Trees You Wish You Had Planted

Spring is just about here and I'm one of those people who like different, unusual plants. I do not want to have what everyone else has. I think many of us are like that. 

The best estimate for the number of tree species in the world is 23,000 to 25,000. That means that we have more to choose from than just maples, redbuds, oaks, or Leyland cypresses.

I will be the first to admit that some of the trees I’m recommending will not be easy to find, nor will you have the choice of a 3” caliper tree. Many times you will have one option and that is a stick.  Let me enlighten you about sticks.

There is plenty of research that finds a smaller tree will establish faster (and less transplant shock) and grow faster in the first several years after planting than a large caliper tree.  Often, a tree planted when 24-36” tall will outgrow the same species tree planted as a much larger 2” caliper transplant and actually be larger in 5-10 years.

Also, please don’t settle for whatever the garden center or nursery has on site. Many times they can order the plant you want. Ask them to do it for you so they know you are not satisfied with what they have in stock.

The following is a list of some uncommon, small, tough landscape trees for around your home. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but these are some really interesting trees.

1. Trident maple (Acer buergerianum) -- 20-30' tall, rounded form, fall color yellow-red, unique leaf shape, tolerant of heat, compacted soils, and pH, exfoliating bark
2. Hedge maple (Acer campestre) -- 25-35' tall, rounded form, yellow fall color, ornamental seedpods, tolderant of drought, heat, compacted soils, and pH
3. Paperbark maple (Acer griseum) -- 20-30' tall, rounded form, red fall color, exfoliating cinnamon-colored bark, trifoliate leaves, grows better in good soils
4. Speckled alder (Alnus rugosa) -- 20-25' tall, upright form, minimal fall color, has ability to dry out wet areas, tolerates poor soils, fast-growing
5. Serviceberry (Amelachier spp.) -- 15-25' tall, upright form, red-yellow-orange fall color, blooms early, edible fruit, pH-tolerant, some good selections are 'Autumn Brilliance' and 'Lustre'
6. Devil's Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa) -- 10-20' tall, open and upright form, yellow fall color, tolerates heat and dry shade, suckering, has spines, compound leaves, lends tropical look
7. Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) -- 15-20' tall, pyramidal (in full sun), yellow fall color, can be difficult to transplant, no fruit if only one tree, tropical-looking
8. Sweet birch (Betula lenta) -- to 40' tall, upright form, great yellow fall color, reddish-brown papery bark, bruised stems emit wintergreen aroma
9. American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) -- 20-30' tall, rounded, irregular form, red-orange-yellow fall color, fluted bark looks like rippled muscles, tolerant of wet soils and pH
10. Katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) -- to 50' tall, upright, rounded form, yellow fall color, heart-shaped foliage, weeping form 'Amazing Grace' only 30' tall, fall leaves smell like cotton candy
11. Amur maackia (Maackia amurensis) -- 20-25' tall, rounded form, no fall color, very attractive redish, exfoliating bark, compound leaves, dull white, pea-like flower in summer
12. Persian parrotia (Parrotia persica) -- 20-30' tall, upright oval form, yellow-red fall color, exfoliating bark, unusual early spring blooms, pH tolerant, best upright form 'Jennifer Teates'
13. Lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) -- 30' tall. upright oval form, evergreen, exfoliating bark, often multi-trunked, drought and pH tolerant, 'Silver Ghost'
14. Dragon's Eye Pine (Pinus densiflora) -- 20' tall, irregular form ,evergreen, variegated needles with 1-2 yellow bands, slow-growing

Old Seeds and Jack (you have to read to the end)

This is not a post about doing germination tests on your old flower or vegetable seeds.  This is a story of forgetfulness.

Back in the fall of 2010, I was hiking at the Yahoo Falls area in McCreary Co, KY.  Great place to hike by the way.  I collected some seed from a cucumber magnolia.  I absolutely love our native deciduous magnolias!  I gathered between 15 and 25 seeds.

When I got home, I did the thing that all horticulturists know to do with those temperate woody tree seeds, and that's stratify them.  In order to germinate, these guys have to go through a cool, moist period of a certain length.  Only after that will the seeds germinate.

So, as a good horticulturist, I got my ziplock bag and filled it with moist vermiculite, stuck my seeds in, and crammed them in the back of my fridge.  Never to be looked at until again December of 2012.

That does tend to happen...forgetting what you've stuck in the fridge, especially waaaay in the back.

I found the bag, inspected the contents, and the seeds had indeed germinated in the bag.  That was expected.  I gently tugged the individual plants out. The root systems weren't any longer than maybe 2" and some were nicely branched and white as can be - a healthy root.  The seed case still enclosed the cotyledons.

I didn't have much hope that those cotyledons would be intact. I figured they'd be rotted.  Anyway, I potted up 6 of the most promising little seedlings. I watched them green up (they were little albinos in the bag). I watched them bend toward light sources.  But the seed cases were hanging on and wouldn't release the cotyledons.

Two seedlings a day or 2 on the counter after their 2-year stint in the fridge

 
So, I opened them up by hand. They were a little crispy, somewhat hard.  I messed up one of the plants, tore the whole plum thing off.  But the other 5 look promising.

