I am guess they would not hire people to plant something that will not thrive in the area, or mess the asphalt up, so I am kinds interested them.

As someone who specializes in this area, completely and utterly 180 degrees from reality. Look at the comical bamboo stake for evidence of the quality of the regs (or their enforcement).

Hard to tell from here, but with those fotos some sort of Ulmaceae, maybe some sort of elm at that resolution.

Dan

Good pictures of the leaves would help more than anything.

Elm and bald cypress.

Allee elm has become quite popular in that part of the South. That would be my guess as to elm cultivars. It's a parvifolia cultivar and a good one.

Thanks guys, sorry about the crap pic, again, phone sucks, was windy. Thanks for the IDs.

I was pointing out to my husband that the tree was holding in the stake. But I didnt think wally world would ok a tree known to destroy the asphalt, but who knows. :)

we are back to the difference between a landscape architect ..

a parking lot architect ... engineer???

and then someone who knows something about trees ...

and seldom do the 3 meet in one who knows about all 3 things ...

first ... can a trees roots take the intense heat generated from the blacktop.. near 24/7/365 ... perhaps a shallow rooted can not ...

then .. can the same tree take the blistering reflective heat of blinding sun on that blacktop all year long ... etc ... especially in winter when its supposed to be dormant ....

then just top that all off with most likely .... improper planting [though i do see the root flare] ....

and frankly.. what you end up with .. is MURDER ... they last a while ... but as i drive the various parking lots.. it is far and few between as to success ... usually its one or two struggling trees.. and a lot of empty tree island ...
with dead trees sticking up ....

ken

ps: i lived most my life with concrete driveways ... then moved out here to an asphalt driveway .... on a bright sunny day in winter .... under 20F .... the kids sometimes run around on the blacktop barefoot .. because it is so warm .... its just like the black pot in the sun syndrome .... if a plant goes in and out of dormancy in winter... it isnt going to last too long ....

Makes total sense. I had looked up pics of the bald cypress that was suggested in the thread about what to plant in my back yard. wasn't feeling it from the some of the pictures I found, but seeing it in the uh, bark was an eye opener. I really liked it. Also been looking into elm trees now from what I have seen around town.

Those look like pretty generous parking lot islands. In some parts of the country, ordinances are pretty specific as to the the space allowed for trees, species, etc. I've worked on such boards where the landscaping ordinances are very strict. Wally World would not be the one to 'OK' the final plan, in all likelihood. Thanks goodness, or you would have no trees or parking islands AT ALL! Landscaping requirements are dictated by the City development boards. Wally World can hire someone to do the design work, but the board members can change, throw out, or approve the designs.

The projects will be inspected before the final approval, too, to insure that things have been planted properly, that the irrigation works, etc. Been there, done that.

Nothing was entrusted to the landscapers or landscape architects, believe me.

Both of these trees work well in parking islands, as long as there is enough space. Cypress will not develop those bumpy 'knees' unless the location is poorly drained or severely compacted. Both are commonly and widely used for this purpose, and successfully so.

Tree folks - Is picture 1 an example of a double leader that should have been pruned long ago?

Yes, co-dominant leaders. In my opinion, it should have been pruned at the nursery when very young. It would have taken all of 5 seconds.

Ken, Taxodium can take those conditions as long as there is moisture.

The elm looks a little yellow.

The people who planted trees at my Walmart are pretty dumb and were all out for the money. They planted Overcup oaks (Q. lyrata) which are not well adapted here (alkaline soil and water) and they leaf out a month later than everything else. They also planted Live oaks about 5 feet apart from each other then replaced one after someone hit it. Then someone hit the other one. It goes on and on.....

The people who planted trees at my Walmart are pretty dumb and were all out for the money. They planted Overcup oaks (Q. lyrata) which are not well adapted here (alkaline soil and water) and they leaf out a month later than everything else. They also planted Live oaks about 5 feet apart from each other then replaced one after someone hit it. Then someone hit the other one. It goes on and on.....

Sounds like a failure of land-use regulation and tree standards to me.

wrt the elm foto upthread, often what happens with these developers is they slap in the cheapest stock they can get, so not only do you get the extra heat in the parking lot making things tough, you get suboptimal trees being slapped in to compacted soil. Parking lots are one of my pet peeves.

Dan

Is there an easy way to load photos into messages? I'm not having much luck with the help page.

Ok, I have one more, This tree is growing down the street from me and is amazing. It has small bright leaves that look like ash, the bark is smooth and light, and the trunk breaks off into 3 trunks about 4-5ft up. I don't know these guys or I would be asking them. But from what you can tell, any guesses? I LOVE this tree and have a serious case of tree envy!

{{gwi:363544}}

Taxodium doesn't need to have moist soils in order to do well. It's just that they WILL do fine. It's not a requirement by any means.

Plenty of Taxodium trees planted around parking lot in my town. They do fine. May not grow as much with little rain but still will survive.

The only large Taxodium that I know of that are not on some irrigation are ones that are defoliated by the end of summer. If that is "doing fine" then we must have different standards.

These trees are from the most western part of their natural range in the U.S. This population is within 100 miles of the Chihuahuan desert. These trees only grow along the river. You don't see them growing on hillsides or plateaus like you do Oaks, Junipers etc... They need a bit more moisture than other trees.

This is a slapped-up WalMart, done at the absolute cheapest and lowest budget. I'll wager the soil in the pit is the worst possible at a low fertility and high bulk density. Parking lots already are very harsh environments, and combined with lax standards and enforcement (the bamboo stakes), you don't want to wager on survivorship. Irrigation and drainage (often to islands) is key in surface parking. Like I said, this is my pet peeve and I speak several times a year across the country about it (we take vacations around my schedule).

[/intemperate righteous indignation]

Dan

I totally agree, gorgeous tree! Hard to tell from that far away. Even though you don't know them I don't think they would mind if you told them how much you liked it and wanted to take a close up photo of the leaves and bark. They may or may not know what species of tree it is. I have done this many times walking around my neighborhood, people don't usually mind if you tell them your reasons for taking the photo. One woman gave me a tour of her whole yard after I stopped to admire her patio. I get many of my best ideas walking around my neighborhood.