A New Look for Good News Tree Service, Inc of Wilsonville, Oregon But the Same Name…

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GNTS, Inc. is sporting a new look these days. We are completing a long and expensive restoration of our 1952 GMC chip truck, which we purchased in 1996 and which is iconic and “legendary” in our home town. No other tree service in our region, probably in the entire country, has a tree service dump truck like this one—and there’s more to come with new signs and new wood on our dump body to give the truck a more classic and vintage look. This is all in keeping with one of our mottos which is “Old fashioned service, modern techniques since 1985.” For sure, our old dump truck drives home the point of “old fashioned.” Our truck is unique and so is our company in many ways, but this is a discussion for another time.

So why the name “Good News Tree Service, Inc.?” This is not your typical name for a tree service. I could have named my company after myself like so many others do, or added any one of a number trite verbiage to my name such as “A Cut Above,” “Out on a Limb,” “Best,” “Top Notch,” “Cheap,” “Inexpensive,” Professional,” “Quality” or whatever. While these may all be okay names, we chose something totally different and unique because we’re a little different than all the others. So why?

Simply this for this reason. It is our hope that people will ask us “what is the good news?” So what is the good news you may ask? I’m glad you asked! Well there are a lot of things that qualify as good news, even in these crazy times in which we’re living; however, above everything else, there is one thing that stands out above all the rest, and that is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah), and the love, peace, joy and hope that embracing and walking out this truth brings. Even though I’ve been in biblical-based evangelistic and pastoral ministry for 30 years, I don’t promote a church, denomination or any religious institution. I promote one thing only: the Bible as the word of LORD God (Yehovah Elohim) and Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) as the One who loved us so much that he died to pay the price for our sins, and Who then promises to give us changed and spiritually regenerated life full of love, peace, joy and hope if we will come into a personal relationship with Him.

So do you want to go to the next step in your upward spiritual journey and find out why you were placed on this earth and what your potential spiritual destiny is? Well, be courageous and please take a look at what I’ve written below.

Why were you born? Is life just a giant treadmill—you’re born, live and die?

The Bible, God’s message to man, begins with the words, “In the beginning, God/Elohim created the heavens and the earth.” The Bible tells us that God (His biblical name is Yehovah Elohim) is the Supreme King of the universe (Pss 47:7; 95:3) who created everything including man (Neh 9:6; Gen 2:7). Man is the only creature Elohim created in His own likeness (Gen 1:26). Why? Elohim, is a loving Father (Matt 5:48; 6:9; Rom 1:7), and it was His plan for man to live forever as part of His spiritual family (Rom 8:14–16; 1 John 3:1–2). For this to happen, man had to love and obey Elohim, like a child needs to obey his parents. For awhile, the first man and woman obeyed and loved Elohim (Gen 1:27–28; 2:4–25).

Sadly, everything soon changed. An evil alien king and a rival to Elohim appeared on the earth and seduced the mind and heart of man (Gen 3:1–6). This evil king, who the Bible calls the serpent, the devil or Satan (Gen 3:1; Rev 12:9; 20:2), accused Elohim of lying to man and he lured man into sin (breaking Elohim’s laws, 1 John 3:4). When man sinned, he came under Satan’s power and became a slave to sin and rebellion against Elohim. When man chose to follow the devil, he chose a spiritual path that leads away from Elohim resulting in guilt, hopelessness, emptiness, pain, bondage and eventually eternal death. All men have been going down this path of sin and rebellion ever since (Rom 3:23).

As King of the universe, Yehovah Elohim is a God of law, order and justice (Deut 32:4,35; Pss 9:4,7,8; 89:1). As in a nation, there has to be law and order in the universe or else there would be chaos and anarchy. If evil were allowed to go unchecked, then all that Elohim has made and loves would be destroyed. As in human government, so it is with Elohim’s government: when laws are broken a penalty has to be paid. When man breaks Elohim’s laws the penalty is misery, guilt and death (Gen 2:17; Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). 

