Trees Growing Advice

Trees are perhaps the least troublesome of all plants you’ll grow on your carefree property. Once you plant a tree you have something, so will your grandchildren, maybe even your great grandchildren! For gardening the easier way, choose trees that are not only attractive but also self sustaining and generally well behaved.

Here are some gardening tips. Your trees should:

1) Develop leaf early

2) Hold foliage late

3) Let plants or grass grow beneath

4) Withstand insect and pests

5) Be drought resistant

6) Make sure that the tree is winter-resilient

7) Be adapted to your soil and climate

All the above requirements may not be available to one specific tree but some of these may exist. One thing to note is to avoid trees that are difficultto transplant, like tulip and sour gum. Also avoid elms (even the so-called “resistant” forms) until the Dutch elm disease problem is solved.

As much as anything you plant, trees set a tone, create an atmosphere. If yours is a carefree life in a casual meadow, Lombardy may not be appropriate for you. If your place is small, neat and formal, don’t plant hemlocks unless you plan to curb their trailing windblown habit by clipping them into a trim hedge.

Growing trees in tangle exhibits more appeal although actual landscaping can achieve the same effect by employing one or two specimens. How fascinating is the intermingling of different varieties thriving casually along a country lane or an old stone wall. Nature does this so beautifully. Why shouldn’t we try it?

Choosing good trees

Whether your choice is the conventional tree planting or the tangle type, it pays if you look into the following suggested trees which may suit your needs. (The list considers those trees often classified as tall shrubs.)

Most of the maples are fine trees for shade on lawn, terrace, or woods walk. Striking red buds chasing the last snows are followed by tiny furry scarlet flowers, dusty pink pointed young leaves, and finally deep green mature summer foliage. Nice-looking winged fruit pods, like twirling ballerinas, spin to earth-here two, there five, and now a dozen. Maple trees are unmatched given their giddy feature in autumn as their colors in flaming gold, red and scarlet become much more visible and distinct.

The orange-re autumn leaves of the swamp maple tree prevail clearly against the gray trunk and the blue sky while the gold maple leaves in the woods show up with glowing brilliance in the area. Sugar and Norway maples are among the most desirable and easiest. One tip is to trim the lower branches to let in the light and encourage grass to grow beneath them. The silver maple and similar types look attractive when silver undersides of the leaves are turned up by the wind breeze.

The fast-growing sycamore is a hearty tree, with large, heavy-textured leaves that produce a fine cool summer shade. Brown spiny seed pods account for one of its alternate common names, button ball. The limbs grow into wonderful elbows and angles, in winter the freckled brown and white trunk and branches stand out strikingly in the sunlight.

Oaks

The hardy long-lived oak brings squirrels to perform merry antics on your lawn as they hunt for acorns. The many-fingered leaves not only turn to rich coppery and maroon autumn tones, but also cling during the winter, bringing a fine hue of rosy brown to the scene. The pin oak, the red oak, and the scarlet oak stand out as among the best. Oaksmay be a bit slow growing but are attractive in the process. Plant at least one, if for no other reason than to be able to go out and contemplate it when you feel the need of something solid. An oak, we learn, weighs as much as fifty pounds per cubic foot!

One of the easiest and most beautiful of all shade trees is the sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Fragrance fills the air from the pointed leaves when crushed and which also turn deep yellow and rich red in autumn season.

The graceful beech is endowed with smooth gray bark which follows a neatly tailored folds around its trunk. This type of tree shades walk trails paving the way for a fine walk during summer and winter.