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Great "Old"
Trees
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It’s always fun to report on exciting new plants and
gardening and landscaping ideas that no one has ever
heard of, but when it comes to trees, I get more
excited about telling people about some great “old”
trees that no one seems to have heard of. Ten or
fifteen years ago, bur oak was one of those great
“old” trees that no one knew about, but that’s no
longer the case. The word is out, and now many
Wyobraska homeowners have planted one or more bur
oaks and they are discovering for themselves why
this is such a great tree. But the bur oak is only
one of several great “old” trees that no one knew
about fifteen years ago. There are at least five
others that I would put in the same category. You
can find mature specimens of these trees in almost
every Wyobraska community. They are usually in the
older neighborhoods, standing in front of stately
older homes, which are now sometimes standing
unoccupied, the owner in a nursing home or recently
deceased. More often the older home has been sold,
and is now being restored by proud new owners. The
original owner, if they are still alive, can often
tell the story of that big tree in front of their
home--when it was planted, if it was grown from
seed, or dug up at a relative’s home in another
state and carefully brought to Wyobraska a long time
ago, and how it has been carefully tended all these
years. The proud new homeowners, on the other hand,
usually only know that their fixer-upper came with a
couple of big old trees in the yard.
The
chances are good that those big old trees are one of
the following:
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Previous Articles
Yes It's Time March 12
Pruning Trees March 26
Plant a Tree in 2009 April 02
2008 Articles
2007 Articles
2006 Articles
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Little Leaf Linden. I’m
not sure that I can tell the difference between the
leaves of a little leaf linden and the larger leaved
American linden. But it is easy to tell the
difference between these two trees in the fall.
Each fall the little leaf linden turns a beautiful
yellow fall color, while the American linden turns a
brownish yellow. There are several cultivars of
both of these trees that are actually quite
well-known and widely planted in our communities.
In the case of the little leaf linden the best known
cultivar is one called ‘greenspire’ linden. It is a
tree with dense branching and a strongly pyramidal
form—one of the reasons that it is so popular. But
I have never been one to like these unnaturally
shaped trees, and think that the “unimproved”
rounded shade tree form of the species is a much
better tree—particularly as a shade tree. The
straight species form of this tree is such a
well-kept secret because, until a few years ago,
very few nurseries were growing it. But now many
nurseries are beginning to add so-called ‘native
trees’ to their product line, and the little leaf
linden is becoming more readily available to the
public.
American Linden.
American Lindens are reportedly native to the
Niobrara River valley of north central Nebraska.
That might explain why they have proven to be so
adaptable to Wyobraska’s climate and soils. There
are beautiful large specimens of American Linden
growing in the communities of Mitchell and Morrill.
American Lindens are generally an upright,
oval-shaped tree with rounded leaves about the size
of the palm of your hand. They are not noted for
fall color, but their attractive summer appearance
and proven adaptability puts the American Linden on
my list of highly recommended shade trees for
Wyobraska. There are two widely sold cultivars of
American Linden commonly sold in the nursery
trade--‘Frontyard Linden’ and ‘Legend Linden’. In
my experience, both are excellent trees.
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Kentucky Coffeetree.
It’s a little harder to find mature specimens of
Kentucky coffeetree than lindens, but they can be
found. What is impressing me is the vigor displayed
by Kentucky coffeetrees planted within the past five
years. This is a species that admittedly looks
spindly when young—a circumstance caused by the fact
that its smaller stems are actually a part of its
leaves. Thus they drop off each fall, leaving a
tree silhouette over winter that looks like it has
just been radically pruned. This circumstance
lessens as the tree ages, and after ten years or so,
this tree takes on a clean winter appearance
precisely because it doesn’t have all of those small
branches waving in the winter winds.
Ohio Buckeye. I didn’t
fully appreciated how tough this tree is until I saw
it growing in Gillette, Wyoming, several years
ago. The Ohio Buckeye is usually a medium sized
rounded shade tree, but it can get large with age.
It’s unique large leaves are made up of five large
finger-like lobes. Most buckeyes develop orange or
red fall color, but fall color is variable.
Buckeyes are a relative of the horsechestnut, and
produce a crop of one-inch diameter nuts each fall.
They are reportedly not edible, but don’t tell that
to the industrious squirrel that’s burying buckeyes
all over the neighborhood.
Northern Catalpa.
Perhaps the most unique of these five old trees is
the northern catalpa. This large, upright shade
tree actually develops large white flowers each
June. Its light green leaves are large—from 4 to 6
inches across and heart-shaped. The leaves turn
yellow in the fall. When they drop, they reveal a
crop of long pencil-shape pods that hang on the tree
all winter, dropping off in mid-spring as the new
leaves emerge. While most tree-owners don’t like
“messy” trees, I can’t recall an owner of a catalpa
that didn’t love their tree—even if they do have to
clean up a few (OK a lot of) pods each spring. The
catalpa is my favorite deciduous tree in winter.
Next week—
if you are into “new and experimental” rather than
“old and proven”, a few shade tree varieties you may
want to try.
More
information and pictures on our
tree page
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