The most promising seedling, you can see its first true leaves between the cotyledons

Ragged cotyledons on another 2 seedlings, but I have high hopes

The cotyledons aren't terribly pretty, a little ragged.  In two of the 5, I even see very, very small first true leaves!  I feel like a proud mama (who neglected her children for 2 years)!  But I think they're going to be OK. I truly don't know why I even gave them a shot, I normally would have just thrown the bag with the seeds out after being in the fridge that long.

Just goes to show you, when you think you know it all about plants, you don't know jack.

Gnome Management in the Garden

Trifoliate orange

Look at what got brought in the office this morning!



Is this cool or what? I was stumped. This was in the edge of the woods, not generally where I think citrus would be located. But anyway, this is a trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata).

I tasted the pulp. Boy, was it sour. Don't try that at home.

Skunked

Our dog Lily, once again, has given me an experience I never wanted.

I've had to call the emergency vet number at least 3 times with her. And she's not a bad dog at all. She just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This weekend, we stayed overnight in Paris, KY at my parents' house. We came back in the house around 10pm after watching a soccer game and let out the dogs. I heard a lot of commotion, knew something was up, and then I smelled it. That lovely smell of skunk.

Lily finally came back in the house and immediately knew she stunk of skunk. She didn't get a full-blown attack, but she definitely went through the bushes where the skunk had just let loose.

We gave her a bath of tomato juice, which totally grossed me out. Almost more than the skunk smell. We did it twice and she seemed to smell better.

My mom looked on the internet and found a different concoction to try. Turns out it worked pretty good. It was a mixture of vinegar, baking soda, and dish detergent.

After a couple of wash downs with that, we were all worn out, especially Lily. We half dried her off and she smelled pretty good. She may have a hint of that smell left on her but it's mostly gone. Incredible.

Just Sad

Isn't it sad that we have to designate September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month? Really sad.

Bark Lice City!

Bark lice -- I have gotten numerous calls on this, probably 5 or 6. If I get 5 or 6 calls, you can probably multiply that by 100 to get the real story of how much of this is out there this year.

Bark lice are black bugs that congregate together on the bark of trees. They move as a group and form black blotches on the bark. Not because of the damage they do but because they themselves form the black blotches.

They are not parasites of the tree nor are they something you need to treat for. Why they seem to be more prolific this year is anyone's guess.

Here's a link to Kentucky Pest News featuring an article on bark lice.

Kinda Creepy

Well, when you get to looking at stuff in the garden, sometimes you never know what has materialized over the winter. Look at this:


It's a concrete face among the parsley! I don't remember that being there last year, but here it is now. It's serene yet creepy all at the same time. There's probably better adjectives to describe it but that's all I got.

Learning a Lot in January

Did you know....

• A Snuggie really does keep you warm and is very handy.
  
• $120 toy from Santa is quickly un-played with 2 days after the big man came
• My 5 year old knows about 15 species of birds by sight -- she is VERY into bird feeding this winter.
• Why chicken manure can sometimes be less seedy than hog or cattle manure? -- only 2% of seed pass through a chicken whereas 25% pass through cattle and hogs.
• They make silicon covers to put over a cat's claws

More useful, horticultural information to come....haha

Who Says Gardening is Over?

On New Year's Day, I harvested a big handful of carrots from my lasagna garden bed at home. Yes, I did, I really did. My daughter is loving them, as are all of us, plus our guinea pig George.
He loves carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce the most. Now, the carrot is twisted like that for good reason. After I sowed the seeds, something dug some holes in my raised bed. I salvaged what I could but it ended up twisting the carrot's roots. Most of the ones I pulled from this bed ended up with a really cool twist.

Another World

Our family did a very different thing over the Thanksgiving break -- we took a cruise. No hassles with cleaning the house and cooking for relatives (this would be hassles for my mom, not me).

Anyway, our cruise took us to Key West, Cozumel, and Belize. Belize was probably the most interesting place we went. This is relative since we only had about 5 hours in Key West and got totally rained out in Cozumel. Regardless, here are some interesting things about Belize:

• They are a country with about 300,000 people
• They are the only English-speaking central American country
• They make cashew wine

This is the cashew tree (bad picture, taken from a moving boat)

Here's the wine bottle (I was pleasantly surprised by the taste!)

So this has nothing to do with horticulture in Pulaski Co, but just thought I'd share....

Cold December - But Bright Spots in the Garden

We all think that after a good killing frost (or in our case, a half dozen), that's it. Garden's done, no more fun, no more color.

I snapped a few pictures of our garden here at the office just a minute ago and I beg to differ about there being no color -- these photos will prove it!

Red twig dogwood!


American Beautyberry!


Garlic! (among the chickweed)


Ornamental cabbages!


Kale! 'Redbor' and 'Winterbor'


And just for kicks, I found this very large, very weird fungus a-growin' out of one of our crossties. It's obviously done some 'sporulating' as can be seen by the hole in it.


Happy Holidays!

Just a Little Late for Halloween

Here's a tomato that would've scared anyone...with or without a costume!





Seeds have sprouted while still inside this tomato. The word botanists use to describe this is vivipary. It isn't that rare, really. However, this is the first time I've actually seen this where the sprouts make their way through the skin.

There are little 'bumps' on the tomato (you can see them in the picture) -- this is where the seeds have sprouted and are trying to find a way out.

Thanks to Sandy for bringing this oddity to my attention!

Plants are so cool.