Sally Sutton, our landscape designer, sent this article to me off of the internet.

Posted by Catherine, NM Zone 5 on Mon, Sep 25, 2000

Okay, a couple of disclaimers first. After about 20 years of chemical work, I now work with computers instead. I probably wouldn't have given it up without a shove, but I ended up in the wrong job with the wrong attitude and the wrong boss and had to scramble for something new. For the record, I worked with inorganic chemicals--that is, no carbon chains. Specifically, I worked in heavy metal analysis, testing soils, waters, animal remains, human body fluids, various things over the years. And the other confession is that I'm not a very good organic gardener. True, I don't use insecticides or herbicides in my garden, or manufactured fertilizers, but that started out because I didn't like the smell, and because I was lazy, not because of any strong beliefs. I hated seeing my broccoli stripped in a night by some bug that wasn't there yesterday, but I never got around to spraying them with anything. And it's true I never fertilize my lawn, but it's also true I rarely water it--fertilizing and watering just lead to more mowing! And although I do believe a soil rich in organic material and active soil flora and fauna is a good thing, my efforts at improving my own soil come in fits and starts.

That's how I started, anyway. An accidental organic gardener. I didn't even like the term. To a chemist, "organic" chemicals are any with carbon chains in them. Living matter is all composed of organic chemicals, and so are most herbicides and insecticides. I repeat, to a chemist, pesticides ARE organics. And EVERYTHING is made up of chemicals. Even water has a chemical formula, H₂O. I still have a fit when I read that some organic concoction has NO chemicals in it. YES IT DOES! EVERYTHING IS MADE UP OF CHEMICALS! Fermentation is a chemical process! Digestion is a chemical process. Plants take in water (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), metals/minerals like iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and so on, have some chemical reactions, and come up with lycopene (chemical name for the red color in tomatoes), carotene (chemical name for the orange color in carrots), and various sugars.

But I digress.

My first problem with manufactured fertilizers was, as I said, the smell. I remember as a child when my mom spread the fertilizer/systemic insecticide around her roses. Yuck! The roses smelled so good, and the grey granules smelled so bad! And then she stored the left-overs in the garage so it had a lingering echo of the smell in the hot summers. The lawn weed-n-feed granules were just as bad, but wider spread. And Dad wouldn't let us play on the newly fertilized lawn until he had watered the smelly granules in (I grew up in the desert southwest, so we don't think in terms of rain soaking this stuff in or washing it away).

As a part of his mid-life crisis, my dad moved us to a farm when I was a freshman in high school. He no longer fertilized the lawn as he had much bigger fields to play with. Rather than mixing herbicides in a hose-end sprayer, he mixed them in 500-gallon tanks to spray on his wheat and at the ends of the fields. I still didn't like the smell. He hired a crop-duster to spray insecticide on his corn when the European corn borer hit the corn-belt. He hired an ammonia tank to bubble ammonia (I'll be embarrassed if I spelled that wrong, but chemists don't really need to spell the words if we know the chemical symbols) into the water we irrigated the corn with, to give it a shot of nitrogen. Need I say I didn't like the smell! Other than the ammonia, though, I don't really remember much in the way of manufactured fertilizers. But never the less, Dad was a follower of the god of Monsanto.

(Oddly enough, Dad led the charge of local farmers to a old Eastern European variety of wheat one year, searching for a wheat that was shorter and less likely to lodge in rain and hail storms. This was a non-patented variety that he could have saved and replanted, and many did. The local mill was NOT happy about this minor planters' revolt. I think that was the only time Dad strayed from Monsanto seed.)

The spring I left the farm to work in the real word, I got caught in the overspray from a crop-duster spraying insecticide on corn. I developed pneumonia and in my mind connected it to the spray. So did my doctor.

My dad developed colon cancer and then, later, kidney cancer. His doctor connected it to his use of pesticides on the farm.

My skin started stinging from the mist that blew back on me when I used herbicide on the weeds in my yard (and, of course, I didn't like the smell).

