When Autumn Leaves Fall

When autumn leaves fall
By: Katia Hetter

(CNN) -- A new crispness in the air. The red, orange and yellow of the leaves changing colors. The crunch of the first few leaves on the ground.

On that inevitable march toward winter, there are still a few weeks for the casual and determined leaf peeper alike to enjoy the leaves changing color before they fall.

Never mind that it happens every year. "It's because it's fleeting is why it's new every year," says Mel Allen, editor of Yankee Magazine. In each of his 33 years at the magazine leaf peeping has been a fall cover story.

First day of autumn: Share your photos with iReport

"It's fall and the leaves are becoming beautiful; apple orchards; and the hawks are flying overhead. It's a sensual experience," he says.

"If you were to talk to someone in New Orleans who had had 33 Mardi Gras, they'd still be excited about it," says Allen. "This is our party."

Different shades of red, orange and yellow

While evergreen trees such as pines and spruces have foliage that has evolved to survive extreme temperature changes, deciduous (broad-leaved) trees have evolved to drop their leaves and go dormant for the winter, says Ed Sharron, a science communication specialist with the National Park Service's Northeast Temperate Network in Vermont.

"It's such stark contrast," says Sharron, who's based at Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. "There are different shades of green, of course, when you start to get that variation of oranges and reds and purples and greens all together. It's pretty spectacular."

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Greener Ideas Publishes Story About Urban Trees Lowering Crime Rates and Boosts Economies

Greener Ideas published an article featuring new research that confirms urban trees can lower crime rate and boost economies. The article gives specific examples from research studies. To read the full article click here or continue reading below.

Research Confirms Urban Trees Lower Crime Rate, Boost Economy
By: Contributing Authors

Environmental concerns don’t simply address issues of pollution (airborne, noise or visual pollution). Indeed, these are all important aspects worth addressing, especially when it comes to living in urban areas. However, recent studies undertaken in several states across the U.S. indicate that city areas with a large number of trees also boast other benefits.

A study compiled by Harvard University, titled Benefits of Urban Trees, indicates that there are a lot more benefits to planting trees in cities and other urban areas than would first meet the eye. For one thing, trees also spectacularly help reduce crime, increase safety ratings in public urban areas and also help build stronger, more united communities. The study cites research undertaken by the University of Illinois, whose results show that urban areas with trees constantly rate lower in levels of fear, incivility, violence and aggression. According to “The Power of Trees”, by Tina Prow, homes with trees planted in the yards outside tend to report fewer cases of physical violence. In facts and figures, 14 per cent of those who live in barren, non-green areas have confessed to threatening their children with a knife or a gun, compared to 3 per cent of people who live in green areas. Since fewer instances of violence and domestic abuse happen in areas with urban trees, it is safe to surmise that trees can even lower the toll taken on a given community’s social budget and decrease the number of calls for emergency help made to the police.

One example in favor of this finding is the initiative taken by the city of Chicago in 2005. City officials allotted $10 million of Chicago’s entire yearly budget for the planting of twenty thousand trees, as a direct effect of the research polls and studies cited above, undertaken by Sullivan and F.E. Kuo.

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With the Right Mentality, Money Really Does Grow on Trees

Monster Tree Service has been featured in Forbes.com. The article discusses Josh Skolnick's entrepreneurial story, sharing how he got involved in the tree maintenance industry. The article discusses how Josh saw a need and created a solution, which led to the creation of a multi-million dollar national brand that now offers franchising opportunities. The article applauds Josh as a great example of a hard working young entrepreneur. For the full article see below or click here.

With the Right Mentality, Money Really Does Grow on Trees

By: Cheryl Conner

For every millennial worker (or manager) who has complained about lack of ease, the hard economy, or the trials of working with a challenging customer, here’s a motivational story for you.

In 2008, Josh Skolnick, now 28, was a 25-year-old career landscaper who had started a multi-crew lawn service while still in high school. He was no stranger to hard work, and his innate proclivity to entrepreneurship was clear even then. But it was the challenge of dealing with the hard demands of a customer that led to his most profound business win.

