Poinsettia and Evergreen Care Tips

Red poinsettias are the signature plant of the Holiday season – when these beautiful plants start to hit the stores, you know that Christmas and all its magic is closely approaching.  Every year they come out with new color combinations and leaf edges – last year it was the eye-catching blue poinsettia – I even saw my favorite color orange pop up in the poinsettia world.

Learn some helpful hints on how to take care of your poinsettias and those Christmas trees or evergreens you have gracing your homes.

Poinsettia Care

1. Once you bring your poinsettia plant home, carefully remove it from all the packaging and foils that might be around it and set it into a basin of water that has at least 2″ of water in it. Let the plant soak the water up from underneath for at least 2 hours.  Also remove any damaged leaves at this time.
2. Display them in a bright part of your home, but make sure they are not in direct sunlight. The large leafy petals are sensitive to burning, especially from a window.
3. Keep them away from heat vents. The best temperature for them is between 60-70 degrees. They do not like it when hot air is blowing on them and will start to suffer quite quickly from the result of heat.
4. Make sure the soil is moist to the touch, but never allow it to become soggy or dry completely out. If you notice any petals curling up, immediately sit the plant in an inch of water so it may draw the water up from the bottom.
5. While your poinsettia is blooming do not give it fertilizer.
6. Poinsettias are not poisonous – but the milky substance from their leaves can cause skin irritation.
7. Poinsettias also take a glitter spray very well – for just that little extra sparkle!

Evergreen & Christmas Tree Care

1. When you bring your Christmas tree home, and if you have a swimming pool – dunk it in the pool for at least 6-8 hours and no more than 24 hours! If you do not have a pool, hose it down real well to hydrate the tree and also to loosen any old needles.
2. When you are at the Christmas tree lot, ask if you may have the boughs that are at the bottom of the tree (they have to cut these off to be able to fit your tree into the stand).
3. Soak the evergreen boughs in your tub for 2 hours to hydrate them.
4. These boughs make a great way to camouflage the grower’s pot of the poinsettia or you can also place the poinsettia on top of the boughs for a very festive look.
5. The best smelling evergreens are Cedar and Noble Fir.
6. If you have an artificial tree, insert a couple evergreen boughs into the tree so you may have the lovely scent of a real tree.

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Rid Scorpions From Your Home

Scorpions are a very beneficial arthropod and are in the class Arachnida, relatives of spiders, mites, ticks, and others. There are currently 1,400 recognized species of scorpions worldwide. Scorpions have an elongated body and a segmented tail that is tipped with a venomous stinger. Living in the desert, most of us have come across a scorpion or two. While we might like them in the desert, we don’t necessarily want scorpions in our home.

Basic Scorpion Characteristics

Scorpions are photophobic, or in other words, afraid of the light. This characteristic helps them to evade detection from their predators such as snakes, birds, centipedes, lizards, and mice. Scorpions are nocturnal or diurnal, predatory animals that feed on a variety of insects including crickets, spiders, centipedes, and other scorpions.

Scorpion Beds

What is a scorpion bed exactly? A scorpion bed is an area of land that is highly populated with scorpions. Scorpions have lived in that one patch of desert for generations. A scorpion’s life cycle ranges from 4-25 years and they do not move out of these areas very often. It is very difficult and almost impossible to move a scorpion bed. They might be in one 10-foot square area in a one-square mile area – pretty much, it is the luck of the draw if you live on or near one.

Since scorpions are nocturnal, finding shelter during the day in the relative cool of underground holes or undersides of rocks and coming out at night to hunt and feed is essential. What is not essential is when they decide that they like the AC in your home instead of underneath the rock that use to sit where your house currently resides.

So you can see the dilemma. They had their colony with their little family of scorpions on the desert floor, then your house or apartment complex was a built on top of it, and they thought, “Sweet! AC! Finally.” You then continually have a welcome cafeteria of food full of crickets and spiders all of over your home. Why would a scorpion ever want to move? They usually don’t. You do.

Arizona Scorpions

About 40-60 species occur in Arizona, the Bark Scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda) is the only species in Arizona of medical importance.

