In this episode, Jim talks about the cycle of growing.
Podcast Transcription:
WRVO Producer Mark Lavonier:
This podcast is one in a series titled, From the Soil with Sollecito, hosted by lifetime senior certified landscape professional Jim Sollecito of Sollecito Landscaping Nursery, Hallock Hill Road, Syracuse. These commentaries focus on landscape management practices that use only natural products and methods, safe for the environment, and that bring beauty to the landscape. And now Jim Sollecito.
Jim Sollecito:
In my lifetime, I’ve been fortunate to visit art galleries in a variety of countries. Sometimes the work moves me; other times it inspires me to move on. After all, art, and a lot of life, is subjective. And art can be found in nature, anywhere and everywhere. Especially at this time of year, I just love looking at the structure of trees, revealing their true personalities.
The success of fallen seeds and nuts becoming a tree is hardly automatic. Estimates give a one-in-three-million chance of that happening. I guess every standing tree is, by some definition, a miracle—part of the process that depends upon a number of factors.
Each year, the forest refreshes and replenishes itself substantially by applying a coat of fresh leaves to the ground, enhancing the soil with organics. Sitting still in the woods, I can hear a single leaf leave its arboreal home and find a new place on the earth. The leaf actually makes a sound through departure called abscission. This fallen debris will become part of the soil profile. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the end of a leaf’s life, something else benefits. There are no winners or losers in nature, but a series of evolving consequences.
Having multiple-aged plant structures increases the value of any property. Some age out, others become stronger as they add their annual growth rings. Although the days of hearing falling foliage are done for this year, there is still visual interest and structural value in the vertical form.
Studying bonsai in Japan, I learned that even when a plant died, it was kept and cherished in the form that still had intrinsic value. Some trees, like beech, hold their leaves well into winter. The clinging of spent leaves to branches is called marcescence. During that time of studying bonsai in Japan, I learned that certain trees keep their leaves to help protect the new buds from drying out. Very smart.
I find life lessons every time I go into woodlands. Hearing the gentle rustling of retained leaves while walking in the woods is a gentle reminder that even when we might not fully understand something, we can still appreciate it.
WRVO Producer Mark Lavonier:
From the Soil with Sollecito is a production of WRVO Public Media. If you have a question for Jim about your home landscaping, visit sollecito.com and click on contact or call 315-468-1142.
