Sep 18, 2026 · 57 min · 14 segments
This week, a look at Suncoast Urban ReForesters (SURF), a group and program doing so much good. SURF founder and Executive Director Charles Reith joins Cathy ANtunes to discuss how planting high…
You know, the first time, I think it's been a number of years that you've been coming on the show.
And I think that the intelligence of the plant world is something that most people, like we kind of know it's there, but...
It blew my mind what you taught me and what you taught people, what you teach people about how a micro forest works.
The big thing that I remember from what you've taught me is that in 10 years with a microforest, you get 100 years of growth.
Well, first of all, the most important name to go with micro forest is a Japanese botanist named Akira Miyawaki.
And some years ago he was chartered from his, um, university position to develop ways to grow forests very quickly in japan in order to preserve the natural beauty even as japan had a lot of development the paradigm might be that there's a nice neighborhood in one area but they're going to put in a toyota plant in the other and they would go to miyawaki and say you have this much land it's going to take us five years to get the permits done on that four on that That water plant or a car plant.
And Milwaukee discovered that by... putting in plants of all layers, ground covers, mid stories, and canopy plants, all native, and then putting them very close to each other, like two to three per square meter, what that does is it harnesses a shade response.
The trees, even though the forest is very low, they get this signal of shade in the morning and shade in the afternoon, and that reprioritizes their energy to get the fastest possible growth.
You know, the first time, I think it's been a number of years that you've been coming on the show.
And I think that the intelligence of the plant world is something that most people, like we kind of know it's there, but...
It blew my mind what you taught me and what you taught people, what you teach people about how a micro forest works.
The big thing that I remember from what you've taught me is that in 10 years with a microforest, you get 100 years of growth.
Well, first of all, the most important name to go with micro forest is a Japanese botanist named Akira Miyawaki.
And some years ago he was chartered from his, um, university position to develop ways to grow forests very quickly in japan in order to preserve the natural beauty even as japan had a lot of development the paradigm might be that there's a nice neighborhood in one area but they're going to put in a toyota plant in the other and they would go to miyawaki and say you have this much land it's going to take us five years to get the permits done on that four on that That water plant or a car plant.
And Milwaukee discovered that by... putting in plants of all layers, ground covers, mid stories, and canopy plants, all native, and then putting them very close to each other, like two to three per square meter, what that does is it harnesses a shade response.
The trees, even though the forest is very low, they get this signal of shade in the morning and shade in the afternoon, and that reprioritizes their energy to get the fastest possible growth.
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