I started noticing the insecticide commercial on TV that had a cartoon character spray his plants to kill EVERYTHING, with no indications that some insects are beneficial!

Okay, I don't buy organic produce at the store. I'm not worried about ingesting residues on most produce (excluding my favorite but sadly pesticide-heavy treats, carrots and strawberries). However, I don't want to poison myself while I'm APPLYING the pesticides. And I don't like the smell.

So I garden organically. I'm not a real fanatic about it, it's just a comfort thing. I just wish more people were uncomfortable with those smelly pesticides and fertilizers.

Manure? Well, it doesn't smell when it's dry, and I do live in the desert southwest.

Things to Do in November

Tree damage from the last three years of drought and hot temperatures still worry me. The unseen damage to the root system may not show up until the trees are so stressed out that it may be to late to reverse the damage. Sorry, but I am going to reprint part of last months newsletter for those who did not read it.

Trees: You may not notice any damage now, but beware. If you cannot see any dried leaves or roots pretend that your tree has gone through a hell of a summer and has suffered heavy root damage. Well, you don’t have to pretend it has happened and you need to address this unseen problem. Follow Howard Garrett’s Sick Tree Program:

1. Aerate the root zone heavily. Start between the drip line and the trunk and go far out beyond the drip line. A 7-12 inch depth of the aeration holes is ideal but any depth is beneficial. An alternative is to spray the root zone with a living organism product such as Bio-Innoculant or AgriGro. GreenSense makes it similar product called Lawn & Garden Microbial Treatment.
2. Apply Texas greensand at about 40-80 lbs./1,000 sq. ft., lava sand at about 40-80 lbs./1,000 sq. ft., cornmeal at about 10-20 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. and sugar or dry molasses at about five lbs./1,000 sq. ft. Cornmeal is a natural disease fighter and sugar is a carbon source to feed the microbes in the soil.
3. Apply a one inch layer of compost followed by a three to five inch layer of shredded native tree trimmings. Native cedar is the best source for mulch. In turf use a one inch layer of horticultural cedar flakes.
4. Spray foliage and soil monthly or more often if possible with Garrett Juice (see formula below). For large-scale farms and ranches, a one-time spraying is beneficial if the budget doesn’t allow ongoing sprays. Adding garlic tea to the spray is also beneficial while the tree is in trouble. GreenSense makes a similar product called Foliar Juice.
5. Stop using high nitrogen fertilizers and toxic chemical pesticides. Pesticides kill the beneficial nematodes and insects. Fake fertilizers are destructive to the important mycorrhizal fungi on the roots.

Mycorrhizal fungi are an essential part of all plant growth. Mycorrhizae, which mean “fungus-root,” work as an extension of the plant’s root system to help the plant take up soil nutrients and water in exchange for a steady source of sugars. The co-dependent (symbiotic) relationship has evolved over time to the mutual benefit of both the plant and the fungus. Thousands of research studies have shown the fungi/plant partnership helps plants to survive stress, absorb more water and essential elements, and increase resistance to root disease pathogens and pests. Without mycorrhizal fungi, plants cannot thrive.

If you want to go one step further use: MycorTree™ Root Saver™

MycorTree™ Root Saver™ is used as a vertical mulching and root zone treatment of trees and shrubs. It contains a blend of mycorrhizal fungi, beneficial bacteria, biocatalysts, organic soil nutrients, proteins, complex carbohydrates, humic acids, yucca plant extracts and sea kelp extracts and TerraSorb™ hydrogels.

Application Rates:

For use with coring drill or auger. Apply three ounces MycorTree™ Root Saver™ per two to three inch diameter hole eight inches deep on 2.5-foot centers. Each 22-pound box treats 710 square feet of tree rooting area.

