best tree to line the street
mckus
11 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agoToronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
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Best tree for between street and sidewalk?
Comments (36)I live in an urban neighborhood and there are large norway maples, sycamores, tulip trees, red maples and silver maples planted in tiny little spots in front of the houses around here. They manage somehow. It's a pleasant neighborhood. Sure, there's an occasional problem with a tree, but that's life, it doesn't ruin many of my days. There's no such thing as a perfect tree. I've long thought about planting a tree in a similar spot in front of my house. I was told by a long time resident that the block used to have norway maples all along it but they eventually died. But they must have been here about 80 years by the looks of the one last stump that is left. And yes, it took up the whole plot and then some. Whatever tree you plant is not going to become much of a problem most likely in your lifetime. If no power lines, then I'd add pin oak and honey locust to the list, they are often planted as street trees around here. But honestly, I think your biggest problem is going to come when the trees branch out over the street and sidewalk and get in the way of people parking on the street or getting from car to sidewalk. You can prune a lot of trees so they don't have branches overhanging the street or sidewalk, it's done all the time to create allees and for espalier. However, if I was ever to plant a tree I would stick to one bred to grow in a shape called "fastigiate" or "columnar," which is basically like a Q-tip instead of a lollipop or umbrella. The classic example of that is a bradford pear, a tree I hate mostly because it is invasive and smells nasty. A good example is a birch tree. There are fastigate varieties of lots of different trees, I have seen norway maples, ginkgos, apple trees, european hornbeam and red maples planted around here bred for that shape. I'm sure there may be others. But you won't find them in ye olde big box nursery. I think a lot of them are grown for the professional landscape trade, but I don't know for sure. I just know I have rarely seen them in a nursery. Here is a link that might be useful: Columnar or fastigiate trees...See MoreIs it worth mulching a tree in the strip between sidewalk/street?
Comments (40)Complete agreement ^^^. The one that gets me is when I hear about Norway spruce as an "invasive". Ugh! Of course, NS is one of my favorite species, period, but still, what's it hurting? Would a native white spruce have occupied that spot otherwise? Possible, but sketchy to the point of meaninglessness. There is also language in many a treatise on prairie management wherein perfectly fine native species are labelled invasive. That is, to my point of view, a failure to grasp the system level of plant communities to include the fourth dimension-time. As if prairies, at least in my state, would have ever been anything but a temporary result of major disturbance, before woody species make their return. Nowhere in my area would there EVER have been fires every two ro three years, to maintain that plant community. Sorry for yelling, lol. I have to install prairies as "native vegetation" around our many stormwater detention ponds. It's a cool plant community, and serves a number of purposes in this application. I just hate how it has been anointed as "The" native plant community. This area was nearly all wooded or wetland. There, I' ve probably managed to throw everyone off this thread that was interested in the OT! Sorry. +oM...See More'Royal Raindrops' crabapples and Crape Myrtles as street trees?
Comments (13)Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm just not ambitious and disciplined enough to maintain that many fruit trees on the parking strips, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the 'Royal Raindrops' crabapples will be approved. I may just plant one Crape Myrtle closer to the south side of the house to get more reflected heat. Thanks gardengal for the info on the 'Royal Raindrops' leaf color. I was hoping it would be more green. Our neighbors have two huge purple-leaf plums, and I wasn't that excited about that many purple-leafed trees around the house. I actually attended Arthur Lee Jacobson's talk at the NW Flower and Garden Show this year. He recommended Malus Tschonoskii crabapples, but WSU put it on their Discard list due to "ornamental only for its narrowly upright form, no showy flowers or fruit". I really want dark-pink spring flowers. Gardengal, do you know how showy the spring flowers are on the 'Royal Raindrops' you planted for your client? Also, Arthur Lee Jacobson doesn't have any info on the 'Royal Raindrops' since they're so new, but Urban Forest Nursery, which specializes in street and landscape trees, recommends it. Urban Forest Nursery Royal Raindrops Flowering Crab profile...See MoreBest way to rehabilitate tree lined landscape
Comments (3)You just have to start in. We took out any sapling skinnier than my arm, then started removing all the dead wood. We dreampt of renting a chipper to. What a hassle. The ones they rent were just too small and we spent more time unjamming them. We ended up burning all the debris. If you have a compost site you can haul it to them. We have a two acre lot, house in the middle normal size yard the perimeter all trees. We raised the canopy and I now have gardens cut into the trees 20 feet deep all the way around. It took a few years but we made it all around the house. You have to stay on top of all the weeds, buck thorn,etc but a lot of pretty wild flowers flourished once we gave them room, jack in the pulpit, violets,Solomon's seat etc. Good luck....See Moremckus
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