I had planted several saplings on grassy property behind a house we had just purchased. I wasn't mowing the lawn since we were still setting up scaffolding and driving trucks back and forth across the land. "The summer went by and the trees had grown nicely but in some places they were nearly hidden by the tall grass. One of my neighbors had a kid who enjoyed his riding mower, so the neighbor felt he would do a good deed and told his kid that if he hadn't gotten enough driving in, he should mow my lawn. "He did a great job, unfortunately taking all the trees down along with the grass. Fortunately, most of them appear to have recovered, but we'll see in the years to come." - Stu I'm pleased to know that most of your saplings managed to survive their unexpected haircut, Stu! Please write again in a few months and let me know how they're doing. And I'll bet the neighbor kid won't be providing any more free lawn mowing! QUESTION: "I've been reading your column in the local paper over the last few years and I really enjoy them. I'm having a problem I'm hoping you can offer some advice on. "A couple of months ago I noticed a small patch of what appeared to be sawdust at the base of one of my 30+ year old maple trees. I didn't think anything of it until I started seeing the same thing at the base of another one of my maple trees. I then started to notice a few wandering big black ants. Is this the likely cause of the sawdust? I suspect these are carpenter ants but I'm no biologist so I'm not 100% sure. They seem to be munching on my trees and I'm not sure how to get rid of them. "I bought some ant powder geared toward carpenter ants at the local hardware store but I'm not sure if that's the right or best solution. I feel like I should also be spraying something on the trees themselves to rid the ants. "Can you offer some suggestions of what I should do at this point as far as treatment goes? Any particular products you recommend? How much damage can carpenter ants do to my trees anyway? Are they doomed? Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!" - Brett F. ANSWER: Definitely check with your local conservation district office. They are listed under the Department of Agriculture in the phone book maybe under the listing of Natural Resource and Conservation Service. They are a first class agency. They will come out look over the problem and then make some good recommendations. There is no charge for this service and I strongly suggest you contact them right away! Without seeing the tree, I can't give you a reliable opinion myself, but I'm sure your local Conservation agent can. I included Brett's letter to remind all readers to take advantage of services such as your local Conservation service or the Extension service of a nearby University ag department. You'll find them very knowledgeable and eager to help. In fact, I'd like to hear from any readers who'd like to share stories about how services such as these have helped rectify some kind of landscape-related problem. As always, drop me a line at the e-mail address below. The Plant Man is here to help. Send you questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, including archived Plant Man columns, visit www.landsteward.org where you can also subscribe to Steve's free e-mailed newsletter.