In the mean time, the devil, the enemy king, has blinded his prisoners (man) to the terrible consequences of sin, to the truth of Elohim’s laws or Torah and to Elohim’s love. The devil promises man so much, but delivers so little in return. If man will sin, he promises man wealth, fame, pleasure, power, prestige, and acceptance (Matt 4:8–9), but instead man ends up with guilt, despair, emptiness, sorrow, pain, and eventually death and an eternity of separation from Elohim. The devil is a deceiver and a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44).

All men have sinned (broken Elohim’s Torah-laws) and fallen short of the glory YHVH intended for him when He made man in His image (Rom 3:23). Anyone who says he has not sinned is deceiving himself (1 John 1:8). The Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1–17) give us an outline of what sin is. For example, if you put anything in your life ahead of Elohim, then you are guilty of idolatry. If you have profaned Yehovah’s name, then you are a blasphemer. If you have not rested on the seventh-day Sabbath, not honored your parents, murdered, stolen, committed adultery, lied or coveted, you are a lawbreaker and a sinner worthy of death, according to the Word of Elohim (Rom 6:23).

Man has a big problem! How can he obtain the glorious destiny that Elohim has for him as a son who will live forever (Rom 3:23; Eph 1:3–4) when he is a sinner under an irrevocable death penalty (Rom 6:23; Ezek 18:4)? The enemy king, Satan the devil, figures that he has man trapped like a prisoner of war behind the walls of a heavily guarded fortress prison with no possibility of escape.  

But Elohim had a plan from the beginning to rescue man. He knew man would sin, but when the time was right, He “broke” a piece of Himself off, so to speak, and sent Himself  to this earth and put a part of Himself inside of a human body (Isa 53:1 and 2–12 for context; Rom 8:3). We know that Divine God-Man to be Yeshua the Messiah or Jesus Christ (John 1:1–14; Phil 2:6–8). He would save or rescue man from the death penalty (Matt 1:21). The Bible says, “For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him [Yeshua] should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). 

How did Yeshua save sinful man? The Bible says that Yeshua lived a sinless life and then died to pay the price for man’s sin (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 1:18–19; 2:22). As Yehovah in flesh form (Matt 1:23; John 1:1–14), and as the Creator of man (John 1:3; Eph 3:9; Col 1:16), Yeshua’s life was worth more than all sinful men put together (Heb 9:28). By dying in man’s place (1 Pet 2:24; Isa 53:4–6), he satisfied Elohim’s divine justice (1 Pet 3:18). Is this hard to believe? Well believe it! This is how much Elohim loved you, a sinner (Rom 5:8). He sent his own Son to die on the cross to pay for your sins! 

So now what do you need to do? How do you get set free from the prison of the enemy king, and be released from the grip of guilt, emptiness, anguish, pain and eventual eternal death and separation from Elohim and his love?

What must you do to be saved? It is as simple as ABC.

  • Admit that you’re a sinner and turn away from all sin.
  • Believe in your heart that Yeshua died for your sins and resurrected from the dead defeating the power of death.
  • Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that He is the Son of Elohim.
  • Then ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
  • Be baptized in water for the washing away of your sins and begin reading and believing your Bible every day.
  • Then become a part of a congregation of serious Bible-believing followers of Yeshua. After this, resolve to obey Yeshua, your new Master and King every day. Show Elohim that you love Him by reading His Word, the Bible, and following His commands.
  • Do this and your life will be changed forever!

For more information, we invite you to check out our website at www.hoshanarabbah.org

Hearst Castle’s Trees, Plants, Bathrooms & a Burping Sea Lion

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This is not your typical tour of Hearst Castle, but is specifically for lovers of gardens, trees, and outdoor scenery including background info on how the gardens came to be. Of course, we’ll take you on a tour of all five stories of the famous Hearst Castle including Mr. Heart’s private suite and bedroom and bathrooms. The video ends with a visit to a nearby bunch of bickering and snorting sea lions including a one ton grandpa sea lion showing off his prowess at burping. Please enjoy!

March in the Garden—A To Do List

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This guide is tailored for the western valleys of Oregon and Washington.

YOU can help to make the world a better, a more friendly, loving and beautiful place by being a good steward of the spot on this earth, your garden, that you have been given the privilege of borrowing for a time. It is our hope that the following to-do list will help you to do just that.