Arizona Bark Scorpion

In the USA the bark scorpion is found in southeastern California, Arizona, Nevada, southern Utah, and southwestern New Mexico. It is most commonly found under rocks, logs, tree bark, and other surface objects. The bark scorpion (1-3 inches in length) is the most commonly encountered house scorpion. They are common throughout many habitats but almost always in rocky areas. This is the one we most often see hanging out unwanted on our living room floor.

Most scorpion species are solitary in nature. The exception to this is bark scorpions, which may over-winter in colonies of 20-30 adults. Each adult can have up to 20 young! The bark scorpion is also one of relatively few species that are able climbers ~ and they love palm trees.

The venom of the bark scorpion may produce severe pain (but rarely swelling) at the site of the sting, numbness, frothing at the mouth, difficulties in breathing (including respiratory paralysis), muscle twitching, and convulsions can occur.

DESERT HAIRY SCORPION

Another species found in Arizona is the Desert Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis). This species is twice as large as the Bark Scorpion at maturity (up to 5 inches long). They are often found in low sandy areas throughout the state. Desert Hairy Scorpions usually eat insects, spiders, centipedes, small vertebrates, and other scorpions.

STRIPE-TAILED SCORPION

Another genus frequently found is the Devil or Stripe-tailed Scorpion group (Vaejovis spp.). There are several Vaejovid species found in Arizona. They are intermediate in size (1-2 inches in length) and are more robust than bark scorpions. The Stripe-tailed Scorpion is typically found under many surface objects (including sleeping bags, shoes, etc.) where it digs a short burrow for protection. This species loves to dig and can actually dig burrows about 3 feet deep in gravel soils. Wow!

Tips to Move Those Scorpions Out of Your Home

Scorpions are difficult to control with insecticides alone. Therefore, the first control strategy is to modify the area surrounding a house or structure:

By managing the scorpion food source, you will manage the scorpion population.

• This is the number one thing you can do. Get rid of those crickets first and foremost!
• Spread diatomaceous earth (DE) everywhere. DE consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. Spread DE throughout your lawn, rocks, and flower beds. When an insect, whether it is a cricket or scorpion, gets DE on their back it cuts small holes into their exoskeleton. This eventually makes the insect dehydrate to death. This is the best organic way to eradicate the food supply before you start with chemical pesticides.

Scorpions love palm trees, make sure you keep them well pruned at all times.

• Remove all places they can have for shelter, such as: Trash, logs, boards, stones, bricks and other objects from around the building.
• Prune bushes and overhanging tree branches. Tree branches can provide a path to the roof for scorpions.
• Keep grass closely mowed near the home.
• Minimize low growing ground cover vegetation near the base of the house.
• Store garbage containers in a frame that allows them to rest above ground level.
• Never bring firewood inside the home unless it is placed directly on the fire.
• Install weather-stripping around loose fitting doors and windows.
• Plug holes in brick with steel wool, pieces of nylon scouring pad, or small squares of screen wire.
• Caulk around roof eaves, pipes and any other cracks into the building.
• Keep window screens in good repair. Make sure they fit tightly in the window frame.

Ideally, once located, collect the scorpions using long forceps or tongs and keep them in a sealable, sturdy container. As these wonderful creatures are really a benefit to our desert environment, please consider collecting and releasing the scorpions into the natural desert rather than killing them. If collected scorpions are to be destroyed, crush them, then use a flyswatter or long forceps to remove the bodies. Chemical spraying during the day is largely ineffectual.

I know you are going to go out first thing and buy pesticide. If you do, remember to apply pesticides around the foundation of the building and up to one foot above ground level on the exterior walls. Also apply pesticides around doors, window eaves, and other potential points of entry. Follow the directions on the package for dosage, mixing, and application methods. Remember to spray for their food source too! It seriously is the only way to get scorpions out of your home for good, unless you want to put up a For Sale sign up and move down the street!

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Ant Attack of 2010

This is a reposting of my Wall on Facebook. The sheer terror of Ant Attack of 2010 is hard to explain, but I have learned that many people (including myself) found humor in this story. Mind you, I did not find any humor in it until today!

