Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)

7/27/2008 8:33:46 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
tristanludlow Austin, TX age: 31	My specialization is in Texas trees of course, but I also have a solid general knowledge of organics and landscaping as applicable to all regions [Edited 7/27/2008 8:34:31 PM]
7/28/2008 4:13:49 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
alicekathleen Sacramento, CA age: 63	There is a tree/shrub that grows here called Desert Willow, common name. It is a fast growing, small to medium tree with a slightly weeping habit and pink, mildly fragrant blooms (blooming now). It can be pruned to either a shrub or tree. I like them, so when I moved here, bought two. One I put in back to prune as shrub, the other in front as a tree. There is plenty of sun, water, and the dirt here is the best in the state. Both have grown considerably in a year, but the one as a tree has long long branches, which I cut back as they seemed overly long for a new tree. Do you know about this tree? I can find correct name if needed. It is used as a street tree here also, but the street it is on is in older area, and the full sized trees must be at least 30 years old or more. I cannot tell by looking if they were pruned back heavily when young. I hate trees that are squared off, whacked back or not pruned at all. I am a good pruner on citrus and most California shrubs/trees. Thank you.
7/30/2008 3:50:41 AM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
tristanludlow Austin, TX age: 31	Quote from alicekathleen: There is a tree/shrub that grows here called Desert Willow, common name. It is a fast growing, small to medium tree with a slightly weeping habit and pink, mildly fragrant blooms (blooming now). It can be pruned to either a shrub or tree. I like them, so when I moved here, bought two. One I put in back to prune as shrub, the other in front as a tree. There is plenty of sun, water, and the dirt here is the best in the state. Both have grown considerably in a year, but the one as a tree has long long branches, which I cut back as they seemed overly long for a new tree. Do you know about this tree? I can find correct name if needed. It is used as a street tree here also, but the street it is on is in older area, and the full sized trees must be at least 30 years old or more. I cannot tell by looking if they were pruned back heavily when young. I hate trees that are squared off, whacked back or not pruned at all. I am a good pruner on citrus and most California shrubs/trees. Thank you. Hi Alice, I am familiar with the Desert Willow and highly recommend its use in those instances where the cold hardiness zone is correct, soil is well drained and includes some organic matter for nutrition, and the space allocated is sufficient for a mature specimen. It is not actually a member of the willow family. Regarding the pruning of the one you have designated to grow as a tree, the growth is possibly excessive as a result of an overabundance of water and nutrients. As with all pruning, make sure you perform proper reduction cuts, versus the typical topping and hedging approach so common in other small floral species like the Crepemyrtle. Below are some good websites to learn more about this beautiful, resilent, tree. http://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu/Display_Onetree.aspx?tid=18 http://aggie-orticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/chilopsislinearis.htm http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CHLI2
8/3/2008 1:52:16 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
alicekathleen Sacramento, CA age: 63	Thank you. The one I am growing as a tree is in the front and gets more water! Yes, they are beautiful trees. This regioin is interesting. I lived in Sacramento for 2o years, and we see many of the same plants here, but due to heat and dryness, there are some new ones for me. Have you been to Santa Barabara? Just north of there along the coast is (I have read) the only remaining good sized area of natural Mediterranean plants in California, the way the coast looked before landscaping! ps yes, would never mess up a crepe myrtle. Sadly, the former owner here was a lousy pruner! I have put in three crepe myrtles, orange, tangerine, fig, the desert willow, gingko, and an interesting tree sold as an "african sumac", which is a lovely tree, already has grown a couple feet and has nice red blooms resembling bottlebrush blooms. Evergreen. I made the mistake of planting a locust in Sacramento. It grew fast, but very brittle, amazingly so, large branch broke when my cat climbed the tree! The tree broke off at the trunk before the crown in the first good windstorm. By the way, I am removing the grass and xeroscaping little by little. alice [Edited 8/3/2008 1:58:50 PM]
8/5/2008 1:39:07 AM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
planner Saskatoon, SK age: 60	Hi Alice, I noticed your mention of an 'African Sumac',when I was traveling in British Columbia a few years a go I picked out a 'Staghorn Sumac' to try here where we are classed as Zone 3, for the first year I thought I was growing a stick, then in year two it started to bud out, it is now about six feet tall with lots of new growth. Do the 'African Sumac' leaves turn bright red in the fall also ?