Nathan, the Treevangelist, urges you to treat your spot on this planet like your own personal Garden of Eden. May it become your personal paradise. This is your divinely mandated responsibility.  Your trees, shrubs, flowers and the wildlife in your yard will pay you back as they express their smiling appreciation to you and yours by radiating their love, joy and beauty bursting forth with vibrant and verdant life. Below is a to-do list to help fulfill this mission.

E-A-R-L-Y is the operative word this March. With the mild winter, almost no snow in the Willamette Valley, and warmer than usual temperatures, the life forces within the plants cannot be contained any longer and are bursting forth. Amazingly, as early as late February, I was seeing some roses and flowering plums, among other things, beginning to sprout some leaves. 

The months of January and February, though still in the throes of winter, with their numerous days in the 50s with some pushing towards 60 degrees mark, shouted “spring” in defiance of the calendric dates. This spells one thing: time to drag out the lawn mower and weeder, for the garden awaits your dutiful attention. 

Come on and admit it. With all  the rain, you’ve caught a touch of cabin fever, and it’s time to give in to that nervous twitch, come out of your cave and, like a monarch about to burst forth from its cocoon, start spreading those wings, take to flight and joyously begin fluttering around from plant to plant in your garden paradise!

While you’re at it, take a few moments and scroll back through this same Good News Tree Service, Inc. blog and check out the archives for any tree and plant care articles that you may have missed. Also check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvcu2lL9NpgoXQtUFYyQShw, our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GoodNewsTreeService/ and our main website at www.goodnewstree.com. Please enjoy!

Readers’ suggestions on how to improve this list are gladly solicited. If you, the reader, have any suggestions for additions to this month’s list, please put them in the comments section of this article, and I will add them to the list. Thank you in advance! — Nathan

YOU can help to make the world a better, a more friendly, loving and beautiful place by tending your spot on this earth that has been given to you—your garden. Here is a to do list to help you to do just that…

Tree and Shrub Care

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The World Class Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden—50,000 Cacti and More!

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Are you fascinated by cacti (or cactuses) of all shapes and sizes including the unusual and weird? Well, then, take a quick tour of, by some accounts, Phoenix, Arizona’s top tourist attraction, one of America’s top botanical gardens, and, probably, the top desert botanical garden in the world—the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. I’ve been to some of the top botanical gardens in the world, and this is one unlike anything else!

February in the Garden—A To Do List

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This guide is tailored for the western valleys of Oregon and Washington. 

YOU can help to make the world a better, a more friendly, loving and beautiful place by being a good steward of the spot on this earth, your garden, that you have been given the privilege of borrowing for a time. It is our hope that the following to-do list will help you to do just that.

Nathan, the Treevangelist, urges you to treat your spot on this planet like your own personal Garden of Eden. May it become your personal paradise. This is your divinely mandated responsibility.  Your trees, shrubs, flowers and the wildlife in your yard will pay you back as they express their smiling appreciation to you and yours by radiating their love, joy and beauty bursting forth with vibrant and verdant life. Below is a to-do list to help fulfill this mission.

Just when you thought it couldn’t rain much more, it did. January was a wetter than usual month and a good time for people to hibernate indoors.  But as the days begin to lengthen, the cold temps begin to inch upward, and the sun begins to peak out from behind the clouds a tiny bit more, guess what? Heat and light incubate life. Plant buds are beginning to swell, and a few hardy early-bird flowers are beginning to pop out of the cold ground. Rejoice as the earth begins to awaken with a new flourish of life, and take a moment to walk around your personal domain and notice as the inexorable and reassuringly predictable cycles of plant-life rebirths once again despite the crazy, erratic, capricious and often malevolent machinations of many humans everywhere.

While you’re looking around, scroll back through this same Good News Tree Service, Inc. blog and check out the archives for any tree care articles that you may have missed. Also check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvcu2lL9NpgoXQtUFYyQShw and our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GoodNewsTreeService/. Our website is https://goodnewstree.com. Please enjoy!

