Recently, our sister company, Moonscape Landscape Illumination installed an LED Moonlighting system on Tall Grass Ct in St. Charles. With a newly installed outdoor living room, our client was looking for something different, something other than the standard uplighting that is seen throughout the area. Using a subtle, soft Moonlight to illuminate specific focal points, we placed our fixtures high above in the treetops, with the shadows cascading onto the grounds below.

These trees are American Elm trees, and this particular property has lost a few trees already to Dutch Elm Disease.  The need exists to preserve these trees now more than ever, because without these trees, downlighting from above would not be possible. Graf Tree Care first fertilized these trees to keep them in best possible health and next spring we’ll be treating them with systemic fungicide injections to fend off Dutch Elm disease.

Read more: LED: A Revolution in Landscape Lighting! Tall Grass Ct, St. Charles

Typically, when we prepare our "Client Spotlight" section, it is to highlight some of our favorite customers, or a new and innovative project, or to acknowledge someone for doing something special or out of the ordinary that they should receive some recognition for. We do this to show how much we, as a small business, will never forget that we are never greater than the sum of our customers. This month, however, is something special. We would like to acknowledge an entire community.

As many folks already know, we have taken the EAB battle personally here at Graf Tree Care. In the midst of a whirlwind of opinions and panic, we have staked out a position on EAB that has much support in both the academic and regulatory arenas. Since 2006, we have been actively locating new EAB infestations, and helping homeowners and municipalities to deal with EAB by using systemic chemical injections and supplementary root feedings. We have tremendous pride in our methodology, and want to make sure that the heritage of this iconic tree is preserved for future generations, and not lost to history like the American Chestnut.

What follows is an accountof how Graf Tree Care was able to use GIS, and all of its available tools toaid the Village of Roselle and the Roselle Park District in producing one ofthe most rapid, innovative, and accurate responses to EAB that has beendocumented to date. Click here to read the full story

As a community that respects the long-term environmental and aesthetic benefits of healthy green spaces, and one that recognizes its responsibility in safeguarding them for future generations, the City of West Chicago took swift action in March of 2010 when we discovered the EAB in two of its neighborhoods.

First, we hit the streets for an Ash tree inventory identifying more than 2400 Ash trees on City parkways and City owned properties. We then made Ash trees a layer on their existing GIS system. GIS enabled us to see the big picture in seeing exactly where the EAB was, and how it was spreading. All of this information was valuable in creating their EAB Management Plan which was brought to City Council. This plan called for the removal of 450 infested Ash trees along with a treatment plan to save over 1900 Ash trees. The City's infrastructure committee voted unanimously 7-0 in favor of saving the Ash.

City crews began removing infested Ash trees over the past winter, and a contractor was hired to treat the rest earlier this summer. Thank you, City of West Chicago for acting quickly and responsibly to protect our Urban Forest.

For a more detailed account of West Chicago's progress, click here.