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abigailbw

Recommendations? A vine for a large pine snag

8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

Good evening,

I've enjoyed and learned from the posts in this forum for several years, but this is my first time posting. Sadly, today we had one of three very large white pines tree taken down in our backyard. The tree leaned over our house and had a very large hole in the main trunk. For years, the tree was inhabited by honeybees and I resisted cutting it down for that reason. The bees do not appear to have made it through the winter and my husband and I decided it was time. Over the winter, Pileated woodpeckers started to peck large holes in the upper portion of the trunk that leaned the worst. We are bird lovers and appreciate the woodpeckers, but this was further indication that the tree was compromised. Anyway, for the bees, and bugs, and birds we decided to leave a good portion of the trunk standing. We also cut out a buckthorn (invasive) that was adjacent to the tree. Around the trunk are some peonys that came with the house. They are beautiful... for about a week, maybe two if there's no rain. They are healthy and can stay. I am going to replace the buckthorn with a Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp.), widen out the bed a little, make it not so round, and edge it with a gap so it's tidier and the lawn doesn't creep in.

The reason for the post is that I was thinking about some type of vine to train up the left side of the trunk. I favor plants that have 3- or 4-season interest, especially if they are attractive to birds. The only hard rule is that they are not invasive. A seedling here or there is not a big deal, and I can deal with some suckering, I just don't want to burden the neighbors or the woodland!

We are seacoast NH, 6a/5b, area is full or near-full sun. The "after" photo below looking at the east side of the tree. Further east into the yard is a low, wet spot that is wet in spring or after rain, the property slopes up from there and the west side of the tree tends to be very dry. Our soil is heavy clay in most places, but there may have had some other soil brought in around this area in the past, maybe when the former owner planted the peonies. The soil here is slightly sandy, dry silty, and maybe low nutrient. It's been naturally "mulched" with pine needles (from the tree).

Any ideas? I want to break up the stark edge of that thicker trunk and help it to not look "bleak" while sheltering. The height is 20 or 25 feet. It will need to be something hardy, as I will only be able to excavate so large of a planting hole amidst the pine roots. See below, before and after, from the tree operation. The right hand trunk stayed as-is in the picture, the left hand trunk was shortened to the height of the climber. The photo with the dogs shows the bed last fall, buckthorn on the SE side of the tree. The "before" is looking east (west side of tree), yesterday evening. The tree is to the left.

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