I was already late to a networking meeting and as I was heading out the front door, I noticed ants all over my kitchen floor and even crawling into my dishwasher. I mixed up a lemon vinegar mixture and starting spraying them. I thought, well that should get rid of them. I did wonder, where the heck did they come from because there wasn’t even a scrap of food anywhere in my kitchen? I had just mopped the day before and had done some deep cleaning over the weekend.

As I walked outside, I remembered. My neighbor had left his stinky ass garbage out on the landing for 72 hours. He had a habit of doing this before. On more than one occasion I acted like a good neighbor and took his out when I took mine. Well, funny thing, he was coming out of his apt as I was leaving. I politely, but firmly told him about the ants in my apt & that they probably resulted from his trash being left out for days on end. He looked at me, mumbled that he is sorry, but that he didn’t have ants in his apt. And then he gave me the look like it was really my fault. Oh no he didn’t!

When I got home from the meeting, there were still ants all over the kitchen floor. I called the property manager who then went on to tell me that the exterminator wouldn’t be on site until Thursday – this was only Tuesday. I was not pleased. He did say he would send someone to spray down the landing to at least remove whatever remains might be attracting the little buggers.

While trying to kill the ants with that vinegar, water, lemon juice solution I was bit on the forearm. It was itchy, painful and my anxiety was on high since I am highly allergic to both ants and bees. Thus, the newest status update was born… Preparing to Die.

After battling the ants since 7:00am, I had decided to to a little work at my desk. I was fairly productive and had worked for about two hours without stepping foot into the kitchen. Then I was thirsty and wanted some lemonade. All hell broke loose at this point. There were ants ALL over the counters, the walls, the floor… I had a mini panic attack. I grabbed my jug of vinegar and started pouring it all over the place. So not only were there ants everywhere, but now there were puddles of vinegar. I couldn’t take it anymore – the stress of being bitten, the stress of how could I get them to leave, I started to cry. I’m not proud of it, but the tears flowed… and flowed.

My friend Katie called at this point at talked me off of the ledge. I am an organic gardener, but at this point, I made the executive decision to go and get an aerosol killer. I chose one that was somewhat organic with lemongrass oil. I sprayed that stuff everywhere. Since I am so freaking sensitive to smells the lemongrass oil started to give me a headache. This was NOT my day. I called up some friends and headed out the door to go watch the playoff game and have a nice adult beverage. It worked – I came home relaxed, able to laugh about everything, and ready to tackle more ants if they dared to show their little shiny faces.

During all this chaos, one thing started to go through my mind. There are times in every feminist’s life when she just Needs a Man. One who will come in through the front door, hand you a glass of wine, give you a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then kill all of the ants, clean up the mess, including mopping the floors and washing down the walls. Thus a new Facebook Fan Page was born ~ NeedAMan. http://bit.ly/c6poEe

The next day I went into another 7:30 networking meeting and everyone was actually wondering if I had died since I hadn’t finished my story last night. I was so surprised that so many people had been reading my posts. I had received tons of texts, calls, & emails checking on me. Ahhh, the power of social media. #sold  Thus this blog post was born. I am slightly embarrassed about having a breakdown over ants – but hey, I’m human. I’m emotional. And that’s ok, because that is me.

ant,ant attack,social media,power of social media

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Organic Insecticide Soap

Organic Insecticide Soap

Aphids sucking the life out of your beautiful roses? Whiteflies hanging around your beloved tomatoes. Don’t want toxic insect killers around your family and pets? Make your own Organic Insecticide Soap with materials right in your own kitchen!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tbsp Blue Dish Washing Liquid (no citrus)
• 1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Garlic Clove, crushed

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large water bottle and fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake vigoursly. Apply this mixture to the top and bottom of the leaves of the plant. If you have an aphid or white fly problem, do this every 3-4 days until all the eggs have been killed. Spray the dirt around the plant to prevent any eggs from hatching.

If it rains, reapply this insectide soap when the weather clears up.

This insecticide soap should assist you with the removal of mites, whiteflies, aphids, thrips, and leaf-hoppers. This recipe has a very low toxicity to wildlife and humans but should not be applied on a sizzling hot day, windy, or humid. It is best to apply first thing in the morning or after the sun has set.

