EP #69 - Guardians of the Green: Trees talk to each other, and Josh Fritz listens to their stories.

Master arborist Josh Fritz has spent 28 years uncovering the hidden wonders of tree preservation, from the underground fungal networks that allow trees to communicate to the historical significance of Boston’s oldest trees. His journey into arboriculture was inspired by his great-uncle, a tree surgeon who encouraged him to pursue work that was both meaningful and enjoyable. Though a water skiing accident prevented Fritz from climbing, it led him to a leadership role at Hartney Greymont Davey Tree Expert Company, where he now spearheads preservation efforts as a dedicated "tree doctor."

Beyond science, Fritz understands the deep emotional bonds people share with trees, whether it's a backyard sapling planted by a child or a centuries-old landmark shaping history. He tackles climate-related shifts, such as sugar maples retreating northward, and diagnoses diseases threatening beloved trees. His team’s work ensures that trees—and the stories they hold—remain protected for generations. Interested in safeguarding your own living landmarks? Visit www.hartney.com to learn more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, YvonneGodfrey.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where we shine
a spotlight on local business.
Today, in our virtual studio isJosh Fritz.
He is the Welcome to the GoodNeighbor Podcast, where we shine
a spotlight on local business.
Today, in our virtual studio,we have Josh Fritz.
He is one of the owners ofWelcome to the Good Neighbor

(00:37):
podcast, where we shine aspotlight on local business.
Today, in our virtual studio,we have the pleasure of speaking
with Josh Fritz.
He is one of the owners ofHarvey Graymont Davy Tree Expert
Company.
He's also the district managerof the Boston North Shore and he
is board certified as a masterarborist.

(00:58):
Josh, welcome to the GoodNeighbor podcast.
We're excited to have you here.
We're happy to learn about yourservice.
Can you share with ourlisteners what your company does
?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
primarily do residential and commercial sites
throughout the North Shore area, basically taking care of
estate work or just regularresidents in the area that are

(01:36):
really concerned about theirtrees, and we're here to help
basically keep those treeshealthy and thriving for years
to come, and that's what we do.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Okay, that sounds great, and how long have you
been doing this sort of work?

Speaker 3 (01:53):
So I've been doing this work for about 28 years.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Wow, my goodness, and how did you get into this
business, josh?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Oh, that's a great question.
So, um, originally I wanted tobe a meteorologist but, uh, the
math of uh meteorology did notreally work well for me.
Um, but I did have a greatuncle um out in Western Mass.
He was a tree surgeon and whenI was a kid I get to see him,
you know, play in the trees,pruning trees, and I said that

(02:27):
looks like a lot of fun.
And the one thing he advised meis, like you know, hey, you got
to work the rest of your life.
You might as well havesomething fun and enjoy doing it
, and I like being outside.
And I was able to actually goto Essex Aggie, right here in
Danvers, to get my associate'sdegree in horticulture and

(02:48):
arboriculture, and that's how Igot into the industry.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Beautiful.
What's the highest you've everclimbed a tree I've been up,
let's see the highest tree.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I'd say a 110 foot pine.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
I would have had nosebleed.
Yeah, it's a little so outsideof work, josh, what do you do
for fun?

Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm a big mountain biker so I enjoy going to Lynn
Woods, harold Parker Reservation, anything in the North Shore
area.
So, yeah, I like to ride and Ilike to hike.
Yeah, that's pretty muchanything.
Outside Sounds rugged.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, so let's change gears.
Josh, can you describe onehardship or one of life's
challenge that you rose aboveand can now say, because of it,
you're better and you'restronger?
What comes to mind?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
as far as a challenge in my life that I've overcome.
Well, yeah, that's a greatquestion.
I ask this a lot to you know,potential employees.
I think the biggest hardship inmy life is I've actually had a
lot of injury.
Injuries in my life, um, I'veactually had a a severe or water

(04:06):
ski accident and it actuallytook me, uh, to the point where
I can't climb trees anymore.
But with my industry, there'sso broad, broad ways to work in
our agriculture, so I was stillable to do my job, which I
really love, just a differentway.
It actually broadened myhorizons and actually got me to

(04:29):
the point where I'm in today asa manager.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
OK, wow.
Well, thank you for sharing,Josh Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Well, thank you for sharing.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Josh, Can you please tell our listeners one thing
that they should remember aboutHarvey-Graymont Davy Tree Expert
Company.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well, harvey-graymont , what we do is, like I said,
we're a tree preservationcompany.
So there's a lot of you know,the environment's changing
rapidly, there's a lot ofstresses that actually affect
trees and their health, and whatwe do is we basically we're
kind of like tree doctors.
We go out in the properties,evaluate the situation and

(05:13):
actually give you know potentialclients and clients solutions
to actually take care of theirtrees.
It could be just eitherfertilize the tree or it could
be something more involved, likethere's a problem out there
called beach leaf disease, andthere's really no cure for that

(05:34):
tree, that condition.
But what we can do is we cangive a lot of nutrients, we can
keep the tree healthy, we try tooffset other stresses of
insects and disease that mightkill the tree, but we're just
trying to basically borrow timeto keep these trees as healthy

(05:56):
as they can until we find a curefor that condition.
So, yeah, that's basically whatwe do.
We're just kind of like.
I guess, like I said, treedoctor, that you know, when a
human goes to a doctor, there'soptions that the patient can

