That Gardenin Guy: March 2018

Selecting the Right Tree for the Right Place

Tim Burress

Dr. John Kushla, guest speaker for the New Albany Garden Club, began his talk by quoting an ancient Chinese Proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is right now.” Since Arbor Day is just around the corner, Dr. Kushla gave a short history of Arbor Day and told that first time it was documented was in 1594 in Mondonedo, Spain. The first American Arbor Day was April 10, 1872 and was celebrated with it’s founder J. Sterling Morgan in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Over one million trees were planted that year in Nebraska. Arbor Day was made a national holiday in April 1885, with each state having it’s own designated day. Mississippi celebrates Arbor Day the 2^nd Friday in February. On April 15^th 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Arbor Day Proclamation to the School Children of the United States. “When you help to preserve our forests or plant new ones you are acting the part of a good citizen. The value of forestry deserves, therefore, to be taught in the schools, which aim to make good citizens of you. If your Arbor Day exercises hep you realize what benefits each of you receives from the forests, and how by your assistance these benefits may continue, they will serve a good end.” Logging was a big industry and President Roosevelt that if the forests were not replanted there would be no more. Logging is a renewable industry as long as the trees were replanted in a timely fashion.

Dr. Kushla tells us that there are several factors involved when planting a tree in your landscape. Design criteria for planting a tree involve climate, soil properties, growing space, water requirements, growth rate, size at maturity, clearance from buildings, overhead wires, and pavements, and insect and disease resistance.

Dr. Kushla says to be sure and read the label that comes with the tree or at least do some research. Will this species survive the heat and humidity of Mississippi? Will it fit in the space that you want to plant it? Size at maturity should be what you look at when selecting a tree for your landscape. Next on your list is to look at how close to your home or pavements are you going to plant. Trees are for sure going to have a root system that will spread in circumference equal to the diameter of the canopy. Planting that tree too close to the house or driveway or sidewalk will certainly cause major problems later. Make sure water and sewage lines are not in the root area as roots can cause serious damage to these pipes. Will the tree get enough sun and have adequate water drainage? Water drainage is a key element also, as roots that stand in water for the most part will cause serious root damage. Check for clearance for utility wires, trimming a tree to keep it out of utility wires will most likely be one sided and very unsightly.

Now that you have done all of these things it is time to plant. First and foremost, please call 811 before you dig, it’s the law. You can be fined severely for cutting utility lines in the ground and could cause an explosion in the case of a gas line. When digging your hole, dig the hole 2 to 3 times the size of the root ball wide and just a little deeper. Back fill the hole slightly so as to plant the tree just above ground level. Remove the pot or wrapping the tree is transported in and set tree in hole. Back fill and water with the dirt from the hole tamping it down as you go to eliminate as much of the air as possible. After backfilling add mulch approximately 3 inches thick being careful not to pile the mulch around the base of the tree. Leave mulch about 2 to 3 inches back from tree trunk. Keep tree watered during the first season until it is established.

Enjoy your new tree for many years to come.

Dr. John Kushla is an Extension/Research Professor for Mississippi State University Extension and Forestry Service at Verona with specialties in Agroforestry, Christmas Trees, GIS, Forest Soils, and Pine Silviculture. He can be reached at 662-566-2201.

In the beginning sometime in the mid-fifties, Keith and Wynez Wroten came into town looking to set-up a radio station. Wroten, an engineer for WBIP radio in Booneville, handcrafted the tiny new station from scratch with the exception of the tower. WNAU was first located in a small building just west of the courthouse and across from the Cine’. The studio was downstairs and the upstairs was shared with a dentist, Dr. Gus Parr. Downstairs Wroten built an office, guest studio, control room, and a recording studio. All music back then was on vinyl records (33 and 45 RPMs) as kids called them. Records played on air were furnished by the record companies in hopes of giving their artists more exposure through airplay time. Sometime around 1962, WNAU moved their operation to its present location on Moss Hill Drive and about 1965, Wroten added FM to the station.

In the early years the radio announcers did double duty, announcing for half the day and then out selling ads the other half. The hours that WNAU were on the air could vary but was basically from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. The format started out with the 1st hour being country music, followed by 2 hours of teen music, followed by a 15-minute newscast of local news and events. After that adult music as it was called was played until 11 a.m. with the infamous “Swap/Shop” next. Folks would mail in letters and postcards with things for sale, swap, or trade and the announcer would read them on the air. In the early 1980’s they started taking calls for items and “Swap/Shop” was changed to “The Interchange.” Postcards and letters were still taken, but phone calls were encouraged to get live interaction with the public. After this, local churches were given 15-minute segments until noon. At noon pop music was played until 1 p.m. after which country music was played for 2 hours, and teen music was played from 3p.m. until sign off. Now lest we forget, sponsors ads were played off and on all day between songs and comments. Later, in the early sixties, more equipment was added and the broadcast day was extended until midnight, with teenage music until ten p.m., then albums of big band music was played until midnight.