A particularly challenging customer was constantly asking Josh to get rid of the dead trees in his yard. The request was clearly beyond the scope of his business. He had no experience in tree trimming or felling. Yet the client continued to press his demand.

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Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

Tallahassee Magazine has an article about how to pick out a perfect tree for you. The article discusses how to properly chose and site trees that can add pleasure and value to your home. To read the full article click here or see below.

Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

By: Audrey Post

Advice for Picking the Perfect Tree

Q: What are the best trees to plant in the home landscape? We recently bought a newly constructed house on a large lot in an upscale subdivision, but it’s pretty wide open with just a couple of pine trees. Also, are there any tips on how to plant a tree?

Good for you! Trees enhance property both aesthetically and financially, so they’re a smart addition to your yard. Proper planning and planting will give you years to enjoy your trees and help you avoid problems that can cost additional time, labor and money. They can also help reduce your energy bill. In the South, trees planted on the west and northwest sides of houses have the most impact on your energy consumption.

First, you need to check to make sure there aren’t any restrictive covenants on your property or in your neighborhood that would limit your choices. Those should have been spelled out when you closed on your home purchase, but check your paperwork.

The next step is to figure out why you want trees. Seriously. Most people have a function in mind when they want to add trees to their yard, and the best trees for them are the ones that fulfill that function. Do you want shade for the house? Would you like a privacy screen from the neighbors’ view? Do you want to provide a haven for wildlife? Do you envision trees that bear fruit as well as provide visual interest? Once you know why you want trees, and you’re not limited to just one answer, you’re better prepared to select and site your trees.

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Monster Tree Service Featured on CNN Money

Runs a tree-clearing business

Name: Josh Skolnick

Pay: $250,000
Age: 29

When I was 10 or 11 years old I had my own little business pushing a lawn mower for people, and I continued with landscaping through middle school and high school. [By 2005, I had my own] mulch business. I had about 385 residential clients.

[One day], someone called and said they had a dead elm near their pool that no one would come cut down and remove. So I went out and [hired a contractor for the day to] cut down the tree. While I was out there, all the neighbors saw what I was doing and started asking me to cut down their trees, too.

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Diane Mastrull: Montco Tree Business Seeks To Go National

Monster Tree Service has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The online article discusses Josh Skolnick's entrepreneurial story, starting when he created a lawn care and snow-removal company while still in high school.  It also discusses how Skolnick got involved in the tree maintenance industry, ultimately building a multi-millionaire dollar company, Monster Tree Service. See below for the full article.

Diane Mastrull: Montco Tree Business Seeks To Go National
By: Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Columnist

Growing a tree-service business that now has more than $1 million in revenue and is on the verge of something way bigger - becoming the first U.S. franchise of its kind - is not at all what Josh Skolnick had planned when he responded to a call for help four years ago.

Skolnick was just doing a favor for a frantic father of young girls when the Fort Washington native responded to a request in June 2008 to take down a dead elm.

Back then, trees weren't Skolnick's thing. Lawns and mulch were.

By the time he graduated from Upper Dublin High School in 2002, Skolnick was "making over six figures" from a lawn-cutting/snow-removal business he had started when he was 10 or 11.



When most of the Fort Washington native's friends were in college, Skolnick was investing $200,000 in a high-powered mulch blower, sensing opportunity in commercial mulch installation.

It was a solid hunch. By spring 2005, he owned three machines and was "blowing mulch from Long Island, N.Y., to Northern Virginia." By 2007, Skolnick had national accounts installing not only mulch, but playground chips as well.

"It was so large, I ended up selling my landscaping business," Skolnick said, declining to disclose how much he got for it in deference to the local buyer's privacy.

Which brings us to the call in 2008 from the former lawn-care client with the 70-foot elm that needed to be brought down before it fell down. Skolnick said he referred him to two tree-removal specialists who turned out to be either disinterested or too expensive.

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