Urban Pinnacle Oak or Autumn Gold Gingko? Chicagoland
Comments (20)
dmacsimus6622
8 years agoWhy those two choices ? How much room are you looking to fill ? I have both of the tree's you mention, and so far, they both are very slow growers. My Quercus Pinnacle has been in the ground around a year and a half, so far it has grown about 2 inches in height. I'm hoping it's growing rate will increase as is sets more root. The Ginkgo Presidential Gold, has doubled in size from 10' to 20' in five years.
If your looking for a large tree in 15 years, I would try a fast growing oak tree for sure. I have resently planted a scarlet letter oak this winter, and it has already leaved out and grown about 6 inches. Looks really nice so far. Hit up sooner farms......
if they still have some...... fall color is supposed to be awesome. Hope helps.
Catherine Di Stasio Morgenstern
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Shade Trees - zone 5 - Southeastern Wisconsin
Comments (7)You found some good ones, some mediocre ones and one to definitely avoid. Starting with my personal favs... Northern Red Oak. Huge tree. Fast growing. very desirable. Godd fall color. Big leaves Bur oak. The same but without the fall color and not as fast growing. Amalanchier (aka serviceberry) very nice tree. It is a small tree. I'd recommend it for use with a small grouping of them for massing effect of the flowers, berries and fall foliage. You should note however that these send up suckers big time which means you'll have to get out there 2-3 times a season to cut them unless you want it to turn into a multistemmed colony. Would also make a nice specimen tree for a small front yard. The hawthorns can be variable. The best on the market right now is probably winter king. It's another small tree with a wide-spreading canopy. Freemans maple is a cross between an undesirable species, silver maple and a desireable species, red maple. This hybrid is advantageous for folks out west with alkaline soils that silver maple tolerates but red maple doesn't. If this soil issue is not a concern for you, I would recommend red maple instead. There are countless cultivars like october glory, red sunset and the list goes on and on. There are some issues I have with autumn blaze maples but I won't get into that. Hackberry. On the blah side. Has some issues with pest/disease but tolerant of tough sites. Not the most ornamental of the bunch but wildlife is attracted to the fruit. Norway maple is an exotic maple that has become a pest species in a portion of the country. They are slow growing and usually have poor to fair fall color. They come in all shapes and sizes though. Most look like a dense lollipop. A far better alternative to norway maple is sugar maple. Depending on the use, sugar maple is not a good choice such as for a street tree as they are not as tolerant of road salts and urban stresses. I don't know if that's an issue though. Personally, I'd plant a sugar maple instead and ask your nursery why they are selling an invasive species like norway maple. If you want more of a lollipop with med-fast rate of growth, October Glory Red Maple. Ask for it by name....See MoreWhat's the most overplanted tree where you live?
Comments (150)In the Milwaukee (including suberbs)... Street Trees - Lindens, nice trees but they suffer from drought and defoliation from jap. bettles. I was just by Navy Pier Chicago and they too have a crap load of them. So many look like crap...must have been the drought. Shrub - Purple Sand Cherry, need a nice protected site to get 15 years out of them. My subdivision is 12 years old and there are lot of them dieing. Subdivsion trees - Autumn Blaze maple and River Birch. I have to say I still like these. The river birch needs a wet, acidic soil and when it gets that they are like gold with that crisp foilage and peely bark. Autumn Blaze is such a staple, but great form, drought tolerance and clay tolerance make it a great tree. I actually just ordered a 5 stem Autumn Blaze Maple, looks amazing. I just couldn't resist. Maples in our area always look fantastic. Even the Silver Maples still look good long has they had the space. Pears trees...watch what you read on these. These are great trees for southeast wisconsin. My old subdivision had some bradfords, which are ok, but its the Autumn Blaze Pear that is amazing. They last about 30 years by the way and their foilage stays crip, glossy green all season...plus the white flowers and amazing fall color. Neighbor down the street has one and it is goregeous in the spring...better than any crabapple in my opinion. I just plant a 2" caliper in spring...fall color is just kicking in....See MoreList Your Top 10 Street Trees
