City Trees

18 City Trees Dr. Ed Gilman is a popular presenter among city foresters and arborists of all specialties. His talks and workshops are based on his decades of applied research at the University of Florida (UFL) and countless field observations and conversa- tions with arborists. Gilman retired from UFL in July, 2016 but he is going to continue doing education in the field, especially with commercial arborists around proper pruning techniques. The resources he created on UFL's website for pruning and all things related to trees and other landscape plants are phe- nomenal—more about those later. How is the transition to semi-retirement going? Ed Gilman: Retirement allowed me to step back and take a break from writing; after 120 scientific publications and 35 years of tearing trees apar t, I felt it was someone else's turn. I'll have more time now to do education in the field with com - mercial arborists—sharing the practical fruits of my research and that of my colleagues, which I really enjoy. I stay involved with ISA Florida and with the ANSI Pruning Standards commit- tee. It's nice to remain plugged in and relevant. What would be par ticularly gratifying is if I could get more people doing what I'm doing in terms of the education of commercial arborists. Stay tuned for more on that. I have more time now to do woodworking and leaded glass design in my 20x24-foot shop in my garage. We moved into a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home that was designed by one of his students. It's a small, low-ceiling home with a flat roof that has 74 windows that I've covered in leaded glass. I got inspired to do the glass work after seeing an exhibit about FLW at MOMA. Right now I'm working on a FLW-inspired Japanese door for my wife for our laundry room. This is a new home and neighborhood for us, on the St. John's River in Jacksonville. We always wanted to live on the water; I enjoy speed and got a boat. Getting to know my new neighbors has been fun, and I give them advice about pruning their trees for hurricane resistance. The five trees I had on our previous proper ty all stood up through a hurricane last fall. [Gilman has done extensive research on how pruning can reduce wind damage]. What research do you hope your colleagues pursue? EG: We still don't know the best way to prune a branch off a tree when there's no collar to guide you, which is most of the time. That's not as impor tant as continuing to teach people Dr. Ed Gilman on Semi-Retirement, the Research Trail He Leaves Behind, and the Nexus of Urban Forestry and Arboriculture by Michelle Sutton, City Trees Editor Photos Courtesy Ed Gilman where to make pruning cuts in the crown, but cer tainly how you make the cuts is impor tant. Arborists have different ways of approaching it, but there's very little research on pruning when there's no collar. We also need to continue to learn more about how trees react in storms in the wind and ice and snow—how they break and why they break. Most everybody understands codomi- nant stems and bark inclusions but I think we need to explore the other reasons trees break, like when a tree has lots of upright stems or really long branches. How long a branch is too long? Ten arborists will have ten different opinions on how to calibrate that. In terms of roots systems, we and others have discov- ered that straight roots that grow right at the surface Ed and Betsy Gilman, married 37 years, overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge on a visit to NYC. (right) Gilman's working on a FLW-inspired Japanese door for the laundry room.

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