Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
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.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yvonne Godfrey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where we shine a spotlight on local business. Today, in our virtual studio is Josh Fritz. He is the Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where we shine a spotlight on local business. Today, in our virtual studio, we have Josh Fritz. He is one of the owners of Welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast, where we shine a spotlight on local business. Today, in our virtual studio, we have the pleasure of speaking with Josh Fritz. He is one of the owners of Harvey Graymont Davy Tree Expert Company. He's also the district manager of the Boston North Shore and he is board certified as a master arborist. Josh, welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast. We're excited to have you here. We're happy to learn about your service. Can you share with our listeners what your company does?
Speaker 3:primarily do residential and commercial sites throughout the North Shore area, basically taking care of estate work or just regular residents in the area that are really concerned about their trees, and we're here to help basically keep those trees healthy and thriving for years to come, and that's what we do.
Speaker 2:Okay, that sounds great, and how long have you been doing this sort of work?
Speaker 3:So I've been doing this work for about 28 years.
Speaker 2:Wow, my goodness, and how did you get into this business, josh?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a great question. So, um, originally I wanted to be a meteorologist but, uh, the math of uh meteorology did not really work well for me. Um, but I did have a great uncle um out in Western Mass. He was a tree surgeon and when I was a kid I get to see him, you know, play in the trees, pruning trees, and I said that looks like a lot of fun. And the one thing he advised me is, like you know, hey, you got to work the rest of your life. You might as well have something fun and enjoy doing it, and I like being outside. And I was able to actually go to Essex Aggie, right here in Danvers, to get my associate's degree in horticulture and arboriculture, and that's how I got into the industry.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. What's the highest you've ever climbed a tree I've been up, let's see the highest tree.
Speaker 3:I'd say a 110 foot pine.
Speaker 2:I would have had nosebleed. Yeah, it's a little so outside of work, josh, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3: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 I like to hike. Yeah, that's pretty much anything. Outside Sounds rugged.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so let's change gears. Josh, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say, because of it, you're better and you're stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:as far as a challenge in my life that I've overcome. Well, yeah, that's a great question. I ask this a lot to you know, potential employees. I think the biggest hardship in my life is I've actually had a lot of injury. Injuries in my life, um, I've actually had a a severe or water ski accident and it actually took me, uh, to the point where I can't climb trees anymore. But with my industry, there's so broad, broad ways to work in our agriculture, so I was still able to do my job, which I really love, just a different way. It actually broadened my horizons and actually got me to the point where I'm in today as a manager.
Speaker 2:OK, wow. Well, thank you for sharing, Josh Wow.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for sharing.
Speaker 2:Josh, Can you please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Harvey-Graymont Davy Tree Expert Company.
Speaker 3:Well, harvey-graymont, what we do is, like I said, we're a tree preservation company.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of you know, the environment's changing rapidly, there's a lot of stresses that actually affect trees and their health, and what we do is we basically we're kind of like tree doctors.
Speaker 3:We go out in the properties, evaluate the situation and actually give you know potential clients and clients solutions to actually take care of their trees. It could be just either fertilize the tree or it could be something more involved, like there's a problem out there called beach leaf disease, and there's really no cure for that tree, that condition. But what we can do is we can give a lot of nutrients, we can keep the tree healthy, we try to offset other stresses of insects and disease that might kill the tree, but we're just trying to basically borrow time to keep these trees as healthy as they can until we find a cure for that condition. So, yeah, that's basically what we do. We're just kind of like. I guess, like I said, tree doctor, that you know, when a human goes to a doctor, there's options that the patient can choose and we have lots of things in our toolbox that we can help basically take care of your trees within your budget. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2:You know, it's amazing to even hear you say that you know it's amazing to even hear you say that.
Speaker 3: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 that that was strange, but I'm sure that there's a lot of truth in that. Oh yeah, absolutely so. For instance, I used to take care of Boston Common. There's a lot of elm trees within the park there, the common and public gardens and if you look at the majestic elms you know they're 400 years old. So you know, if you think about that, these trees have been around, you know when, you know Boston had been established and throughout the Revolutionary War and throughout, you know, up until now.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of history involved with those trees and the story they bring to those trees. There's actually an elm in boston called the liberty elm, I think it's it. It has uh, they had to cut it down with uh because of dutch elm disease, but that for a tree that they used to stand underneath to proclaim. You know what they're going to do for the revolution, stuff like that. There's a lot of history. Actually, there's another tree out in Western Mass. They call it the Butterball Tree, but it's a champion sycamore tree, but it's in the town near Deerfield, massachusetts, sunderland. That's the town, but anyway, underneath that tree the Mohawk Indians used to have their gathering and their conference underneath that tree. So there's a lot of history involved, trees and how they've been involved with, basically, the creation of our nation.
Speaker 2:Imagine the stories they could tell you if they spoke.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no kidding you if they spoke. Oh yeah, no kidding it is. I mean, they kind of do in in essence. 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 are struggling, they, they. They kind of put out indicators in their own way to talk of what's going on.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so, I was going to say, for instance, if you look at sugar maples, right, you know a lot of people use sugar maples for maple syrup. But if you look at the industry, the industry keeps going further north because Massachusetts and some states further south they're too warm for sugar maples to survive. So just the progression of their natural range is pushing further north and it does tell you a story of what's going on in the environment.
Speaker 2:Wow, do you from your experience? Do they grow better together or are they just as capable of growing independently?
Speaker 3:You know that's a great question and I do believe that you know trees work well when they're planting with proximity of other trees A lot of times. I mean there's a book called the Hidden Life of Trees, I think that's what it is. There's a book called the Hidden Life of Trees. But anyway, throughout the root system there is some fungal products called mycorrhizae and that fungal substance actually communicates to other trees when stress is in the area. So they'll actually the tree that's becoming stressed actually alerts other trees and they actually boost their immune systems so they can actually offset that stress that's oncoming. So, yeah, they definitely communicate with each other.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, the trees are alive. They are, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:Wow, wow the trees are alive, they, they are.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Nature is amazing. Thank you, josh, we, we. I asked the question, but then we went so in, you know, in so many different directions, so I'm going to ask again can you please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about um your company, Just one thing that they should remember about your company.
Speaker 3:Just know that we're here to help you know, as far as what we do, like I said, we are tree doctors. In essence, we're here to help, you know, protect your landscape investment, because a lot of people you know they think like, for instance, you know they'll get a tree from school that their daughter brought home and they plant that tree, you know, when it's a little sapling, but then the tree gets bigger and then all of a sudden, some things happen. That tree is part of their family and they need to figure out how to protect it. And that's where we come in to try to protect their trees and their shrubs and their landscape. Yeah, so, and that's where we come in to try to protect their trees and their, their shrubs and their and their landscape yeah, so basically that's where we are okay.
Speaker 2:So, josh, how can our listeners learn more about harvey graymont?
Speaker 3:davy tree expert company so, yeah, we have our website, so it's a one way to find us because we have a lot of uh information on that website. So if you go to wwwhartneyhartneycom, you'll find a lot of information about what we do in our services in there. Um, it also since hartney graymont's uh, you know we're within the metro boston uh area. We do have four offices throughout the area, so we have one in danvers, one in. You know we're within the Metro Boston area. We do have four offices throughout 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 of resources we provide in the area and, yeah, that's the best way to find us.
Speaker 2:Thank you, josh Hartney, greymont Harvey Tree Expert Company. It was a pleasure having you with us and sharing with our listeners some information about trees that many of us probably don't know, and so we really appreciate you being on the show with us today. Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNorthshorecom. That's GNPNorthshorecom, or call 857-703-9406.