8/5/2008 7:50:42 AM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
alicekathleen Sacramento, CA age: 63	I am sure this tree is a warm climate tree. It is evergreen. If I go back to that nursery, will look in the cans if they have more and get the true name. The leaves are serated, almost lacy, and the bracs are hard, not soft like bottle brush, but a bright red. It bloomed heavily in April and has scattered blooms now. The branches begin quite low to ground, I even removed the lowest. It has a lovely shape, and has grown very fast. We have good dirt here, and hot climate, plus I water heavily on my new plants, so it has good conditions. It does get the prevailing winds, and we are quite windy, I had to shore it up a couple times, really needs two supports not just a stick ideally. I have not seen another one in the area, but we are almost desert here, with extremely hot, dry summers and relatively mild, dry winters. Wish I had a digital camera to show you. Another tree I love here is fig. I love the smell, the big leaves, the pale bark, and of course, the figs! They make great shade trees. We have some huge old ones in the older areas. Oh, and I saw a 30 foot bottlebrush here, biggest one I have ever seen anywhere. Huge, with a massive trunk! Who knew they would grow into a tree like that? [Edited 8/5/2008 7:51:15 AM]
8/5/2008 4:16:52 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
tristanludlow Austin, TX age: 31	Sounds like you are quite an enthusiast - thats great! Look up a local chapter of the Native Plant Society regarding information on native "landscape" prior to human alteration. Xeriscaping is definitely a better choice then the turf fad (quite expensive and a waste of needed natural resources) - try to get others on board with you!
8/6/2008 8:33:22 AM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
alicekathleen Sacramento, CA age: 63	Believe it or not, several people on my block have removed the grass and replaced with xeroscaping. (One used artificial turf, ugh) It is so hot here (105 today) and water scarce after second dry winter in a row, that folks are being forced to reconsider their landscaping. Sacramento and Fresno do not have metered water in established neighborhoods, but they are now putting in meters, so it is going to get less green around here fast. When we moved to LA in 1959, there were no water meters (!) and people had lush, tropical yards. Once the meters were in, and people got bills, those baby tear lawns were gone. My pet peeve are places like Home Depot. Sure, one can find common plants there, but lots of boring stuff, and not all of it suited to our climate. Those who are near a good local nursery are lucky. Looking at the "sumac" today, I see I should have planted a deciduous tree there. It is in direct path of wind, and has an umbrella type shape. Three years ago, we had a wind storm with 70 mile an hour wind, lost a huge Mexican Hat Pine. This new little tree would snap, too.
8/14/2008 8:13:21 AM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
suzydoll Ravenna, TX age: 63	My son here in Louisiana planted a small fig tree for me in the back yard the end of March. Alas I am not able to tell you what kind OR how he put it in the ground as the day after he brought it to me I took a fall, had surgery on my knee and have not been able as yet to get back out into the yard. My grandsons have told me that all the leaves have fallen off the tree but it is still alive and has a few figs on it. In the little bit of info I am able to provide can you make any suggestions for what I might need to get my son to do to help this poor little tree? Thanks! Suzy
8/16/2008 3:11:13 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
alicekathleen Sacramento, CA age: 63	I am not the arborist, hope he will come in, but I have had figs for years. There are quite a few varieties. Some are "black" figs, others "white". Figs like heat, sun, good dirt. We have orchards of them here in my region. I have also a dwarf fig that I ordered from a company in Delaware. I grew it in a container for years before I got tired of that and put it in the ground. I have a kodata, a black turkey fig in my back yard as well. They are lovely trees with a sensual scent. The fruit ripens in August. You can eat it off the tree, cook it, jams, cookies, tarts, great with cheese, and it is a lovely fruit sliced. There is a very upscale joint in Carmel that specializes in fig tarts for dessert, to die for. I bet if you contacted the Fig Growers Association here in Calif, they could help. As for your tree, we don't know how or where planted? Sounds stressed.... do figs grow there? Does it have enough water? I hope our expert will help, gotta save that fig tree! [Edited 8/16/2008 3:13:45 PM]
8/16/2008 8:51:13 PM	Arborist w/landscaping background, and new member (HaveTree Q's?)
tristanludlow Austin, TX age: 31	Quote from suzydoll: My son here in Louisiana planted a small fig tree for me in the back yard the end of March. Alas I am not able to tell you what kind OR how he put it in the ground as the day after he brought it to me I took a fall, had surgery on my knee and have not been able as yet to get back out into the yard. My grandsons have told me that all the leaves have fallen off the tree but it is still alive and has a few figs on it. In the little bit of info I am able to provide can you make any suggestions for what I might need to get my son to do to help this poor little tree? Thanks! Suzy I would need a lot mor info. on the tree to help identify the kind of fig. The best source for that info. would probably be the place your son acquired the tree. Rapid loss of leaves is usually a reaction of the tree to root damage and or loss. The fruit can be explained in that plants are programmed to produce and suport fruiting as their most important function and capcity, to the detriment of other functions and consequences to their health. Water and fertilizaation are usually beneficial in this situation. Planting trees are always a nice gesture of one's care for another - wish you both the best.