Q: My dad helped me plant a couple of young apple trees in my backyard last weekend and so far, so good. After we finished I said the only thing I had left to do was paint the trunks white. He looked ...

Dear Readers: This weekend, walking along a Longmont canal, I happened upon several trees with painted trunks. It took my mind back to this column from 2023. Dear Johnnie: What is the purpose of the ...

After last week’s column on transplanting 8-year-old plum trees was published, City of Las Cruces Community Forester Jimmy Zabriskie contacted me about another important consideration: sunscald.

Q. I recently moved to Redding and everywhere I go I see tree trunks that look like they’ve been painted white. I even saw some that were painted a light blue. Can you tell me why folks do this? A.

Answer: Have you ever noticed bark buckling off the tree trunk? I first noticed it in a mature mulberry tree in my yard in Las Cruces a few years ago. The bark on the west side of the trunk had ...