tree selection and alternatives to sourwood (gardengal?)
HKO HKO
5 years ago
We're redoing our backyard, which has a steep slope. We'll be planting a smaller tree on the slope for interest and some privacy, and don't want to block the neighbor's view above. Seattle (zone 8b). Landscape pro recommended sourwood but I'm not sure I like it, and concerned about drought tolerance. As alternatives, he's suggested Summer Chocolate Silk Tree; White Fringe Tree; Cherokee Chief Dogwood; Butterfly Magnolia; Goldenrain Tree; Galaxy Magnolia.
I already have a lot of magnolias so I'm kind of liking the dogwood. Any folks with experience or thoughts on these?
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PROYardvaark
5 years agoHKO HKO
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Non-invasive Japanese Maples or alternatives?
Comments (35)Japanese maples come up in gardens here but seldom in the woods, as our summers are dry. Any kind of tree with orange or red fall color may be yellow in full shade. Silver maples here often have a mix of colors that can be quite nice, streaks or sections of purple, red, maybe orange and yellow. Green Norway maples growing in the open here often have quite a bit of orange and red on the outside; there is a grafted cultivar seen in plantings here that is consistently all yellow in fall. A larger solitary Norway maple in a northwest WA community actually blazes in fall. A friend who grew up in Illinois said there was a Norway maple and a sugar maple nearby, these behaved as though trading off which one was conspicuous in a given fall. Recently volunteers have started clearing Norway maple saplings out of a wooded ravine in a Seattle park. The numbers of these that were becoming established was positively frightening. Elsewhere here it is not usual in my experience to see such intense infestation - so far. I do know of a drier evergreen forest park site north of Seattle where too many have been coming up, but nothing like in the one moister, probably more fertile location. During one segment in a fictional cop TV show I've watched the detectives go out to a local wooded site to look at a crime scene. It was during a time when the trees where not in leaf, as far as I could see just about every tree, small and larger was a Norway maple....See MoreOrnamental tree for near patio (instead of japanese lilac)?
Comments (20)To revert to your original post, if you want another spring-flowering, small tree of a different color - redbud, crabapple (some are white flowered), Flowering cherry, etc. - would be a good substitute. Fringe tree is another one, but IS white flowering, and is late to leaf out. Hawthorns (some are native and some European or hybrids) do have white flowers for the most part - some have red - but the red fruits are interesting, and some have good fall foliage - being members of the rose family, they can get common rose family diseases, including fire blight, and they do have thorns. If you want a summer flowering tree, then there are possibly one of the hardier crape myrtles, stewartias (possibly not hardy), franklinias, and a few others - some of which will also have white flowers. You might also be able to grow and limb up a Peegee hydrangea, although the weight of the blooms will bow down the branches to a degree. If you can find one, a sourwood is summer-flowering, whitish and come in July-Oct., with good fall foliage. Virginia Witch hazel flowers in the fall, with yellow flowers - there are hybrids with European varieties, which might be hardy for you, in orange to red colors, that flower in early spring. Fall foliage is yellow....See MoreHelp Selecting Gardner and Bloome Products for Containers
Comments (8)I'm not sure what they are telling you or if you got someone one the line that doesn't know, but for sure Swanson's, City Peoples, West Seattle and Magnolia carry G&B products according to their websites (and according to the Kellogg's website as local retailers). They may not carry the entire range of G&B products but they DO carry them. They are also available at selected HD's in the area. FWIW, the Blue Ribbon potting soil may have been superseded by the Eden Valley blend potting soil or just the plain old G&B potting soil. Either are perfectly acceptable substitutes for the Blue Ribbon. Alternatively, you could look for the alternate Kellogg's label - the Master Nursery brand. These are the same exact formulations as the G&B products but just marketed under a different label. They tend to be sold at more rural or suburban nurseries and garden centers, For example, they are sold at all the GC's here in Kitsap County. If you really can't find any close enough (and I can't imagine that's the case), you can consider the E.B. Stone soil products - they are very similar in composition and quality and carry a similar range of bagged products. Many of these same nurseries carry both. Another excellent (but very pricey ) alternative is Fox Farms' Ocean Forest potting soil - it is the potting soil of choice for pot growers :-)) Also carried by most of these same places....See MoreStreet tree suggestions for corner lot in Pacfic Northwest
Comments (34)Hey all, I am taking this all in and organizing my list of trees to look into. Thank you! "But remember...for a harmonious landscape composition, some repetition is a good thing. Otherwise, what you end up with is less a landscape and more a plant collection. " Thanks, wisconsitom, that is precisely what I needed to hear. I'm not going for an ordered or symmetrical look per se, but I DO want a direction, intention and theme. I like so many type of landscapes, though! And I can't wait until I got it all figured out to start planting, otherwise it will never happen. Also I need to pace my yard expenditures. I know nothing about garden or landscape design, but I am a plant person and have been gardening since I was a child, have worked on farms and as a gardener and done botanical internships, ect... Enough to know I don't know much ;) My husband is pretty good with edibles, like grapes. My level of involvement is moderate now with a 1 year old in tow, but I would like it to be high. I like to spend at least 30-60 mins a day, all year, tending to plants, and much more when needed. gardengal48 yes, I have gone through the assessment process with the city, and their selection of fruit trees is limited. They've come and marked where our trees can be. At the end of September a group called Friends of Trees will reveal their available trees (which homeowners help plant). But If I want something different I must go get it myself and apply for the permit. A neighbor down the street works for the urban forestry center, she said she'd fill me in and help me pick out so W trees. So nice! About crepe myrtles, I see them all over Portland, blooming right now, often next to a house so their flowers peak in the windows, or even second story windows. They do seem to thrive in sun or protected courtyards....See More
Embothrium
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoHKO HKO
5 years agoEmbothrium
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
5 years ago
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