Directions for Use:

1. Remove mulch or grass from immediate area to be drilled.
2. Apply three ounces MycorTree™ Root Saver™ directly onto soil forming a small pile.
3. Drill directly through small pile of MycorTree™ Root Saver™ to an 8-inch depth.
4. Mix product and soil by drilling up and down two or three times.
5. Product and soil are now mixed thoroughly throughout entire column of soil.
6. All soil and product mixture around outside top of hole should be put in hole.
7. Step on the vertical mulched hole to pack the mixed material.
8. Replace mulch.
9. Water after inoculating.

Speaking of trees. There is no better or cheaper way to cool your house then a tree. Of course the tree has to eventually grow tall enough and wide enough to serve this purpose.

Fall is a great time to plant trees. The root system of a tree grows vigorously in the winter and will help to establish it quicker. When summer come along the root system should be strong enough to sustain the tree with just a little of your help.

At Rohde’s we have gone to container grown trees or trees that have been containerized for at least one season. Trees in containers usually suffer less stress because the root system is not disturbed at the time of planting.MycorTree™ Root Saver™ will help establish the newly planted tree quicker. Make sure that your tree receives adequate moisture in its first year. Adequate does not mean that a sprinkler system will ensure proper watering or that a hose left on next to the tree every other day for five hours will not be to much water.

It would be nice if everyone that is going to plant a tree would first do a percolation test. That means to dig a hole in the area where you will plant the tree. Fill the hole up with water and see how long it takes for the water to drain. If it drains in an hour, good. Almost any tree can be planted there. If it takes three or four hours to drain then consider a bog tree like one of the cypress’ trees, a wax myrtle or if it is far from the house a willow.

Always test the soil before watering and test the soil for moisture every three to four days.

Planting: Fall, Fall, Fall! Plant, Plant, Plant! If you want to give your plants ahead star for next years growth and ability to withstand the summers heat and drought conditions, NOW is the time to start. Because the soil is cooler and has more moisture in it the roots system of plants grow more, gives the plants a better chance to get established before the next years growing season. Do not hurry up so much that you place an ill suited plant in an ill suited place. Do your homework consult with a landscape architect or a designer.

Winter Color: With Holidays coming up we are in a hurry to plant our fall color, so that our guest and neighbors will enjoy the bright colors of Pansies, Snap Dragons, Kale, Cabbage, Chard and other annuals, that do well in your area. If you do not have time to install your flowers let me know and we will do it for you. We service the area between Mesquite and Coppell, Allen and Seagoville.

I need winter color!

If we put some thought into our plantings, we can come up with some original ideas.

Not all beds have to have the same variety of flower or the same color. Unless a specific color scheme is being used you can have more show and success by using a variety of plants. Snap Dragons are more upright and can bloom all winter long, if we have a mild winter. Pansies can be showy, but if we have another warm winter they can become leggy and unattractive. A combination of both will ensure some success.

Plant tall flowers in the middle of a bed or as a background. Lower flowers should go around the edges. I hate seeing a mono: culture, or a stand of a single color and variety of flowers. When you see a meadow of wildflowers there are usually several varieties, never ugly or repetitive. I have seen some professionally landscaped flowerbeds that look as natural as a brick wall.

Transplanting: We put off all of our transplant jobs until we have had a couple of freezes or the desired plant has started to show its fall colors. At Rohde’s we have a very good success rate for transplanting trees. One of the things we do differently than other companies is that we root prune. By this, I mean that we do not dig all the way around the tree at one time. We do two opposite quarters of the tree digging far away from the tree to make sure that you dig a ball big enough to get as much of the root system as is possible. Apply a root stimulator like GreenSense Kelp or Super Thrive or MycorTree™. Cover the hole back up, water and wait two weeks or more before repeating the process on the other two opposite sides. If the trees leaves do not wilt then it is ready to be moved to its new location. Put a ribbon on the North side of the tree as a marker. If the root ball is very large then use burlap and pinning nails to cover the exposed soil so that if the tree has to be rolled or falls during transport the root ball will not explode and separate the soil from the root ball making survival difficult. If the ball is bigger then you and your friends can handle call a wrecker service. Place a heavy layer of burlap around the trunk of the tree to protect it from harm. Place a chain snugly around the root ball, if possible use a second chain, but when lifting make sure that the hook has grabbed both chains so that they do not slip.

