Tree Update. 5.12.17

Greenspire Linden, 5 years.  5.21.17

Above Greenspire Linden when planted on 9.8.2012

Redmond American Linden.  Planted Feb 23, 2013.  Now 5.21.17 

These are trees that I planted a few years ago.  I always wonder if I will live long enough to see nice trees, from the trees that I plant.  However, with some good fortune, and care, and careful choosing of the specimen and variety, a few years can make a dramatic difference.  I found photos from when I planted these trees, and linked to them.  They are becoming nice specimens now.

It's interesting that the tiny maple seedling has outpaced a 12 foot tall maple that we planted at about the same time.  Moving large trees, they are really set back for a few years.

Unidentified Seedling Maple.  5 years.  5.21.17

The dawn redwood is from last October.  It doesn't show up well in photos yet, so I took a photo of the foliage.

Dawn Redwood Foliage.  Planted Oct 2017, bare root.  5.21.17

Above Redmond Linden, the spring after planted, as of May 7, 2013

Above maple when transplanted, 10.7.2012, a volunteer seedling. 

Colors today. 4.26.15

Meadowfoam.  Limnanthes douglasii  4.26.15

Mountain Ash.  Sorbus aucuparia.  4.26.15

Ning's flowers.   4.26.15

Shan Xha.  Crataegus pinnatifida.  4.27.15

Ning's Tree Peony.  4.27.15

Crimson Maple.  4.27.15

Viburnum opulus "Sterile".  4.27.15

Camassia

Lilac "Bloomerang"

Meadowfoam.  Limnanthes douglasii

Mulberry "Illinois Everbearing"

Persimmon "Saijo"

Maples. Tree Wounds. Volunteers. 9.2.14

 

Maple 9.20.12

Ning liked this maple cultivar that he found at a local odds-and-ends nursery on discount. 


Maple 9.1.14



Wounded Tree.  9.20.12

I was concerned about the wound - the owner stated that was a "growth crack" due to the tree growing faster than the bark could handle.  Not true - clearly damage, but the price was very low.  O forget - $16?  So we bought it.  Planted with the wound on south side to encourage keeping it dry.  I was interested in how such a large tree with such small root mass would survive.It's doing pretty  nicely. 

The growth is gradual.  Large trees without much root can't be expected to grow fast.  But it survived, and this year is looking nice.


Wounded tree.  9.1.14

Volunteer Maple.  10.20.12

 This photo underestimates the length of the wound - it extends up to the crack just below the lower branch.

The top portion has sealed together.  The narrower part of the lower portion of the wound looks like it will seal together next year, and the bottom, wider portion may take another year or two.

Maple is very hard wood.  Maple furniture is difficult to stain due to it's hardness, and is very resilient.  Planting with the wound to the south, gave it less chance for fungal or bacterial rot.  It is considered harmful, now, to pain wounds, so I left it bare.

With the small original root mass, I watered but did not fertilize last year.  I did not want to encourage top growth that the roots could not handle.

I did shave off the outside winding roots, so the tree would not be root-bound in the soil.

This year, I gave the tree a small amount of organic nitrogen (pee-cycle).  About 1 quart in 2 gallons of water, watered into the soil around the tree in Spring.  It received 2 waterings through the summer.  It seems well established now.

Volunteer Maple.  9.1.14

The other maple, a small volunteer maple, was from the yard in Vancouver.  It is not a big-leaf maple - may be a mixed heritage descendent of local cultivars.  I moved it from Vancouver, Oct 7, 2012.  Last year I kept it well watered, but not this year.  No fertilizer - it's in the middle of the chicken yard.

As an ungrafted tree on unpruned roots, I expect it will grow roots deep into the soil.  Growth has been amazing.  Not much branching, but quite tall.

Maple Seedling 9 Months Later

Maple seedling 8/15/13

 This is the maple seedling, I moved Oct 7, 2012 from the Vancouver yard to the Battleground place.

I expect next year it will start to branch out and form a canopy.  I'm amazed at how fast a small tree can grow, when grown from seed, on its own roots.

Maple Seedling 10/07/12

Maple Seedling 10/07/12

Trees, leaves, planning for bees. Plant trees in fall. Ginkgo.

That back yard ginkgo. The leaves are yellow now. Beautiful! I say it over and over, but I'm proud I grew that from a seed!

The big maple at the battleground place. So beautiful. Dropping leaves. They will make lots of great compost.

Found this little leaf linden, "Greenspire' at HD. Marked down from sale price of $39.99 to $8.00. Can't beat that price. With plans to start beehives, linden trees are a great choice. I read that linden pollen makes the best honey. This tree had a great root mass. Not too root bound. I did have to prune a few. There is no central leader. It will need corrective pruning for 2 or 3 years. But at that price, who can complain? I cut off a couple of small rubbing branches, that's all. Wait for bloom, prune after that next Spring.

About 8 feet tall once planted. The ground was very easy to dig now. No more summer dry soil. Not too much work. It will be a great source of pollen for the honey bees.

What does it take to make me happy? Leaves for compost is a good start. It's like a christmas present. Leafmas.

Transplanted Trees

The Almaden Duke Cherry did perk up a lot. That's what a week of cool weather and rain can do. The leaves are not yet yellowing for fall. A few are damaged, but overall it took the transplanting well. With little root damage, and little loss of leaf, I think it's OK to let it bear cherries next Spring. If it chooses to do so. It will be nice to get our own fruit the first Spring here.