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How to Make Your Own Cleaning Products

Everything you need!

Have you ever stopped and read the labels on mass-produced cleaning products? Some ingredients are hard to pronounce, even worse for our environment, and deplete our pocketbook as well. You can make your own cleaning products right in your own home without breaking the bank. Most of these cleaning product recipes cost considerably less to create than the more popular ready-made cleaners.

Standard Ingredients

• Baking soda: An alkaline powder that can be used for cleaning and scrubbing purposes.
• Hydrogen peroxide: Used for stain removal and mild substitute for bleaching and killing germs.
• Lemon juice: An acid utilized to lighten stains, cut grease, and refresh the air.
• White vinegar: An acid that makes a great germ killer, removes carpet stains, cleans coffeemakers, chrome, cookware, and countertops.
• Spray bottle: Standard 8 to 24 ounce spray bottles are best.

Baking Soda Cleaning Products

Baking soda is an abrasive and can remove tough stains from tile, glass, and even china. The scrubbing properties of baking soda can not be beat. It can tackle the toughest baked-on food from pans, plus remove fruit juice stains. With a high pH, baking soda is a natural and effective deodorizer that can eliminate and neutralize odors at the source. Sprinkle baking soda on your cat’s litter box to help fight that obnoxious smell.

Vinegar Cleaning Products

With white vinegar being an acid, this makes it an amazing grease cutter. It also gives mold, mildew, and germs an early exit out of your kitchen or bathroom. Vinegar is non-toxic and does not leave a nasty residue or smell once it dries completely. Use this all-purpose cleaning agent on your hardwood, vinyl or linoleum floors. With its acidic properties, do not use white vinegar on any stone or marble surface as it will scratch the surface.

Here are some simple recipes that you can do today to make your own cleaning products for your home or office.

Window or Glass Cleaner

• ½ tsp. liquid detergent
• 3 tbsp. white vinegar
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice, optional
• 2 cups hot water
• 1 spray bottle

Add the ingredients into the spray bottle, shake vigorously. Apply to the glass or window surface and let sit for a few seconds. Remove with a cotton cloth, paper towels, or even newspaper. If your window has grease or other hard solubles, add lemon juice to the mixture.

Furniture Polish

• ½ tsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 1 tbsp. lemon or orange juice
• 1 spray bottle

Combine the ingredients into the spray bottle. Spray a soft rag or paper towel with the furniture polish and gently wipe onto any wood surfaces. It is best not to spray the furniture directly.

Soft Scrub Cleanser

• ½ cup baking soda
• 1 tsp. liquid detergent
• 1 spray bottle

Soft scrub cleanser is very easy to make and works great on your kitchen or bathroom sinks. Mix the two ingredients together and apply directly to surfaces with a scrubber sponge, then rinse well.

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How to Plant Tulips Indoors

Tulips do not naturalize well in Southern Arizona, but you can plant and grow tulips beautifully indoors. Tulips are a difficult bulb to force into bloom, but forcing them indoors is the best way to grow tulips in the desert. Tulips come in a variety of bright colors, including white, yellow, pink, red, black, purple, orange, and some gorgeous and breathtaking bicolors. In the world of tulips, the circumference size of the tulip does matter. This is where the energy is stored for next year’s bloom – the bigger the bulb, the bigger the bloom. Buy quality bulbs if you want a showy centerpiece or indoor blooming garden.

Tools and Materials Needed:

• Brown paper bag
• Green moss
• 6 to 12 tulip bulbs
• 4 in. high Shallow dish
• Stones or pebbles
• Garden shears

Step 1 – Winterizing the Tulips

Place the tulips into the brown paper bag, cover them with the moss, and set them inside the fridge for six weeks. Tulips have to winterize or they will not bloom. Tulips do best in the fridge when there are no apples, grapes, apricots, or onions stored there.

