A Few Good Trees

Choosing good trees is an important - but sometimes difficult - part of landscaping. Unlike smaller plants, trees are difficult (and often expensive) to move or remove once established. Their large size means that any problems (ie weak wood, insect infestations, messy fruit or seed pods) eventually become big problems. One common mistake that homeowners make is planting a cute little tree right next to their home or in another unsuitable position. It's hard to believe that every giant tree began life as a tiny plant. Those little trees keep growing, and growing, and growing . . . so give them the space they'll need!
For a fairly quick-growing but sturdy shade tree, maples (Acer) are a good choice. Be sure to avoid 'Norway' maples, which have weak branches that break easily in wind/snow/ice storms. 'October Glory' and many others have excellent fall color.
With yards getting smaller these days, most of us don't need huge shade trees (such as maples) that take over our neighbors' sky and require a lot of cleanup in the fall.

A wonderful medium-sized tree is a 'Shademaster' honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos 'Shademaster'). Instead of reaching 80-100 feet in size, honey locusts grow to about 25-30 feet wide and 35-45 feet tall. Their small leaves make less mess in the fall, and though some types produce seed pods, 'Shademaster' is podless. Their branches have a lovely form even in winter, and the shade they produce in summer isn't so heavy that it kills the grass underneath. 'Sunburst' honey locusts are also podless and their new leaves are yellow. This can look a little strange on a young tree, but mature trees are lovely with "bursts" of yellow leaves on the tips of branches set against the green leaves on the rest of the tree.

My favorite ornamental small tree is a dogwood (Cornus florida), but these trees require A LOT of water. I inherited one from our home's previous owners that is planted in a sunny and rather hot spot. In addition to being watered by the sprinklers every other day, it needs to be soaked deeply with the hose once or twice a week during July & August. I do it gladly, however, because I adore the beautiful pink flowers that appear in May (there are also white-flowered forms). In my fairly dry climate, dogwoods do best when shaded from the hot afternoon sun (ie when planted on the east side of the house).

Other nice spring-flowering trees for zone 5 climates are 'Spring Snow' crabapples (Malus) with white flowers and a columnar-shaped crown, and 'Kwanzan' cherries (Prunus) with pink flowers and a spreading, vase-shaped crown.

The crown is the part of the tree formed by the branches. Both of these trees are fruitless, which means less mess in the fall.
And now a few trees to avoid . . . 'Bradford' pears are lovely trees but their branches break easily. A note about flowering pears - these trees have glossy green leaves and pretty white flowers in the spring, but the flowers kind of stink! Poplars and willows grow quickly but also have a problem with weak wood that leads to breaking branches. Even if a large branch doesn't come crashing down in a windstorm, many twigs will be blown off and make a big mess. Quaking aspens are a popular choice in my neighborhood, but these trees send up dozens (even hundreds?) of "babies" from their roots. If you don't want an ever-growing thicket of aspens, you have to continually pull up the baby trees, which is a pain in the rear. At one nursery where I worked, we sold "Swedish" aspens which weren't supposed to send up as many baby trees. I'm not sure of the latin name for that one. But if I had my heart set on aspens, I'd do a bit of research to find some "Swedish" ones. Finally, blue spruces and other large coniferous evergreens are usually too big for a typical suburban yard. They grow to 25 feet wide at the base, which takes up most of the yard and is difficult to balance visually.

My Garden Style

Gardens come in many styles: English cottage, Mediterranean, Japanese, Italian, American prairie, etc. My personal preference is a "cleaned up" version of English cottage style. Traditional English cottage gardens are exuberant combinations of billowing, upright and arching shapes. Plants like delphiniums, foxgloves, daisies, peonies and roses are combined in shades of pink, purple and white. I love the color scheme and the flowers, but the overall effect is a bit chaotic for my tastes. I calm things down a bit by avoiding plants with floppy forms, planting in groups, repeating plants throughout the design, and including some dark green shrubs for background structure (Otto Luyken laurels are my favorite, as there are few broad-leaved evergreens hardy in my zone 5 yard). I also look for new and improved versions of the old favorites, like David Austin's english roses (nice shrubby form, reblooming, disease-resistance), reblooming bearded iris, mildew-resistant peonies, sturdier New Millenium delphiniums, longer-blooming daylilies, hardy Endless Summer hydrangeas, and new colors of siberian iris. Add those plants together in shades of purple, blue, pink and white and hear me sigh in delight!