Measure the root ball, both width and length and pre dig your hole. The hole should be at least one half larger then the width of the root ball, but about two inches shallower then depth of the same. Make the sides of the hole uneven and rough by digging into the wall.

When placing the tree in the hole try to place the ribbon facing north. This is not as critical for evergreens or for trees that are being transplanted in the winter but can be critical in the early spring and summer where the bark can sun burn.

After you have properly placed the tree and soaked the root ball with a root stimulator, use the existing soil to backfill. When finished place a one inch layer of compost and then 3 inches of a mulch over the entire root ball. Do not stake trees unless the new location is very windy. Remove stakes as soon as possible after about four or five months.Keep soil moist. Do not over water. Check soil for moisture by probing the area around the edges of the root ball with a stick, as if you were checking the moisture of a cake.

Lawns: As the leaves fall from trees and insects and small creatures get caught in the cold they become nature’s fertilizer. If Mother Nature fertilizes in the fall, and she knows best, then why don’t you? Apply an organic fertilizer at a rate of 20 pounds per 1000 sq./ft. The organic fertilizers applied in the fall will help to encourages good root development and improve the overall health of your soil.

Apply Greensense Lawn & Garden Microbial Treatment.

At this time you can also apply an amendment like Humate, Rock Phosphate Colloidal Clay, Microbes, Lava Sand and Green Sand. These amendments will help enrich the soil and improve, percolation, tilth, and microbial activity and root structure.

Weeding: Before you start weeding put plant markers by your perennials, specially does that start late in the spring, we tend to forget what perennials look like after they go dormant. Just ask the guys on our maintenance crews. Many weed seeds will germinate at this time of the year. A lot of this can be avoided by pulling weeds before they actually go to seed and produce another flower. I actually tried using my Dust Buster on some dandelions the other day. I wonder how many seeds it actually sucked up. If you are to embarrassed to try something new in your neighborhood get out the hoe and whack the weeds to death or pull the weeds and cover all bare spots with mulch. Weeds can be host to insects so keep them under control.

Leaf Removal: A lot of people leave the leaves on the lawn all winter long. Take some time to clean up the garden this month. Dead leaves can be cut off perennials and the debris from summer plants can be collected and added to the compost pile. This clean up should include old fruit and pecans from the ground, this will help control plant disease and insect pests that live in this debris. Time spent now on grooming the yard will improve the health and looks of the garden for next year. Clean fallen leaves from gutters and downspouts. Put these leaves with other debris in your compost pile. Do not forget to turn the compost pile regularly.

Trees: If you have dead branches that might be hard to detect once the leaves have fallen you can do two things one is to go ahead and remove those branches now or draw a diagram that will help you find the branches later. It is better for the tree if you wait until the colder temperatures have forced the sap back down into the tree and it is easier for you because the branches will actually be lighter. Do not prune fruit trees until January or early February. Now is a good time to fertilize. More about that later.

Bulbs: Pick out your bulbs now, but do not plant tulips until the soil temperature is in the 40 to 50 degree range. This will keep them from rotting Refrigerate your bulbs until they are ready to be planted. Always soak bulbs in a Kelp Solution and add Bone Meal or Soft Rock Phosphate Colloidal Clay in the whole at the time of planting. It is nice if you know which part of the bulb should be the top, but the flowering part of the bulbs will find there way up.

Getting Ready for Winter: Be prepared to move your cold tender plants into the house as soon as you have been warned about frost or freezes. Have an area in the house that receives good sunlight cleared out. Make sure that there is no vent that will blow out hot air towards these plants.