Readers’ suggestions on how to improve this list are gladly solicited. If you, the reader, have any suggestions for additions to this month’s list, please put them in the comments section of this article, and I will add them to the list. Thank you in advance! — Nathan

Tree and Shrub Care

  • Fruit tree pruning. Prune your fruit trees for fruit production. You can also prune grapes, can and trailing berries once the threat of major frost is past.
  • Plant fruit trees. Not only is this a good time to plant bareroot fruits trees, which you can purchase now at many garden centers, but it’s an excellent to plant all kinds of trees and shrubs in the garden, while the weather is cool and the plants are still dormant. This is also a good time to reduce the height of overgrown fruit trees, since they are likely to produce fewer water sprouts now then when pruned in the spring.
  • Mulch. Apply two to three inches of mulch around all trees and ornamental shrubs. This helps to fertilize the plants and feed the soil, and also protects them against weed growth and loss of water when the warmer  weather returns.
  • Pine tree pruning. Prune coast/shore pines (Pinus contorta) and Scotch/Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris). These two pines are especially susceptible to the sequoia pitch moth whose larvae burrow into the tree trunks during the growing season (April through September) causing the trees to exude large amounts of unsightly pitch globules. While this seldom kills the tree, the bleeding of sap is not good for the overall health and vigor of the tree. It is advisable, therefore, not to prune these pine trees during the growing season, since the pruning cuts attract the moth, which then lays eggs on the tree, which hatch into tree-burrowing larvae. Pruning should be done on your pines from November to March.
  • Plant or transplant trees and shrubs. Winter is good time to plant or transplant ornamental trees and shrubs. Cooler weather means less transplant shock to the plants, and over  the winter and spring, they will have time to begin to acclimate to their new environment before the stress of the next summer season occurs.
  • Pruning of ornamental shrubs. Do major pruning (called heading back) of rhododendrons (or rhodies) and other similar ornamental shrubs back to latent buds in trunks and stalks. Do this before spring growth begins in a couple of months.
  • Pruning of large trees. Winter is a great time to do aesthetic and structural pruning of deciduous trees and shrubs, since the structure or architecture of the plant is clearly visible making aesthetic pruning easier than when plants are foliated. Structural defects, which can cause tree failure, are more easily spotted as well. Also remove of dead wood, and pruning to reduce hazards. If you’re not sure what to do, or how to do it, call Good News Tree Service, Inc. for a consultation, pruning lessons or to have them do the pruning for you.
  • Roses. The best time to prune roses is after the threat of major frost is past.
  • Tree and shrub removal and stump grinding can be done all year long. 
  • Trees. Have an ISA Certified Arborist with an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (like Good News Tree Service, Inc.) inspect your large trees for the potential of failure due to weak root systems and defects in trunks and branches. This is best done when the leaves are off the trees. 
  • Trees and Storms. Storm proof your larger trees. Checking your trees for hazards and then take the appropriate measures to protect your trees from storm damage. After each major weather event, check your trees for damage such as broken or hanging limbs. If you have concerns or questions about your trees, have an ISA Certified Arborist with an ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (like Good News Tree Service, Inc.) inspect your large trees for damage or the potential of failure due to weak root systems and defects in trunks and branches. If you’re not sure about the condition of your trees or even what to look for, call Good News Tree Service, Inc. for a free on-site consultation.
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There’s a New Plant Villain in Town Called the Azalea and Rhododendron Lace Bug

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Are you wondering why some of your rhododendrons and azaleas are taking on a shabby whitish-yellow look as if some graffiti artist snuck into your yard and airbrushed them with paint while you were asleep? Or maybe you think they sport a pale coat because you neglected to fertilize them, or maybe…. Well, it’s none of the above. These ornamental shrubs look this way because there’s a new villain in town that’s literally sucking the life out of your plants, and it’s called the lace bug, and it’s not going away. Let’s introduce you to your new, not so friendly neighbor is and what you can do about it this pesky little insect.

What is azalea and rhododendron lace bug?

The lace bug is a tiny insect that uses its piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck the sugars of the green chlorophyll out of the leaves of broadleafed evergreen trees and plants. This action causes significant damage to the leaves by reducing their ability to produce food for the plant. If the lace bug infestations is severe, this can weaken a plant thus stressing it to the point where it becomes more susceptible to other pests and diseases. We will discuss what you can do to protect your plants from this bothersome pest.