Step 2 – Growing Tulips in a Dish

In Southern Arizona, you are not able to plant tulips outside because our temperatures are already too warm for them, even in January. After six weeks take them out of the fridge and place them gently into the shallow dish. This dish should have two inches of stones placed on the bottom. Plant the tulip bulbs into the stones until they are up to their shoulders and then fill the dish with water to the top of the stones. The tulips will start to grow within two weeks. Add water weekly to the dish, or more often as the water is uptaked by the plants.

Step 3 – Blooming Cycle

Each bulb typically produces one bloom with some varietals producing up to four blooms. Enjoy the tulip’s bloom period, which may last anywhere from one to three weeks, depending on the variety of tulips that you purchased. After they have bloomed, cut off the flower head with your garden shears, but do not trim the green leaves or stalk, let it die back naturally. The green stalk provides fuel for the bulb for the next growing season. Once the stalks are completely dead, cut them off too.

Step 4 – Bulb Storage

Place the tulip bulbs in a brown paper bag filled with moss. Mark your calendar to do all the steps above over again in October, November or December depending on when you want your bulbs to grace your home. Tulips can not be planted outside in Arizona because you might be able to have one bloom cycle, but more often than not, you won’t. The bulbs just wither and die in our harsh climate.

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Understanding Cat Body Language

Sebastian ~ the King of the Castle

Understanding what cats are communicating through their body language is essential for cat parents. It enables them to more accurately read their cats and understand their feelings and motivations for doing what they do. It also helps them respond more effectively to behavior issues. Body language is made up of cats’ body postures, facial expressions, and the position and carriage of certain body parts, like ears, tail, and even whiskers. Cat body language is more subtle than dog body language and can be harder for people to interpret. Nevertheless, knowing what the basic postures mean helps cat parents deal with problems more effectively and enjoy their cat’s company more fully because they can understand a common language.

Threats and aggression can be either offensive or defensive. An offensively aggressive cat tries to make himself look bigger and more intimidating, whereas a defensively aggressive cat adopts a self-protective posture and tries to make himself look smaller. Following are some typical postures seen in feline aggression. A rule of thumb for all the postures listed is  ~ don’t touch, attempt to reassure or punish cats showing these postures!

Offensive postures include:

• A stiff, straight-legged upright stance
• Stiffened rear legs, with the rear end raised and the back sloped downward toward the head
• Tail is stiff & lowered or held straight down to the ground
• Direct stare
• Upright ears, with the backs rotated slightly forward
• Piloerection (hackles up), including fur on the tail
• Constricted pupils
• Directly facing opponent, possibly moving toward him
• Might be growling, howling, or yowling

Defensive postures include:

• Crouching
• Head tucked in
• Tail curved around the body and tucked in
• Eyes wide open with pupils partially or fully dilated
• Ears flattened sideways or backward on the head
• Piloerection (hackles up)
• In an anxious cat, whiskers might be retracted. In a fearful cat, whiskers might pan out and forward to assess distance between himself and the danger
• Turning sideways to the opponent, not straight on
• Open-mouthed hissing or spitting
• Might deliver quick strikes with front paws, claws out

Overt aggression, whether defensive or offensive, includes:

• Swatting, striking with paws
• Biting
• Fighting
• Growling, shrieking
• Scratching
• Preparing for an all-out attack by rolling onto side or back and exposing all weapons: teeth and claws
• In this position, your cat might attempt to grab your hand and bring it to his mouth to bite it

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Recycle Your Christmas Tree!!

The Holidays are winding down, most people are taking their trees down either this week or next. But what do you do with your Christmas tree once it brought you so much Holiday joy? Recycle it of course! You could put it out by the curb and hope that your city will pick it up. You could do like others and toss it out anywhere they please ~ which I don’t recommend at all! The best option is to take your Christmas tree to a recycling center where it is turned into mulch which is then used throughout city projects. Some cities will even give you back your mulch!

Christmas Tree Mulcher

When recycling your Christmas tree, it is important to remove any decorations, lights, garlands, tinsel, hooks, ribbons, and tree stands. If you are of the many thousands who have an artificial tree and want to toss it out this year, think before you do and donate it to a local charitable organization.

Every city in metro Phoenix has its own recycling plan and process. Here is what you need to know about disposal of your Christmas tree after the holidays. If your city doesn’t have a recycling plan, take the tree to one that does. Decrease your carbon footprint one Christmas tree at a time.