Where to Buy Plants: Big Box vs. Nursery vs. Catalog/Internet

Figuring out the best place to buy plants can be difficult. Some gardeners refuse to buy from the big box garden centers (ie Home Depot, Lowe's). They're convinced that they'll get better quality at a retail nursery. Having worked at a couple of private retail nurseries, I can say that even there plants occasionally had bugs or got dried out (sometimes I was the one who forgot to water them . . . oops). My experience has been that you can get healthy or unhealthy plants almost anywhere. The key is to choose plants - from whatever source - that look healthy. Avoid plants that look dried out or that have bugs or mildew or another pest visible. Many garden center stores offer a 1 year guarantee, so keep your receipts in case of disaster.
Here are a few pros and cons for each source:
Big Box Garden Centers (Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, WalMart) - These stores usually carry the most popular, common plants for your area. If you're looking for a rare plant, you probably won't find it here. Or if you need good plant advice, you usually won't get it here. For example, in my area these stores sell loads of azaeleas without warning their customers that these shrubs need acidic soil and will look sickly if planted in our alkaline soil. Don't buy plants that are wilted or look sickly - unless the store has a 1 year guarantee and you want to take the chance of having to return the plant if it gives up the ghost.
Prices are usually one half to one third of the price of private retail nurseries. For example, when I lived in California I found the exact same "Confederate Star" jasmine vine, 1-gallon size, at Home Depot for about $5 and at a private retail nursery for $15. The difference in price adds up even faster when buying trees (ie $70 at Home Depot vs. $125 at a private nursery for a similar sized tree). If you have a limited budget - as I do - then garden centers are a great choice for buying common plants.
Retail nurseries -
Local retail nurseries often carry a wider variety of plants than big box stores. New and improved cultivars often show up here before they're available at the big box stores (if they ever become available via big box stores). The prices are higher, but the employees or owner can usually give you good advice about plant selection and care. There may or may not be a guarantee for their plants. Sometimes there is a volume discount available. If you are budget conscious, and have a list of plants to buy, I'd recommend stopping at a big box garden center first. Then go to a private retail nursery to get the plants that you can't find at the garden center . . or else order from the next catagory: a catalog/website.
Mail-order Catalog/Website Orders -
Catalogs and websites offer the greatest variety of plants. Some exciting new cultivars may be available only from the specialty nursery that has developed them - and if that nursery isn't in your town, then you'll have to order from their website or catalog. It's easy to sit at home and order, then have them delivered to your door. Obviously shipping costs are the limiting factor here - so most plants will be very small when they arrive. That's fine for bulbs or quick-growing perennials, but isn't as good for shrubs, trees and vines. Before ordering from a new company, I like to check their ratings at www.davesgarden.com in the Garden Watchdog section. Companies should fix the problem quickly and politely if plants arrive in poor condition.
I've ordered from the following companies and been pleased. The kind of plants I've ordered are in parentheses. Type the company name into google to find the website.
David Austin Roses (bare root roses)
Bloomin' Designs Nursery (daylilies)
Dutch Gardens (bulbs, perennials)
Springhill Nursery (bulbs, perennials)
White Flower Farm (bulbs, perennials)
Jackson and Perkins (bulbs, perennials)
Joe Pye Weed Gardens (siberian iris)
Dowdeswell's Delphiniums (delphinium seeds)
Park Seed Company (seeds, perennials)
Burpee (seeds)

Happy buying!