Protect planted tender plants with mulch or a Row Cover to minimize the damage caused by cold weather. Apply Kelp or Seaweed once a week to help protect the plant from stress caused by the cold weather. Always water the plants before a freeze; this will keep the plant from desiccating. For those of you who were not in Dallas in 1985, we had a hard try freeze that kept the temperatures below freezing for over 30 days. The really bad part was that nobody watered their plants during this freeze. This caused injury or death to many plants in our area. After watering make sure to disconnect the hoses from the faucet and drain the hose.

Winterize? Some Truths About Cool Season Lawn Care

Don Trotter

Hello fellow Earthlings and welcome to the front yard. I'm standing on your lawn and asking you why you're using that stuff in the bag that was advertised on television to "Winterize" your lawn. I must say that your lawn looks pretty good now, why are you messing with it?

During the cool season your lawn only requires two things. Some minerals and some organic matter to feed your soil while you take a break from weekly mowings, constant feeding, and being swayed into buying the latest snake oil that "guarantees" the best lawn in the neighborhood. I'm here to tell you how to save some money, ensure better soil structure, and do a heck of a lot less work this winter while your lawn goes through some seasonal changes. Cooler weather and cold weather create slower metabolic rates in many plants including turfgrasses. This slower metabolism results in slower growth, less water consumption, and a drastic reduction in the need for nitrogen inputs. I actually recommend that from the first of November to the first of March that no nitrogen rich fertilizers be applied to turfgrass. This allows for the plants to rest a little during cold weather and to minimize potential damage to soft growth from occasional frost. Stimulating the growth of your lawn during cold weather can be dangerous because the tender growth is susceptible to a multitude of problems. Not the least of which is total tissue destruction from extreme or lingering frost and sustained snowfall. Any lawn food with a nitrogen content higher than 5% (identified as the first number of three on a fertilizer package) will unnaturally stimulate growth of your turfgrasses during cold weather. Chemical fertilizers put all or most of their nitrogen out to the plants immediately after dissolving in water. This puts way too much available nitrogen where the lawn can use it and thus rapid growth occurs at a time of year when none should.

Lawns don't have to be growing at warp speed to remain lush and bright green. Quite the opposite is true. The chemical manufacturers want you to continue to buy their products all year so they invent marketing strategies to convince you that your lawn really needs their products if you don't want to be the laughing stock of your neighborhood. Boy have they got it wrong. Smart turf management professionals utilize the cool season to rebuild the mineral content in their soils and to feed the soil with a little bit of organic matter so that in the spring and summer they don't have mineral deficiencies that can result in numerous disease and pest problems. The organic matter they add to the soil feeds beneficial microbes and larger organisms like earthworms. These helpers convert the organic matter to humus, which helps to minimize runoff of water, increase water retention so they don't have to water so often, and improve the physical structure of their soils. One of the best things this organic matter addition can do is to stimulate the larger organisms in your soil such as earthworms to stay in your lawn because food is there. Earthworms also have the added benefit of tunneling around in your soil creating deeper and improved water penetration while feeding on thatch. Thatch is the name given to the dead and decaying remains of the summer's growth. Thatch is a good thing when a lawn is care for naturally because the beneficial organisms inhabiting your soil actually convert this thatch into plant food that your turf can use when the weather warms up. The whole mechanical dethatching thing that begins soon just cracks me up. If the people that spend all that money on removing this valuable material would just feed it to their soils they would have better soils and healthier lawns.

