Resources
Here are a few of my favorite tree and Permaculture related resources:
Nurseries
Burnt Ridge
A SW WA nursery with tried and true fruiting crops and nut trees for western WA, with an easy to use website
One Green World
Located in central Oregon, they have a similar very extensive collection of unusual and common fruiting plants to Raintree.
Raintree
A great local (Southern WA) source for many varieties of fruit trees, berry bushes, vines and more.
Go Natives!
A small nursery selling Northwest native plants in North Seattle. Their prices are very competitive with the much larger nurseries in Seattle.
Oikos
Grown in and shipped from Michigan, but a good source for rare and unusual edible plants, trees, root crops, and more.
Cloud Mountain Farm
For folks north of Seattle, Cloud Mountain offers hardy fruits as well as ornamentals. A good source for extra hardy varieties.
Web Resources
~Plants for a Future – Detailed information on a wide variety of edible and useful plants and trees.
~Vegetable gardening Fact Sheets from WSU (Washington State University), specifically for Western Washington.
~ WSU Hortsense. A great source of information for the home gardener on dealing with pest and disease problems. Organized by plant so it’s very easy to use.
~Berry and Grape info– Information on growing small fruits in the Northwest.
~Bullocks Permaculture Homestead– A long running and very impressive Permaculture homestead on Orcas Island, Washington State
~National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
Books
Edible Forest Gardens Vol. 1 & 2- http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/
Gaia’s Garden- http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/gaias_garden_second_edition:paperback
Introduction to Permaculture
Permaculture: A designers manual- http://www.tagari.com/
Two of my favorite field guides for trees: The Sibley Guide to Trees And Smithsonian Handbooks: Trees
Tree and Orchard related websites
Tree Care Information: http://www.treesaregood.com/
International Society of Arboriculture: http://www.isa-arbor.com/home.aspx
Arbor Day Foundation: http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm
Seattle Tree Fruit Society: http://www.seattletreefruitsociety.com/
City Fruit: http://www.cityfruit.org/
Common Vision: http://commonvision.org/
Tree Resources
There are many reasons to include trees in an urban landscape:
Trees help offset your carbon footprint
Find the value of your tree
Some basic information on pruning
This pamphlet is essential reading for anyone involved in construction around trees.
Tree Protection on Construction and Development Sites, A Best Management Practices Guidebook for the Pacific Northwest, 2009
The dangers of tree topping (and why you should be suspect of a company that offers this service)
Besides their obvious benefits like shade, bird habitat, and stormwater mitigation, trees can really change the feeling of a place, making it much more inviting and pleasant to be in as well as increasing property values. I recognize these benefits and strive to preserve and care for existing trees. When a tree just can’t be preserved and needs to be removed I donate funds so that two new trees can be planted in our National Forests through the Arbor Day Foundation. Or I will personally plant two trees per one removed on a homestead in the Skagit Valley North of Seattle.
Some more benefits of trees:
In the continental United States, carbon sequestration provided by urban trees alone is estimated to be about 25 million tons per year,1 which is equivalent to the carbon emitted by almost 18 million cars annually.2
Shade trees planted in parking lots reduce evaporative emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—precursors to ground-level ozone—from parked cars.3
In the Chicago area, urban trees filter an estimated 6,000 tons of air pollutants each year, providing air cleansing valued at $9.2 million.4
Once established, native plants can save time and money by reducing maintenance and resource requirements.5