At one-tenth to three-eighths of inch long, the adult lace bugs are whitish-tan in color with a thorax (body)and transparent wings sculptured with an intricate pattern of veins that resembles lace. There are approximately 140 varieties of lace bugs in North America. The one that feeds primarily on azaleas has smoky brown markings on its wings, which distinguishes it from the pale whitish-tan rhododendron (or rhody) lace bug. The juvenile lace bugs or nymphs, which emerge in the spring, are colorless to black in color, pointed on both ends and may have spines depending upon their age. 

What is the life cycle of the lace bug?

Lace bugs are a hardy creature that can overwinter under bark scales in trees. They also lay eggs along the mid-ribs on the underside of leaves that resemble crusty brown patches. Depending on the temperatures, they can emerge anytime from mid-April to early June. The warmer the spring, the earlier they will hatch.

Adult lace bug

 They primarily spend their lives feeding on the underside of leaves. 

What plants do lace bugs attack?

To this date, here is a list of plants that lace bugs are finding delicious. This list seems to be growing.

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Why Do Mature Trees Suddenly Die?

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Why did my mature conifer (cone bearing) or deciduous (trees that lose their leaves in the fall) trees suddenly die? Arborists often get asked this question by grieving tree owners. This question deserves a serious answer, since an unbreakable bond exists between humans and trees, and when that link is unexpectedly broken, there are negative consequences for humans and the environment. This is because trees have such a large impact on our lives and often impact all types of human activities. Moreover, whether we are consciously aware of it or not, our lives are intertwined with trees, and even depend upon them for our survival, and when we lose them there are economic, social and cultural, emotional and environmental consequences. If we understand why trees die, maybe we can proactively help to keep them alive.

So why do trees die? And if we understand the reasons why they die, perhaps through wise and knowledgeable actions on our part, we can help to keep the trees in our lives alive longer. After all, as caretakers of this planet, it is our responsibility to care for the small piece of real estate over which we’ve been given stewardship including the trees on it. Face it, the simple fact is that without trees, all animal and human life will die!

With these things in mind, many years ago, as a tree care professional—in the industry, we’re called arborists—I felt that I was taking out too many trees that I knew were savable. Therefore, I rolled up my sleeves and got the necessary education, credentials, licenses and then purchased the equipment to begin providing plant health care services in my tree care company. Since then, I have saved hundreds, if not thousands of trees from their demise. This has been a rewarding activity for me on many levels.

But along the way, I have found that there is a belief among many of my clients that all trees have a life span and eventually grow old and die. For many people, this seems to explain why their yard tree suddenly died. Yet, in my decades as an arborist, I have found this belief usually to be unfounded. Since there are so many variable factors that contribute to tree mortality, it’s often not easy to determine why a tree has died without conducting extensive and costly forensics. Suffice it to say, many of the factors listed below combine to stress a tree, and if the tree doesn’t possess a sufficient reserve of stored energy to combat its stressors, it will eventually succumb to these stressors. Almost everything that a tree does is in slow motion. It grows slowly, its metabolic processes occur slowly and it usually dies slowly as well. On occasion, a tree dies quickly (in a few weeks or months), but this is rare. Like the rest of us, a tree has a strong survival instinct and wants to live. In fact, it contains many built in mechanisms to insure that it survives come what may. So to say that a tree has a certain life span and then it just dies is a misnomer. True, some trees are able to live for hundreds, even thousands of years, while other trees are relatively short lived, by comparison. But under the right conditions and with the right care, nearly any tree you plant in your yard can outlive you and probably your grandchildren too.

The Reasons Trees Die

So now let’s discuss why trees. The following is a list of some of the more common reasons of tree mortality.

Drought. Like humans and all animal life, plants need water to survive. No water, no life. Trees suck up an immense amount of water out of the soil on a continual basis, especially during the growing season. If they don’t obtain the water they need, the go into stress mode. If this continues long enough, they will slowly die of thirst.

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