Comments (50)My list is for Southern California. I'm no tree expert but I chose my list for eye appeal. My list also features a lot of palms. They just do so well here. 1. London Plane. This is my favorite. I sat in a restaurant on a corner that had their parking lot shaded by very large planes. Looking out the window at them I was very impressed by how un-So Cal they looked. I had the illusion of being someplace greener and more northerly or mountainy. 2. Deodar Cedar. Stately, classy and tough in So Cal. 3. Mexican Fan Palm. These are stunning when a street is lined with 100 foot tall ones. 4. Canary Island Date Palm. This one is actually better planted in medians. Just so pretty with a beautiful form. I like them best when not over-trimmed so the fronds make a perfect sphere. 5. Jacaranda. Yeah they're messy but the purple clouds they turn into are stunning. 6. Crape Myrtle. Again stunning colors in flower, fall leaves and beautiful winter form -if they are not pruned in a ghastly manner. Crapes only need removal of root suckers or limiting number of trunks. 7. California Fan Palm. The trunks of these are like pillars wide with a gradual taper. They make a beautiful living colonnade. I like them alternated with something colorful like Crapes. 8. California Live Oak. Love the twisting branches and dark bark of this one. 9. California Sycamore. The leaning trunks and zig-zagging branches of this one are picturesque. I love the big hand shapes leaves. Sycamore also has this sweet spicy scent. Queen Palm. The feathery airy fronds of this one wave and whisper in the slightest breeze. There are other trees I like. I am fond of Sweetgum but here in so cal they topple in the wind a little too often for me and they're prone to a fatal die back. I also like tuliptree but they spit sticky stuff all over sidewalks and cars....See MoreSugar Maple vs. Miyabe Maple
Comments (39)That's very interesting, esp. considering our experience last fall. The autumn brilliance serviceberry in the front was still green when all or most of the other maples in the neighborhood had lost their leaves. It coincided with the oaks that turn red. It was one of the very last trees to turn. The one in the backyard changed about a week earlier for some reason, but was still late. The Dakota Pinnacle was the very last tree to turn and stuck out like a sore thumb with bright yellow leaves when everything else on the street was bare. We live near the Bailey Nursery headquarters where they have a bunch of trial plants surrounding their parking lots with labels, and i drive past a lot. Their Dakota Pinnacle birch also didn't change til everything else had lost leaves. And their Sunburst (which is extremely enormous, like an old oak) looked like ours, leaves turning a kind of olive/copper green then falling after frost and snow. They have something labeled as a Japanese maple but I think it's a Korean maple. Japanese maples aren't hardy here. That was one of the first trees to lose leaves....See More
arbordave (SE MI)
8 years agodmacsimus6622
8 years agoarbordave (SE MI)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Dingo2001 - Z5 Chicagoland
8 years agodmacsimus6622
8 years agoI like the way the Scarlet Letter oak is showing a trait that the branches will be spaced out more than the Streetspire oak. The Streetspire oak is showing signs of being very compacted. Both are very nice looking oaks. Also, So far, my Scarlet Letter oak is revealing it may be the fastest growing of the upright hybrids oaks I have. Here's a pic of my Regal Prince oak.
dmacsimus6622
8 years agoHere's one of the Streetspire oaks of mine. Notice how close the branching is. It hasn't grown an inch since it has been planted around November of 2014.. has very beautiful fall colors though.
maackia
8 years agoCatherine Di Stasio Morgenstern
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agodmacsimus6622
8 years agoJust trying to help with some verticle selections of oaks, lol maackia. ... :)
Here is a today pic of my Urban Pinnacle oak. Again, I'm hoping once it sets some roots, it will take off. So far, it has been setting roots and throwing acorn which without a cold stratification period, will grow if left in soil and givin water !
dmacsimus6622
8 years agoI planted some of the acorns my tree produced first season it was planted. The tree is getting ready to bloom again this second year its been in the ground. Every acorn I planted sprouted !
there is others around them, but the ones with the burr oak look, are the ones from the tree.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoDingo2001 - Z5 Chicagoland
8 years agoCatherine Di Stasio Morgenstern
8 years agoWell, after all your great advice, I went to the nursery yesterday and ended up with the fussiest choice I could have made. But beauty won out over brains and I bought a...Commemoration Sugar Maple. I know this is a risk but the specimens were gorgeous. its going on a raised bed that is about a foot above grade in that corner and the tree will have a lot of room to spread its roots before it encounters the unamended clay/grass. 6' around in back and 20' in front of it. All that research and advice and I can't resist the sugar maple. Here's where it's going... You can see why I need a dense tree there.... It's going in the corner, 12' from the Baby Blue Eyes.
Catherine Di Stasio Morgenstern
8 years agoHere's an aerial shot. The white spec is where the tree is going...
arbordave (SE MI)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDingo2001 - Z5 Chicagoland
8 years agoCatherine Di Stasio Morgenstern
8 years ago
wisconsitom