Tree People - Got a question

[ZLTFUL]

Having ran a nursery for a large landscaping company, I have to say my favorite tree, and one well suited for where you want to plant it is Betula Nigra or River Birch if you will. They look great, grow reasonably fast, are pretty resistant to most diseases and pest insects, and make a GREAT place to take a nap under late one a summer day (used to take my lunch under a stand of them we had at the shop everyday when the weather allowed).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_birch

[the_Journeyman]

Thanks ZL!  I *think* that's the type my local Wal-Mart has.  I was thinking it looked nice ~

JM

[ZLTFUL]

Only advice would be to keep the lower branches trimmed until it gets to about 10-15 feet tall. Once that's done, they canopy out nicely.

Worst case scenario, if you can't find a good clump locally, I can hit up the company I used to work for ($38 for a 6-8 foot 3 tree clump) and figure out a way to ship it to you...

[the_Journeyman]

Surely I can find some locally, as I have seen a few of them in recent landscaping jobs.  Thanks!

JM

[somegirl]

bamboo, it will make shade and you can't kill it

Not being able to kill it is not always a good thing.   I'd recommend against planting bamboo unless you use a container.

[Popeye the Sailor]

Not being able to kill it is not always a good thing.   I'd recommend against planting bamboo unless you use a container.

This is why you got me a garage, isn't it?

[somegirl]

This is why you got me a garage, isn't it?

 

[the_Journeyman]

Not being able to kill it is not always a good thing.   I'd recommend against planting bamboo unless you use a container.

I looked into bamboo, and like some varieties.  I had some creative ways in mind to control the spread.  I was looking at making a barrier to extend about 24" into to soil.  Anything outside of the barrier gets mowed.  A clump of bamboo in the middle of of the yard would look odd IMO.  I was going to use it as an edging ~

JM

[Langanobob]

I live at 5800 ft in the Nevada high desert and here are some of the trees that I've planted that have done well here.  My reasoning is that if they do well here, they should do pretty well just about anywhere.

Silver Poplar.  Fast growing and I like the look of the green/grey leaves.  Problem with fast growing trees is that they are more susceptible to  wind splitting since they are  not strong.  But so far no problems with the poplars.  Poplars are invasive, we had an older clay pipe from the house to the septic and had to replace it with ABS to keep the roots out.   We have a locust that split and I repaired it with some all-thread, fender washers and nuts.

Kentucky Coffee Tree.  These are very interesting fast growing trees that I planted from seeds I got from a friend in Kentucky.  They are probably available from internet mail order nurseries.  That's where I get most of my trees.  Getting advice from a  nursery on what kind of tree to get is OK as long as you get more than one opinion. Some of the nurseries have their own agenda on selling trees.   I don't know if it's true or not but there is a theory that a tree planted when fairly small will adapt faster and catch up and pass an older tree planted at the same time. 

All kinds of Oaks.  Nice trees.  Hard to classify many trees as fast or slow growing since growth speed seems to be more of a function of soil.

Catalpa.  Big shady leaves.

Nut trees.  I have Northern Pecans, hickories, walnuts and butternuts.  Also a few American Chestnuts - there is no chestnut blight in NV.  The nut trees are a long term investment since they take quite awhile to bear and aren't as attractive as say oaks.  Also no red fall color, they turn yellow.

Cherries.  These were the first trees I planted and the full sized standard trees (as opposed to dwarf varieties) grow fast and are nice shade trees.  Pretty blossoms and great fruit.  My thoughts on trees are that if I'm going to plant them I might as well plant something that grows fruit or nuts.

Birch.  It might be a local problem but here unless they have a lot of water they're susceptible to borer attack.  But fast growing nice trees.

I'm probably not a lot of help picking a tree since I more or less like all of them.

[tcspeedfreak]

sometimes those trees just get stunned, maybe thats the case how long has it been since you had to cut the fork?

[needtorque]

Just plant some kudzu near the old tree.  Within a year or two it will overgrow it and hold it up.  Then it will cover your whole yard and it is really thick so shade will be ample.  You can't kill it the stuff could withstand a nuclear holocaust.

[the_Journeyman]

sometimes those trees just get stunned, maybe thats the case how long has it been since you had to cut the fork?

Two years ago, it's been three springs since.  There's no leaves starting to bud out, and both the others are showing leaf buds.  it's gotten worse every year since removing the struck & dead fork.

JM

[tcspeedfreak]

yup then shes terminal time for a bonfire, id go for a white oak myself