One of the early announcers (Bill Allhouse) made friends with some of the teen listeners and he began to survey the juniors and seniors of New Albany High School to find out what current music they liked and disliked. In early 1961, Allhouse became the night D.J. (6 PM till midnight.) In 1966, when he was offered the job of morning D.J. (6 AM till Noon) where he remained until 1971.

In July of 1968 the illustrious George Callicutt was hired as the afternoon D.J. During his career he worked all the time slots. Back then the studio was downstairs with a big window separating it from the transmitter room. We didn’t have sufficient air conditioning and it got really hot in the control room and even more so in the transmitter room where heat is a downfall for the equipment. One particular hot, muggy day the back door was propped open and as George looked up, a cow from the neighboring pasture was standing there just inside the transmitter room. Needless to say, he shooed her away and closed the door without even finding out what her request was for the next song. In the early days commercials were read by the announcer live and only sometimes was a spot was pre-recorded. All the music was on 45 RPM records or long-playing vinyl albums. George said that it was ironic that the same songs that are played today are the same songs that were played in 1968 when he first started. George, semi-retired now, still does the Sunday morning gospel show, playing the old gospel songs that are dear to him and playing the sermons of a few of the local pastors. He also keeps busy helping Terry with “The Interchange.”

In 1979, a young man by the name of Terry Cook hit the scene. Terry was an announcer for years on both the AM and FM side of radio. The FM side of the station was sold in 1993 and is also the time that Terry, Marty, Les Kitchens, Scott Spencer, and Chris Murphy bought the AM side of the station as well as the property. The format was changed to Southern Gospel and remained that way until the year 2000 when Hollis Brown bought in to the station. The format was changed again to “Oldies music” and has remained to present day. A few years later Hollis bought out the rest of the partners with the exception of Terry and in 2009 Terry and Ricky McCollum bought out Hollis. One of the favorites at the station is “The Interchange.” Terry and George have taken this segment to a new level with call in’s. With the public now calling in live and actually getting regulars that call in “The Interchange” has taken on a life and personality of its very own. Terry with his sincerity and George with his dry wit just made a great combination, along with folks that called in, for instance there was Lester, who by the way had a personality of his own. The driver’s education teacher for Myrtle High School (Elvis Thomas) would always make the students pull over when Lester would call in because they all laughed so hard he was afraid of having a wreck. Terry has also always been sports minded and this being an all sports town and county, WNAU has always been the voice of local sports, along with Blue Mountain and North East Community Colleges as well as state playoffs.

Some of Terry’s favorite interviews were Hamilton, Joe, Frank, and Reynolds (Pop music group), Roni Stoneman of Hee Haw fame. Rick Dees (Memphis DJ and “Disco Duck” fame) a real favorite making many appearances at WNAU as a guest, and Dick Hawley (Memphis TV Sportscaster) was a regular visitor. Many local artists have been on over the years getting their feet wet in the music industry.

“WNAU - what a place to work!!!!” shouted Kim Surber, that was my first job and what a busy place. Our general manager was Eddie Ferrell and the electrical and construction person was Hollis Brown. I worked with Ann Hoffman-Champion in the front office. Our sales reps were Gayle Mercier-Rutledge and a lady named Cindy. The wildest place was upstairs where the broadcasting was done. Pat Story, Rick McCay, George Callicutt, Andy Clemmer, were the seasoned announcers that I recall. Then there were the new kids on the block besides myself, Terry Cook, Mickey Basil, and Angel Bain. You know, high school folks just like me trying to make a little spending money and maybe save some for college. Snakes were a problem being there at the river and Hollis Brown was the man to get the snakes out of the transmitter room. I got the opportunity to smell fried snake a few times. Ann was the person I worked closest with and really learned a lot from, especially how to deal with the fruit bowl of personalities at WNAU. Everyone there enjoyed a good laugh and you never know when it would be at your expense, but we really worked hard and we always pulled together to make the WNAU work for the community. My Dad, Bro. Jimmy McMillen, worked there some time in the late 90's and maybe the early 2000's. He was an announcer that was loved by this community. He worked closely with Terry and George. You knew my dad was going to be on the Exchange every day moving the items that were called in and carrying on some kind of fun with Terry.

WNAU is still a force in the New Albany/Union County area and the listener base has gone viral with the addition of the internet and social media. Today the WNAU is heard worldwide and gets calls from all over the U.S. Folks that tell me they listen to WNAU exclusively, because of the music, sports, and specialty shows. Listening is easy now, not only can you tune in locally at 1470 AM radio, but you can also listen in at www.wnau1470.com and click on the streaming button and also download the SimpleRadio app on your smartphone.