Gardening with Gary




Gardening Advice from an Expert

Trees

When to Plant Trees:

Q. For Mother's Day, I received a gift certificate to the local garden center. I would like to use it to purchase a tree - BUT, the temperatures are in the high 80's on up here right now. Can I safely plant a tree in this HOT weather and get it to survive? Any tips? Any varieties that would do best in Zone 5?

A. I feel it is best to wait until the temps drop down. So much loss of water occurs when planting a tree into a new location, coupled with the natural stress, that having extra heat thrown in is asking for possible leaf drying, edge burning, and at worst, leaf drop.

Trees for zone 5 are far and wide! Such a range, a lot of it depends upon what you prefer, what shape you are looking for, whether flowering or not, nut-making, evergreen vs deciduous, and what heights desired.

Here are just a few to consider, but it will be best to go to that nursery and see what they have available, check the quality, and ask what are the light and water requirements are of those you like. All trees and shrubs that they have will be suited for zone 5 [a wide strip from the East coast through the Midwest, my old stomping grounds], or else they would not carry them.

Oak of many kinds, Willow, Spruce, Pine, Birch, Hemlock, Walnut, Hickory, Maple of many kinds, Elm, resistant to the Dutch Elm disease please, Catalpa, Lilac, Rose of Sharon, Magnolia, Dogwood, Juniper, Cedar, Hawthorne, Poplar, Gingko, Gum, and many more others would add!

Trees from Seed:

Member Jean writes~
I searched and searched until I found how to plant the seeds from this tree to grow little ones. I was told to scrape the outer hull off of the seeds and put them in fresh potting soil and freeze them in an airtight container for 3 months or until spring. I live in North Carolina and I just want to know if spring should mean that I plant the seeds after the last frost. Can you help? I really like your input on gardening and will continue to read it. Keep up the good work.

A. Thank you. Yes, the spring designates the time in your gardening zone when you have passed the critical freeze date. If you do not read of this date, call your local Ag Department for the date. You do not want the seeds to sprout into the cold soil only to be nipped as they rise above ground. The warmer soil after frost date will speed up the germination and growth of the new seedlings. Good luck! It is great fun growing new plants from tiny seeds.

Ron writes~
A neighbor here in southern Ontario near the St. Lawrence River has a tree that is about 15 feet high says it is some 75 years old and flowers into a mass of dark pink almost fuzzy like blossoms in early July that stay on for weeks giving a mass of color, then it becomes a small almost coniferous waxy "needle" not unlike a cedar format rather than a pine like needle, but much smaller in size than any cedar I've seen, into late August and then gives a second bloom of the flowers into Sept. although less than the first bloom. It is just now into this stage with the mix of greenish small  like foliage and blooms. It is certainly one of a kind. He says it is a "tamerex" or perhaps "tamarex" (not tamarack) of the larch family. It has to be a very old ornamental variety and it is the only one I have every seen. He also says that he gives it a good pruning every year to keep it down once he knows if there is any winter kill on branch ends.

My web searches to date have come to nothing although "albizzia julibrissin" or  "rosea" sound about like it, as does "continus coggygria" or smoke tree. Looking for help on this one. Have you any idea of what it might be given that it survives this far north and is winter hardy.

A. You seem on the right track. this tree is quite old and hardy. Check Tamarix species:
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/tamaramo.html

Go to this website and see if it is this tree:
http://maccorkindale.vsb.bc.ca/smokbush.htm
Continus coggygria (Rhus cotinus)

Leaves/Needles:
- deep wine/royal purple
- often turn to light red purple in autumn
- oblong, spoon-shapes, alternate
- edge slightly wavy or smooth
- long leaves that turn gray with age

Cones/Flowers/Fruit:
- flowers grow late May, early June
- fruits grow from June-September 
- plume, small, egg-shaped, fleshy
- sterile flowers, thin, long, become clothed with fuzzy hair (purple) called smoke
- long, loose branching clusters of small greenish flowers

Modern name of old favorite Rhus cotinus
- cousin, American Smoke tree (C. obovatus)
- in America popular so long, old-fashioned
- common name in 16 century, wig tree because of  "hair-like" flowers
- smoke, fruit found on female only, male no smoke.