Horticulture consultant to be honored

Horticulture consultant Dennis Swartzell will receive the True Professional Award from the International Society of Arboriculture this fall. Because of his many contributions to the tree care industry across the Southwest, his colleagues nominated him for this award.

Swartzell came to Las Vegas to be the director of grounds at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas 28 years ago. The UNLV campus became an arboretum as a result of his tireless leadership. He introduced numerous water-efficient plants to the arboretum that have now become familiar plants in our landscapes. He turned the arboretum into a valuable teaching laboratory to educate both professionals and backyard gardeners.

He continues to work tirelessly as a guest speaker, volunteer and advocate to improve tree care in Southern Nevada and throughout the Southwest, keeping people abreast of new information as well as tried-and-true tree care techniques.

"He is a soft-spoken, knowledgeable professional who only speaks when he can make a worthwhile contribution, but when he does the industry pays attention to what he has to say," says Russ Thompson of Clark County Parks and Recreation.

As my way of honoring him, he's answering some of the questions I received this week.

Fastest growing trees: For evergreen trees, Swartzell recommends African sumac, mondel and aleppo pines. For deciduous trees, he suggests ash, Chinese elm, chitalpa, desert willow, mesquite and hybrid paloverde.

Actually, the way you fertilize and water trees is more important than the species selection when concerned about growth. Properly cared for trees will outgrow poorly cared for trees. Research also shows purchasing smaller trees in 5- to 15-gallon containers will outpace larger boxed trees in less than five years.

You also might want to temporarily plant fast-growing trees between slow growers such as oaks, fruitless olives, locusts and pistachio and then remove the rapid growers before they crowd out the slower growing species.

Trees for narrow (10 feet) spaces: This is tough, as most trees grow as wide as they do tall, but columnar trees or large shrubs will fill the bill. Consider Italian cypress, and blue point, Spartan, pathfinder and skyrocket junipers. Or, consider espaliering certain shrubs and trees that grow without a trellis. Think about photinia, Indian hawthorne, loquat, flowering fruit trees and bay laurel.

Using plants for security: Here are some plants to secure your house from intruders. Of course, the all-around best is pyracantha or firethorn. The thorn gives a whole new meaning to the word fire. Large beds of cactuses, ocotillo, thorny mesquites and acacias and the true paloverde trees do well as barriers, too.

Palms destroy walls: Palm roots create a lot of exerted pressure on walls, footings, foundations and pools. If they find a small crack, they'll follow it to the water source. Palm roots do not expand in girth like regular tree roots so they stay about the diameter of a pencil. However, this gives them an advantage, and there are lots of roots to push against structures, so plant them farther away.

Orange bird of paradise losing leaves: It probably is not getting enough water. It is a Caribbean plant that takes heat but needs lots of water to look its best and keep blooming.

Top tier of poodle privet dead: Swartzell suspects sunburn and/or borer damage girdled the trunk. Sunburn expresses itself by the bark darkening on the southwest side of the trunk, and borers move in to decompose it. Using a pocket knife, peel back the bark to examine between it and hardwood. If you see sawdust packed in galleries, it's borer damage.

Remove the top tier and start the bush up again. Do this by allowing only one stem to grow upward from the lower tier and remove all others. Let it grow to the desired height, and then remove the growing point to redevelop a new poodle.

FARMER'S MARKET

The Molto Vegas Farmer's Market is open to the general public every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. During the past two years, Molto Vegas has been committed to finding the best produce from local farmers for valley restaurants, along with resources forager, Kerry Clasby Family Farms. If you have any questions, e-mail dtaylor@moltovegas.com. The market is at 7485 Dean Martin Drive, Suite 106.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.