"Winterizing your lawn should only include a mineral supplement and some organic matter as mentioned earlier. I love to apply a good calcium source such as Kelzyme fossilized kelp (available from Environmental Health Science Corp 1-800-833-1379), lime or agricultural gypsum mixed with soil sulfur, soft rock phosphate, and sulfate of potash magnesia (sul-po-mag) at a 5-1-2-1 ratio. Apply Kelzyme or the mineral mix at a rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet of turf. Water after application as always. I then love to use worm castings as an organic matter addition. If no worm castings are available at a reasonable cost in your area fully composted steer manure or a material known as greenwaste compost make great substitutes. These two materials are widely available at most garden centers. I use the worm castings at a rate of four cubic feet per 1,000 square feet of turf. For the fully composted steer poop or the greenwaste, I like to use either of them at a rate of 8 to 10 cubic feet of material per 1,000 square feet of turf. This makes for a great winter meal for all of the good guys that live in the soil beneath your lawn. If you use fully composted steer manure there is no need to be concerned with high salt content. Fresh or dried fresh manures have way too much sodium and chloride to be useful for adding directly to plants. Using composted manure also eliminates the possibility of burning your plants.

By adding these two ingredients to your lawn at this time of year you will be truly winterizing your lawn. The other really great thing you won't be doing is contributing to the pollution problem that often occurs when chemical fertilizers run off of poorly maintained soils into the storm drain system resulting in contamination and accelerated bacterial growth in our oceans and fresh water supplies. Just add some minerals and some organic matter and in the spring your lawn will be way ahead of any other in your neighborhood and will remain lush and green throughout the winter. Next time we will be discussing preparing your roses for next spring. See you in the Garden!

Got Questions? Email the Doc. Don Trotter's natural gardening columns appear nationally in environmentally sensitive publications. Check out Don's books for lots of helpful gardening tips— Natural Gardening A-Z, The Complete Natural Gardener, and soon to be released Rose Gardening A-Z, all from Hay House Publishing and available at all bookstores and on-line booksellers.

Lucky

I was in line waiting to pay for my items at the old Tom Thumb that was at the NW corner of Coit and Spring Valley, when I began to talk to the lady in front of me, Betty Ritts. After telling her that I mowed yards in the area she asked me to come and give her a quote to do her yard. She liked my price and I started to work for her the next day.

That was 20 or more years ago.

When I worked for Mrs. Ritts everything was great, never a complaint from her about the work that I had done, but when Mr. Howard Ritts asked me to do something I soon found out that I better do it right. The first time!

Mr. Ritts fired me at least three times, but Betty would call me back and reassure me that she knew how to handle him.

One cool morning in March, I arrived at the Ritt’s home around 7:00 am with my brand new ridding lawnmower. This was the first major piece of equipment that I purchased hoping that it would help me work faster and get more lawns done. I had mowed about 20 feet when I heard a large noise. I got off the lawnmower and walked back a few feet, but saw nothing. As I started back towards my lawnmower Mr. Ritts appeared and asked me: “Are you looking for this?”

What is “this?” I wondered until I saw the brass sprinkler head in his hand. Oh, my god, I started to get nervous, he is going to fire me again I thought.

Mr. Ritts told me that the sprinkler head had come in through the window and was deflected only inches from hitting him by a lampshade. We calculated that the sprinkler head was thrown more the 40 feet. “You are lucky that this did not hit me,” he said right before he asked me if I knew how to fix a sprinkler system. This particular one was made of copper and because of the way I broke it, a coupler would have to be replaced and it would have to be soldered. No, I said I have never tried fixing one of those.

“How do you expect to make money if you have to hire someone to correct your mistakes”, he asked?

Mr. Ritts walked away and I went back to scalping his lawn. I then saw Mr. Ritts drive off in his car and when he called me in to his garage and emptied a bag full of copper couplers, some gray stuff, a coil of a thick gray wire and some sand paper onto his work table.

He started to tell me what everything was for. The sand paper was to be used to scratch the ends of the copper to create more pores. This gray stuff is flux he said it helps clean the copper so that the gray wire, lead, will be able to stick to a clean surface and melt in to the pores of the heated copper. “How do you heat up all this,” I asked?

Mr. Ritts pulled out a torch that was “guaranteed to do the job” he said with a smile.