Christmas Tree Mulch ~ Black Gold!

Chandler residents can place their trees at the edge of their driveway before 6:00 am on their recycling collection day (12/26/09 – 01/15/10) for curbside Christmas tree collection. Do not block the sidewalk or place the tree in the blue recycling container, or in the street or alley. Chandler also offers these drop-off points as well between
12/26/09-01/17/10. For more information, call Chandler’s Solid Waste Services at 480.782.3510. Live potted Christmas trees can be donated for replanting at Chandler City parks by dropping off at the City’s Community Center or can be scheduled for pick up by calling 480.782.2745.

• West Chandler Park, 250 S Kyrene Rd
• Desert Breeze Park, 660 N Desert Breeze Blvd
• Arrowhead Meadows Park, 1475 E Erie St
• Shawnee Park, 1400 W Mesquite St
• Pima Park, 625 N McQueen Rd
• Folley Park, 601 E Frye Rd
• Chuparosa Park, 2400 S Dobson Rd
• Snedigar Sportsplex, 4500 S Basha Rd
• Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S McQueen Rd

Gilbert has joined with A to Z Rentals and Santan Village Mall to offer free holiday recycling for cut trees, which will be turned into mulch and used for Town landscaping projects. Our favorite! For more information, call 480.503.6400 or visit www.ci.gilbert.az.us/pw/recycling.cfm  Drop off your Christmas trees at these locations:

• A-Z Equipment Rentals, 1313 E. Baseline Rd
• Dicks Sporting Goods in the Santan Village Mall between 12/26/09-01/04/10
• Nichols Park at the SW corner of Higley and Guadalupe Roads
• Hetchler Park (Gilbert Soccer Complex) SW corner of Germann and Greenfield Roads 12/26/09-01/18/10

Glendale residents are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees by dropping them off at the following sites, which will be open from 12/26/09-01/10/10. Trees must be unbagged, and all decorations, tree stands and metal stakes must be removed. The City of Glendale Recycling Department would like to remind everyone that certain holiday items cannot be recycled including ribbons, holiday lights, ornaments, garland, wrapping paper with silver or gold infused in with the paper, plastic bags, Styrofoam, toys, light bulbs, or food. For more information, call 623.930.2660.

• Acoma Park, 53rd Ave and Acoma Rd
• Fire Station #156, 67th Ave and Deer Valley Rd
• Foothills Park, 57th Ave and Union Hills
• O’Neil Park, 64th Ave and Missouri Ave
• Rose Lane Park, 51st Ave and Marlette Ave
• Sahuaro Ranch Park, 63rd Ave and Mountain View Rd
• Western Area Regional Park, 83rd Ave and Bethany Home Rd

Mesa offers drop-off points for Christmas trees which are open 24 hours from 12/26/09-01/17/10. Collected trees are taken to the Salt River Landfill and chipped into nutrient rich mulch. Way to go Mesa! Snow flocked trees, wreaths, and artificial trees cannot be recycled. If you participate in the Green Barrel Program you can use it to dispose of your tree as long as it fits completely inside the container with the lid properly closed. Mesa also accepts donations of live potted trees, which are planted in Mesa City parks. Live trees five feet or taller will be accepted at any Mesa Fire Station. Call Mesa’s Solid Waste Management Department at 480.644.2688 or visit them online for more information.

• East Mesa Service Center, 6935 E. Decatur St
• Solid Waste Management Dept, 730 N. Mesa Dr
• Superstition Springs Police/Fire Substation, 2430 S. Ellsworth Rd
• Mountain View Park, 845 N. Lindsay Rd (enter off of Adobe St.)
• Dobson Ranch Park, 2363 S. Dobson Rd

Peoria provides centralized locations where residents can drop off their Christmas trees for recycling. Between  12/28/09-01/10/10 each location will provide a corral where residents can leave their Christmas trees. The city will collect the trees and take them to a local farm to be chipped and used for mulch. Yippee! For additional information contact the Solid Waste Division at 623.773.7431. The drop-off locations are:

• Christ Church of the Valley, 67th Ave and Hatfield Rd
• The Home Depot, 9201 W Peoria Ave
• The Home Depot, 25650 N Lake Pleasant Pkwy
• Lowe’s, 8497 W Thunderbird Rd
• Safeway, 20713 N 83rd Ave

Phoenix residents can drop off their tree at one of 14 city parks any time beginning 12/26/10-01/03/10. Trees should be placed in designated areas where special collection bins are located. Certain transfers stations and A to Z Equipment Rentals & Sales locations are also offering drop-off services to Phoenix residents. Phoenix drop off locations. Leave unbagged trees only at the specified parking lot site within the parks. There will be signs indicating where to place your tree. For more information, call 602.262.7251.

Scottsdale holds its annual citywide holiday Christmas tree roundup between 01/11/10-01/15/10. If you have residential collection service please have your Christmas tree curbside by 5:00 am on Monday, 01/11/10. No artificial trees will be collected. All trees collected will be turned into compost or mulch. Way to go Scottsdale! For more information, call 480.312.5600. If you miss the tree roundup, or do not have residential collection services, you can drop off your tree between 7:00-2:00 pm on Saturday 01/16/10 at:

• Scottsdale Ranch Park, 10400 E Via Linda
• El Dorado Park, 2311 N Miller Rd

Tempe residents can dispose of their Christmas trees by dropping them off at one of the city’s two drop-off sites. Both sites will accept trees through 01/23/10. Residents should not place Christmas trees in garbage containers. Residents may place Christmas trees out for collection during their scheduled week for bulk item collection. Do not place your Christmas tree out for collection more than 10 days before the Monday of your collection week. For more information call 480.350.8265 or visit Tempe online. Trees can be dropped off from at:

• Household Products Collection Center, 1320 E University Drive
  Fridays: 7:00 am to noon and Saturdays 7:00-1:00 pm
• Kiwanis Park Rec Center, 6111 S. All America Way, on the west side open 24/7

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Are Christmas Trees Green?

At this time of year most people are making that hard decision or have already made it – real or fake? Artificial Christmas trees have become so real-looking and come in so many different shapes and sizes. You can have them flocked with snow, adorned with pine cones, predressed with twinkly lights, and a myriad of other adornments. On the other hand you can go to any Christmas tree lot on any corner and choose between Cedar, Douglas Fir, Noble Fir, or Silvertip Fir trees for those of us who live in the Southwest. The smell of cedar is amazingly refreshing and the majestic look of a Silvertip Fir highlights your family’s ornaments.

But which one should you choose? What is the green answer to this question?

Owning an artificial Christmas tree is healthier for the environment over a 10-year period than using cut trees. Who knew?

The American Christmas Tree Association’s did an environmental study and found that using an artificial tree has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than using a farm-grown cut Christmas tree. The in-depth analysis studied both real and artificial Christmas trees from cradle -to-grave over a 10-year use period. This included analyzing each stage of the life cycle of natural Christmas trees, from seedling through commercial farming, cultivation and harvesting, transport to retail, transport to consumer homes, and finally transport and disposal. The study also examined the manufacturing of an artificial tree including resource harvesting, raw material transport, each stage of the manufacturing process, transport to retail, transport to consumer homes, and finally transport and disposal.

The most significant contribution to global warming comes from fossil fuel consumption in transportation of real Christmas trees from tree farms to people’s homes. I honestly thought it was going to be the other way around. The environmental study found that the best way to reduce one’s carbon footprint is to choose an artificial Christmas tree and to use it for ten or more years. If consumers use an artificial tree for just one year and then throw it away, then there is no benefit!

There is one kind of tree that is better than an artificial or cut Christmas tree and that is a LIVE Christmas tree – one with the roots still attached. After you have enjoyed your live tree for the Holidays you may plant it in your yard or donate it to a park, a community garden, a school garden, or retirement community. The gift of a live Christmas tree keeps on giving.

Follow Kristi and Orange Dragonfly on Twitter @dragonflytweet and stop by my business website www.OrangeDragonfly.com.

Live Christmas Trees are the Best Investment!

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