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Anyone into gardening here?
- Thread starter shanekingsley
- Start date
I could get a male which has no seed pods but also no flowers.
It will take many years before it is that big to be a pain. Without flowers it wouldn't be as interesting. Does it flower early like a Magnolia?
This is one of my favourite trees to plant for form and bark interest.
When they get older and larger, they have deep fissures in the bark which are highlighted by a reddish brown tinge. I find the bark to be one of the more interesting types and like that it doesn’t readily fall off the tree, but curls away from the trunk as if it’s going to fall off.
The form is very upright and tall, with a wide upper or high canopy, which makes it good for having other things grow underneath or having good sight lines under the canopy.
The flowers are pretty inconspicuous so I wouldn’t suggest growing it for a flower show. They do serve pollinators well though.
Yes they can drop a fair bit of leaf litter, but at least it doesn’t stain like many berry trees might. I also like that they leaf out very late in the year, so you can grow an understory tree like a redbud nearby for double the mess, or have a garden underneath that will get a lot of early season light.
They are apparently rare in the wild, but I don’t think these are too uncommon any more and have seen them used in a lot of parks and residential properties I’ve worked on as street trees. They are also juglone tolerant if that matters. I do like that they are very urban tolerant and have seen them thriving as a boulevard tree along residential roadways that are salted in winter.
If you were specific about getting one that has a native lineage, then buy from either a local native nursery, or specify that wish from your local nursery. I doubt a big box retailer would carry native lineage, due to their volume purchasing requirements.
The leaves are very interesting too!
When they get older and larger, they have deep fissures in the bark which are highlighted by a reddish brown tinge. I find the bark to be one of the more interesting types and like that it doesn’t readily fall off the tree, but curls away from the trunk as if it’s going to fall off.
The form is very upright and tall, with a wide upper or high canopy, which makes it good for having other things grow underneath or having good sight lines under the canopy.
The flowers are pretty inconspicuous so I wouldn’t suggest growing it for a flower show. They do serve pollinators well though.
Yes they can drop a fair bit of leaf litter, but at least it doesn’t stain like many berry trees might. I also like that they leaf out very late in the year, so you can grow an understory tree like a redbud nearby for double the mess, or have a garden underneath that will get a lot of early season light.
They are apparently rare in the wild, but I don’t think these are too uncommon any more and have seen them used in a lot of parks and residential properties I’ve worked on as street trees. They are also juglone tolerant if that matters. I do like that they are very urban tolerant and have seen them thriving as a boulevard tree along residential roadways that are salted in winter.
If you were specific about getting one that has a native lineage, then buy from either a local native nursery, or specify that wish from your local nursery. I doubt a big box retailer would carry native lineage, due to their volume purchasing requirements.
The leaves are very interesting too!
It will have lawn under it not a garden or smaller tree. Currently that part of the lawn bakes in the sun and is hard to keep alive.
I don't care about the leaf litter, that just gets mulched in place. The giant seed pods on the other hand need to be picked up.
I'm wondering if the city trees are all males? No seed pods and almost no flowers in that case. I don't know if I've seen one in bloom in real life but the female trees seem to flower a bunch.
@Wingboy what is a pain? The leaves or the pods? If pods, does it flower enough for me to care or should I just get a male for less maintenance?
The trees I’ve been working around have been females and produce the pods. They are pretty easy to clean up. I’ve never noticed them flowering as much as that picture you posted. That one looks really nice.It will have lawn under it not a garden or smaller tree. Currently that part of the lawn bakes in the sun and is hard to keep alive.
I don't care about the leaf litter, that just gets mulched in place. The giant seed pods on the other hand need to be picked up.
I'm wondering if the city trees are all males? No seed pods and almost no flowers in that case. I don't know if I've seen one in bloom in real life but the female trees seem to flower a bunch.
@Wingboy what is a pain? The leaves or the pods? If pods, does it flower enough for me to care or should I just get a male for less maintenance?
Not sure if you have tried overseeding with tall fescues, but I’ve had good results with many species of tall fescues for dry, hot sunny lawn areas.
We are out about $8K for the tree removal and various attempts to avoid the removal.
Yesterday we added another $2K to the process for a 80 mm Marmo Maple. Not to be confused with Marla Maple.
That includes delivery, hole dug and tree planted with appropriate soils and mulch. Hopefully in a couple of weeks.
The winter weather seems to agree with the crab apple tree. It produced a huge pile of flowers and barring any other problems I should have a bumper crop of apples for jelly.
How tall is an 80mm tree?
I'm guessing 10 feet or so but it varies by species. The Marmo is fast growing so gets taller relatively fast but it doesn't have the canopy of the Norway that came down. Add a grand or so for an umbrella.
The Norway was ~ 60 years old and I won't live long enough to enjoy the same canopy.
Has anyone got any experience with the fine misters that are supposed to cool the air by evaporation?