(06:17):
choose and we have lots ofthings in our toolbox that we
can help basically take care ofyour trees within your budget.
Let's put it that way.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
You know, it's amazing to even hear you say
that you know it's amazing toeven hear you say that.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
I believe I heard some time ago that trees, when
you cut the base of a tree,you're able to see or tell a
story, and I always thought thatthat was strange, but I'm sure
that there's a lot of truth inthat.
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
For instance, I used to takecare of Boston Common.
There's a lot of elm treeswithin the park there, the
common and public gardens and ifyou look at the majestic elms

(07:21):
you know they're 400 years old.
So you know, if you think aboutthat, these trees have been
around, you know when, you knowBoston had been established and
throughout the Revolutionary Warand throughout, you know, up
until now.
There's a lot of historyinvolved with those trees and
the story they bring to thosetrees.

(07:42):
There's actually an elm inboston called the liberty elm, I
think it's it.
It has uh, they had to cut itdown with uh because of dutch
elm disease, but that for a treethat they used to stand
underneath to proclaim.
You know what they're going todo for the revolution, stuff

(08:02):
like that.
There's a lot of history.
Actually, there's another treeout in Western Mass.
They call it the ButterballTree, but it's a champion
sycamore tree, but it's in thetown near Deerfield,
massachusetts, sunderland.
That's the town, but anyway,underneath that tree the Mohawk

(08:26):
Indians used to have theirgathering and their conference
underneath that tree.
So there's a lot of historyinvolved, trees and how they've
been involved with, basically,the creation of our nation.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Imagine the stories they could tell you if they
spoke.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Oh yeah, no kidding you if they spoke.
Oh yeah, no kidding it is.
I mean, they kind of do in inessence.
You know, especially with, uh,you know, the environmental
changing, you can actually see,um, what is happening and what
is caused.
You know why the trees arestruggling, they, they.
They kind of put out indicatorsin their own way to talk of

(09:10):
what's going on.
So yeah, so, I was going to say,for instance, if you look at
sugar maples, right, you know alot of people use sugar maples
for maple syrup.
But if you look at the industry, the industry keeps going
further north becauseMassachusetts and some states

(09:37):
further south they're too warmfor sugar maples to survive.
So just the progression oftheir natural range is pushing
further north and it does tellyou a story of what's going on
in the environment.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Wow, do you from your experience?
Do they grow better together orare they just as capable of
growing independently?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
You know that's a great question and I do believe
that you know trees work wellwhen they're planting with
proximity of other trees A lotof times.
I mean there's a book calledthe Hidden Life of Trees, I

(10:27):
think that's what it is.
There's a book called theHidden Life of Trees.
But anyway, throughout the rootsystem there is some fungal
products called mycorrhizae andthat fungal substance actually
communicates to other trees whenstress is in the area.

(10:48):
So they'll actually the treethat's becoming stressed
actually alerts other trees andthey actually boost their immune
systems so they can actuallyoffset that stress that's
oncoming.
So, yeah, they definitelycommunicate with each other.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Wow, wow, the trees are alive.
They are, that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
Wow, wow the trees are alive, they, they are.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's amazing.
Nature is amazing.
Thank you, josh, we, we.
I asked the question, but thenwe went so in, you know, in so
many different directions, soI'm going to ask again can you
please tell our listeners onething that they should remember
about um your company, Just onething that they should remember
about your company.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Just know that we're here to help you know, as far as
what we do, like I said, we aretree doctors.
In essence, we're here to help,you know, protect your
landscape investment, because alot of people you know they
think like, for instance, youknow they'll get a tree from
school that their daughterbrought home and they plant that

(11:54):
tree, you know, when it's alittle sapling, but then the
tree gets bigger and then all ofa sudden, some things happen.
That tree is part of theirfamily and they need to figure
out how to protect it.
And that's where we come in totry to protect their trees and
their shrubs and their landscape.
Yeah, so, and that's where wecome in to try to protect their
trees and their, their shrubsand their and their landscape
yeah, so basically that's wherewe are okay.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
So, josh, how can our listeners learn more about
harvey graymont?

Speaker 3 (12:20):
davy tree expert company so, yeah, we have our
website, so it's a one way tofind us because we have a lot of
uh information on that website.
So if you go towwwhartneyhartneycom, you'll
find a lot of information aboutwhat we do in our services in
there.
Um, it also since hartneygraymont's uh, you know we're

(12:45):
within the metro boston uh area.
We do have four officesthroughout the area, so we have
one in danvers, one in.
You know we're within the MetroBoston area.
We do have four officesthroughout the area, so we have
one in Danvers, one in Concord,mass, one in Needham, mass and
one down in Mashpee in the Cape.
So, yeah, there is a lot ofresources we provide in the area
and, yeah, that's the best wayto find us.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Thank you, josh Hartney, greymont Harvey Tree
Expert Company.
It was a pleasure having youwith us and sharing with our
listeners some information abouttrees that many of us probably
don't know, and so we reallyappreciate you being on the show
with us today.

(13:27):
Thank you, thank you for havingme.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPNorthshorecom.
That's GNPNorthshorecom, orcall 857-703-9406.