How old is that tree, really?
Forest trees live far longer than the lifespans quoted online, and open-grown trees are usually far younger than they look. Both errors come from the same place.
Learn
The nursery notebook
Field notes on how trees actually work: growth, age, height, damage, recovery and the everyday mistakes that shorten their lives. Written from the ground, not from search results.
Why almost every tree height you read is too tall
The common way to measure a tree assumes its top is directly above its trunk. On a broad hardwood it almost never is. Here is the honest method.
Next up
In the works
Five articles in progress, roughly in the order we expect to publish them. Ask for one to move up the list.
- Squirrels, voles, mice, rabbits and deer: how each damages young trees, and the sleeves, cages and pins that stop them
- Leaf and twig mulch beats wood chips: why the litter under a tree is worth more than a bag of chips
- Red oaks versus white oaks: which to plant where
- Transplanting young trees: timing, watering and protection
- Poor trees for urban homes, and the natives to plant instead