A cool zone for you? There are different systems. The ones that use a high pressure pump work well but cost a lot and need power and water connections. I haven't tried the ones that rely on only water pressure. I have little faith they can get sufficient atomization. The intermediate step is fans with built in misters. The forced air helps to evaporate more water so you don't feel like you are sitting in front of a sprinkler (although some drops still get flung ime).
If the humidity is high, I sit in front of the pool heat pump and it's awesome. Beautiful cool dry air.
EDIT:
Swamp coolers (mist plus fan) are very very popular in low humidity locations as they are very effective. If humidity is really high, effectiveness drops off substantially.
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I do. I bought some cheap thing and fitted it up around my gazebo. It has a hose connection so I can link it up on super hot days. It’s basically pvc pressure line linked to a mist head every few feet. When it’s on it’s pretty effective.
They use the fans with misters in Texas on patios and they work really well.
sburns
Well-known member
Bought some new pots for outside. Also fixed my old ones by drilling drainage holes. Thanks for pointing this out to me last year. When I swapped the soil around and repositioned them, the water already started to leak out. I think that is a good sign. I'll let them dry out for the next day or so before seeding.
What is the normal preferred depth for sowing seeds? 1/2"?
What is the normal preferred depth for sowing seeds? 1/2"?
Depends on the seed. Some are surface sown.
Stick some broken bits of pot in the bottom of your new ones. Helps with drainage even more and helps stop soil washing out.
sburns
Well-known member
Thanks, but too late already filled, next year.
Mostly sunflowers but some other stuff, I just by stuff to try out.
Dirty Frank
Well-known member
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Took down a 9ft cedar with a battery powered pole saw and a sun joe electric chipper. Took 2h but there’s just a few logs left. Also 5 free bags of mulch out of it from the chipper.
The chipper was the best thing we bought in a sale a few years ago. Free mulch and no paying for yard waste removal and I’ve chopped down three small trees and mulched them up which saved on the arborist fees.
The chipper was the best thing we bought in a sale a few years ago. Free mulch and no paying for yard waste removal and I’ve chopped down three small trees and mulched them up which saved on the arborist fees.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Just finished taking down a plum that had become diseased. Trimmed up 75’ of cedar hedge that’s succumbing to aggressive pruning my neighbor did on their side.
Need help with the hedge. It’s planted on the tree line, about 16’ tall and has a spread of 6’ (radius). The trunk is on the property line, neighbour scalped it back to the trunk on their side 5 years ago, since then the bottom 6’ of foliage on my side had died.
I’d like to cut it down to 8’, but nit sure if the lower part will ever fill back in.
Anyone revived a damaged cedar hedge?
My mom has some 10-12ft cedar’s that had the lower potions completely eaten by deer several years ago. I thought they were done so I pruned off all the lower branches to the trunk.
Fast forward about 3yrs and anything I didn’t prune back grew back very well. In hindsight, I should have left the lower branches and they would have filled in very nicely.
One thing with any plant that has apical dominance, is that if you keep pruning the top or end growth, the inner or lower growth will fill back in. How fast it fills in is dependent on the level of damage or how thin it is to start with. And you have to keep the ends or tops pruned back each year to help it fill in. More sunlight and good moisture will obviously help.
All that said, cutting them down 50% to 8ft when the bottom 6ft are gone already sounds like a challenge for the cedars.
Our cedar has been allowed to grow and spread to about 10 feet thick and about the same height but fortunately our neighbour wants it as much as we do. Our hedge is about 50 feet long.
If we ripped everything out we would both want instant privacy replacement so thirty to forty 6-7 footers at, I'm guessing, $150 each plus removal of the old stuff including roots and replanting costs. We would be looking at five figures.
Where there is life there is hope but in your case, thanks to the A-H on the other side, you will be facing a long battle to get a decent looking hedge back.
Lopping off that much would leave you with a hedge with male pattern baldness for a long time, if it survived.
A neighbour across the street had a hedge about 12 feet high and lopped a few feet off the top. We could see from our bedroom that the inner core was void of anything green for years. It has filled in now and the inner baldness was a moot point as the remaining height meant that few could see it.
Hedge Trimming
Roger Cook of "This Old House" helped someone restore an existing hedge and as he did so, argued that reciprocating trimmers are not always the best way to go. The straight wall of foliage they create blocks light from getting into the interior of the hedge and contributes to the die off of inner greenery and lack of new shoots.
He used shears to clip holes in the outer wall of green to allow light in.
I tried it in a few spots on mine and it worked. New shoots appeared inside the hedge.
The problem is the amount of discipline required to balance the trimming.
I'm not Roger Cook but would suspect that re-working a 16 foot hedge into a healthy 8 footer is a ten year project.
In my case my neighbour isn't an A-H so I have an edge. The curse of a hedge is that to have full control over it, it has to be planted a few feet inside your property line. Then you have to fence the property line to prevent encroachment.
There are instant (Almost) greenery options but I don't know the success rates. One is grafting. I used to have a tool for that but it could be lost in the hedges. An uncle used to air root house plants.
This hedge is only about two feet thick. Mrs nobbie is not a midget. Not my hedge.
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