Growing With Us
Page 6
A “Short List” of Ten Favorite Trees Why would you plant a particular tree instead of another kind? People often ask me what kind of tree to plant, and then I start asking questions. There’s a place for every tree and a tree for every place; you just have to narrow it down based on what conditions you have and what benefits you want from the tree. Here is a “short list” of tree varieties we recommend often, and plant in landscapes we design. “Anne” Magnolia: Small flowering tree with large scented red-purple flowers. Blooms later than most Magnolias, so it's less vulnerable to frost damage to blooms. Clay soil tolerant, full sun. Red maple: Popular hardwood shade tree with red blooms in spring and red fall foliage. Tolerates most soils. Grows slowly to 35 foot spread, 50' tall. "Heritage" River Birch: Superior disease-resistant hybrid river birch. Tolerates moist clay soil unlike most birches. Attractive cinnamon-colored peeling bark, yellow fall color. 30 feet wide, 40 feet tall. Willow Oak: Fast-growing pyramidal shade tree similar to pin oak in habit but with narrow oval leaves. Very popular park and street tree in the eastern and southeastern US. Grows to 70 feet tall and wide. The willow oak at GoodSeed Farm gets more compliments than any other tree we have. “Skyline” Thornless Honeylocust: Ideal tree for filtered shade over paved areas; has almost no leaf litter, sap or fruit drop. Drought tolerant; can survive in a hole in concrete so it’s popular for street tree or parking lot shade. Tough wood resists breakage. Disease free. 35' spread, 50 ft. tall Norway Spruce: The best spruce for southern Ohio. Fast-growing privacy screen or windbreak tree. Well adapted to clay soils. Plentiful cones attract birds. Grows rapidly to 25'wide and 50' tall. "Bloodgood" London Planetree: Our favorite fast-growing shade tree. Non-fruiting cousin of American Sycamore, a creek-bank native. Tolerates extreme wet and dry conditions, clay soil. Handsome peeling bark, white trunk color. Fast grower to 50-70 feet. "Cleveland Select" Ornamental pear: Narrow, upright-growing form of ornamental pear ideal for driveways, street trees and small spaces. Showy white bloom, purple-red late fall foliage. Easy to “limb up” for clearance, resists splitting. Hardy. Grows rapidly to 15' wide, 25' tall. Bald Cypress: Problem-solver for shade in wet areas or next to ponds. Grows to a majestic 60 feet, 35 feet wide, can grow in standing water or on dry sites. Fernlike sage-green foliage similar to Dawn redwood. “Niobe” Weeping Willow: The classic "Golden Willow" grows quickly to 50 feet tall & wide. Perfect pond bank tree. Must have a wet location or it will be messy, and keep it away from drain lines and leach fields! Stop in and ask us about any of these trees. Chances are one of them will fit the exact situation you have! If you love gardening, why waste your time “Googling” to get the solutions you need? Instead, go to www.goodseedfarm.com and click on our “Weekly Blog” for an alphabetical list of helpful topics from “Asparagus Planting” to “Winter Reading for Gardeners”. In simple, plain language we make gardening easy. You can find our weekly gardening column “Let’s Grow” in nine newspapers around southern Ohio. Some of our readers clip and save the column, but there’s no need. Each week we post it on the “weekly blog” page at www.goodseedfarm.com, and you can look up a hundred gardening topics in the online archive. Need gardening advice? Jump in your car and drive out to GoodSeed Nursery for an entertaining shopping trip. We’d love to see you. Or just visit www.goodseedfarm.com for garden answers online.