The Sal's Fig I moved the first week of ownership, last July. TLC and watering every week resulted in a healthy move despite the midSummer timing. These are its first figs, ever. They are very tasty. I think better than Hardy Chicago or Petite Negri. That might be my imagination.

That little Maple I moved last week. There is some sunburn of the leaves. That would not have happened if I'd waited a week, but they are about to fall off anyway. It's ready to settle in for winter.

Moving a young, volunteer maple tree

This maple grew up in a border, at my house in Vancouver. No room there. I decided to move it to the place in Battleground.

This takes me back to when I was a boy. Often a neighbor or family member would have a volunteer tree, and give it away to someone who needed a shade tree. It's a nice memory.  People should do that now.  It would be neighborly, and promote successful, locally adapted species and varieties.

I guess most trees now are clones, grafted to seed-grown rootstocks. Then grown in field-nurseries.  Then bare-rooted, shipped, and sold, or bare-rooted, shipped, and sold to big box stores or nurseries, to be resold. Nothing wrong with being a clone, but it means the tree is probably shipped from a distance, the variety or species may not be locally adapted.  I've seen tropical species sold here.  They won't survive.  The lack of genetic diversity gives propensity for widespread disease, and loss of mature specimens, years later. I'm guessing that a tree on its own roots is more vigorous, but I don't know that.

I have also read, starting with a small tree, it will adapt quickly and surpass trees that were planted at much larger size.  This tree is now plated about 25 feet from the red maple, we planted a few weeks ago.  So we can have a "competition".  Will the little tree catch up to the big one?  Not a fair competition.  They are not identical varieties.  This little tree may or may not be a "red maple".  Acer rubrum.  The leaves look more like red maple than Norway maple, Acer platanoides.   There is also Acer macrophllum, the indigenous "Big Leaf" maple.  This does not quite look like those, either.  Time will tell.

As with other trees, I chose a generous distance from the tree and sliced vertically, making a circle around the tree.  This is a small tree, about 3 feet tall.  I think it sprouted from seed last year.

Continuing the circle.  One side is a short, retaining, stone wall about one foot high.  That made digging easier.  I did not have to dig on that side.

Then the trench, dug farther from the tree.  There didn't turn out to be much root.  I don't think any roots were cut or broken.  That will make for easier adjustment to its new environment.  This area has been enriched with lots of compost.  Digging was easy.  It's been dry for most of the summer.

I placed the tree into a plant container for transport.  I was not able to plant it last night.  So I watered it thoroughly.  Holes in the bottom prevented water-logging.  No wilting at all.   Looks as good as it did before digging.

Now in the ground.  I've been reading, it's better to plant trees at slightly above ground level.  That makes for better drainage.    It may be an issue for compacted soils.  This hole drained very quickly so it is not compacted.  I usually plant bought trees at approximately ground level, as close as I can determine.  It can be difficult to judge.  It's not rocket science.   This tree was "happy" choosing it's own level, so that's were I replanted it.

Filled in, watered, mulched with compost.  Now we await fall.

More Tree Planting

I had some anxiety about transporting such tall trees. Bundled and tied. Cushioned over the tailgate with cardboard. No super fast highway speeds. They don't look like they've lost a leaf. The prior trees that I transported the same way, have settled in and none the worse. So I think these will too.

Aspen. I saw it at the nursery and that was that. Raymond will like that. Aspens have an amazing ability. Clones with tens of thousands of trees, all originate with one seedling. Some aspens in the US have not propagated from seed since the last ice age. They just continue sending up new shoots. The shoots remain connected together, resulting in what is considered the world's largest organism. I love the description, "the leaves dance in the slightest breeze". That was true even for this little specimen. It's a bit crooked, but perfection is not an option. Each crook, each bend, each asymmetry, makes beauty. None of these are lollypop trees. It will fill out and reach upward with time. Especially important, a stake made from aspen wood is one of the few weapons that can be used to kill vampires. With all of the garlic I grow, however, I shouldn't need an aspen stake. Aspens are also known to drive off evil spirits. There are some disease problems for aspens in the Pacific Northwest, but if it grows, awesome!

This maple was super cheap. Looking at the wounded trunk, I'm not surprised. The buyer is aware.

The trunk has a slash about 1/3 the circumference of the trunk, with some evidence of healing. The healing tells me it's not new, and the tree has survived so far. I did not trim the wound, or paint it. Painting is discouraged by tree experts. It did not appear to need trimming. We planted with the damaged side to the South, so it would dry faster after rain. At $18.00 this is a big tree, and it's not much of an investment, so if it doesn't survive, not a lot lost. I've seen worse damage that was overcome with minor care.

I kept thinking, can such a tall tree have such a small root ball and survive? It must have - this is the end of summer, and this tree was surely in the container all summer long. There were only a couple of potentially girdling roots. I pruned them.

Maple planted. This variety is called "Summer Red". With that wound, it might be "Summer Brown" but I enjoy a challenge and I have pretty good success with nurturing wounded and sick plant life.

Mountain ash. This was also a $18.00 tree, tall tree with small root mass. Again, not much by way of encircling roots. I thought that was odd. Pruned the ones that looked like potential problems. I tasted one of the berries. Bitter! Awful!