Urban (bad) planning

Grrrrrrr.

As I sit here in the coffee shop within the City Hall of Austin, Texas, I have a bone to pick with the rich and powerful. I am looking out at one of the more vibrant downtown areas in the state of Texas, and possibly the country, and I should be awed and excited just to be here. However, my "Hort Vision" picks out the irresponsible way in which trees and plants are placed next to these multi-million dollar structures. What. The. Hell.

What a terrible fate to consider yourself a professional in an unregulated (yes, there are some regulations out there, but c'mon) industry. There is no way to measure the effectiveness or skill of your work when you must compare yourself to folks like the riff-raff who are in charge of putting what will some day be HUGE shade trees mere yards from these grand buildings.

What do these folks think is going to happen in 5-10 years when these trees start to outgrow the 10 square feet alloted to them in the first place? Well, dear readers, I will tell you what will happen. They will either be butchered in order to relieve pressure on the building, or taken out altogether. It would have saved time and money to not install them in the first place, eh?

A good Horticulture friend of mine, Pat McNeal, holds a dim view of the state of landscaping in this day and age in central Texas. His opinions go beyond simple discussions of which plants would look good together. He implicates our whole industry in a failure to grasp the real needs of plants and the soil. The longer I am in this business here in Austin, the more I jump on Pat's bandwagon that says "change is needed". Who is responsible for this change? Private industry? Government? Pressure from informed consumers/home owners? Gee, I don't know, but I am interested in finding out.

As I drive at sixty miles an hour and view our landscapes through my "Horticulture Goggles", I wonder if my industry will someday receive a much needed kick in the a**. Who knows?

Rich

The China Series

I had the opportunity to travel to China this past spring with the Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership program (TALL) and I want to share some of the photos and experiences I had on the trip.

Our itinerary was geared toward a general overview of agriculture in China and we were able to see and do many things. Most of the posts in this series will be ag-related while some will highlight the strange and wonderful cultural experiences we stumbled upon.

For every picture I post there are probably 20 others I leave out, so, dear reader, let the author know if you want to see more.

Enjoy the China Series.

Rich

Hello to.....whom?

Hello there :)

Who are you and how did you stumble upon my new blog? I would love to know these things, so tell me what you are all about.

This blog is intended to be an outlet for my creative energies in the world of agriculture and, more specifically, horticulture. I wonder if this will be a good idea for me as I already fear the dreaded writers block. Will there be posts? Will this be one of the probably millions of blogs with one entry and then nothing?

Well, dear readers, check back sometime in the future and lets talk about Horticulture at Sixty-Miles-An-Hour.

Rich