Following Mr. Ritts instructions I went out dug a trench that was about four feet long and exposed the copper pipe. Mr. Ritts fired up that torch and started to heat up the “T” where the sprinkler head was once attached. Within seconds, Mr. Ritts grabbed the copper tubing with a pair of pliers and pulled the broken piece off. He asked if I had seen how he did that, I wanted to say that I could not because your big head was in the way, but instead I lied and said; “Yes, sir.”

He then proceeded to rub all ends of the copper that were to be attached with sand paper.

And then rubbed the flux on all sanded parts. After heating one end of the copper pipe that was in the ground he slid the coupler on and then quickly heated the other end of the exposed pipe and slid the coupler gently from the attached piece on to it. He then heated the lead and melted it on the copper to hold back any water pressure. “Did you see that?” he asked. “Sorta”, I replied. Mr. Ritts finished the job quickly and went to turn on the system to check his work and make my scalping job more difficult. He walked back what seemed like very slowly. And said “good”. He then walked back, sloooooowlier, to the garage to turn the system off.

After that he instructed me to get back to work mowing the now wet lawn. Maybe an hour passed when Mr. Ritts came back out and called me over to the sprinkler head.

Handing me the torch he instructed me to take the head off, heat up each one of the newly inserted parts and lay them neatly on the curb for inspection.

If I had known he was going to give me a test I would have paid more attention. Mr. Ritts left me to figure this task out and after an hour I walked back to the garage where he was working on a pump that moved hot water through out his house. “I ran out of gas,” I said. He started laughing, as he said that tank was almost full. Knowing that I did not have a car, Mr. Ritts drove off while I continued to mow the lawn. It was now 11:00 am.

About an hour passed when Mr. Ritts showed up and handed me the new tank of gas.

“Finish what you were doing,” he told me.

After another 30 minutes I was able to finish the job and laid out all the pieces in a row on the curb. After I walked up to he garage to tell him that I was finished he said, now put it together again. For some reason, I knew he was going to say that. Dam!

When I finnaly finished about an hour later Mr. Ritts inspected the job turning the sprinkler system on again and of course getting the grass wet again. Double, or is it now: triple dam!

Well, I had hoped to scalp three lawns that day I barley finished Mr. Ritts. But, I was lucky that Mr.Ritts was home that day to teach me how to fix his sprinkler system.

A few years after Mrs. Betty Ritts, died and I thought that I would definitely be fired.

Some two years passed and much to my surprise Howard referred me to a new customer, by the name of Gerry Burkhart. I latter found out that he was about to marry her and he wanted to make sure that he did not have to do the yard work at his new home.

Over the last several years Mr. Ritts would stop by the nursery to say hello, the only customer to do so on a regular basis. I would go by his house and inspect work that was done or look at work that was to be done. Unfortunately, he was not always at home and I would leave without talking to him.

Mr. Ritts was a very funny guy, he would tell you a story that would make you laugh for days afterwards or try to be serious while telling you a joke hoping that you would not know that it was a joke until the punch line. I liked talking to him about trips and sometimes he would help me plan a vacation telling me about the different sights that you could see if you went this way or that.

Two weeks ago he drove all the way over to the nursery to say hello, and I think to show off his new hot rod. A Cadillac. We talked for a while, but I had an appointment that I was running late for and I had to leave. Today I wish that I would have stayed and talked to him some more.

On October 21^st, around 9:00am, Gerry Ritts called to tell me that Howard had died in his sleep. She did not want me to learn about this from the obituaries. She ended her statement with:” I knew he loved you and would want you to find out from me.”

Knowing Mr. Ritts, I am sure that he would want me to plant a tree, in his memory at Dodie’s house, his daughter. When his first wife Betty died, I was able to pick out a beautiful flowering tree for her. I think Mr. Ritts will get a Mexican Plum tree. They have large thorn like branches to be able to point you in the right direction, delicate white fragrant flowers to greet you in the spring, and beautiful multi colored fruit in the fall, to provide nourishment for wildlife, all to let everyone know that you are in the presence of a wonderful man.

I was lucky to have been fired by Mr. Ritts so many times.