When to Plant Trees
I am often asked when to plant trees purchased from the nursery. The question has both a long and a short answer, and I’ll begin with the short version. Note that this article specifically addresses when to plant trees in areas with cold winters; if you live in a warm climate, then essentially any time of year except summer is a good time for planting (the summer heat presents too great a threat to young trees).
When to Plant Trees: The Short Version
In general, the best time for planting trees is late winter or early spring. If that doesn’t fit your schedule, then aim for autumn. Summer’s a bad choice, because the weather’s too hot and the actively growing plants too susceptible to damage. Weather also restricts your options in the winter (at least in the North), because the cold causes the ground to freeze. If you’ve had the foresight to do all your digging ahead of time (before the ground freezes), it’s not impossible to plant trees in winter. But unless you can water them sufficiently, early-to-mid winter is not the best planting time, either.
When to Plant Trees: The Long Version
For the long answer to the question of when to plant trees, we’ll remember what’s been said above — but then just expand on it a bit. To begin, I need to introduce some vocabulary items:
Planting trees when they’re dormant is advisable, since that’s when handling them is least disruptive to them. When do they go dormant? In the Northern Hemisphere, they begin to enter dormancy at some point in the autumn and begin to leave it at some point in the spring. Thus the short answer given above to the question of when to plant trees.
However, in the longer version, we need to be more precise by breaking the original question down into two parts: one for deciduous types, another for evergreens. For examples of both, click the photo on your right to access the mini-photo gallery.
When to Plant Trees That Are Deciduous
In a way, the best time to install deciduous types is more obvious. The dropping of their leaves in autumn signals that they are entering dormancy. The unfurling of buds in spring signals that they are leaving dormancy.
When to Plant Trees That Are Evergreen
You have more leeway in the matter of when to plant trees that are evergreen. You can undertake the operation earlier in the fall and later in the spring than their deciduous counterparts. However, you’ll still want to avoid planting them when it’s hot. If it’s still hot in your region in late September, hold off till later in the fall. Likewise, if early June brings hot weather to your neck of the woods, plant those evergreens earlier in the spring!
When to Plant Trees: A Follow-Up Consideration
Intense heat is a major enemy to newly planted saplings. But lack of water for their root systems is another. And although you may not think of winter as a dry time — what with all the snow — remember, the moisture from the snow can’t get to the roots until the snow melts and the ground thaws. Thus in cold climates, winter brings desert conditions of a sort. That’s why watering trees properly in fall is important — regardless of whether you’ve opted for planting in autumn or in late winter / early spring.
Now that you know when to plant trees, what about the how? Consult my tips for planting andtransplanting.
Source: http
How to Care for Ice-Damaged Trees
This is a reposted article from: urbanext.illinois.edu
One cannot appreciate the damage ice causes to trees until they’ve experienced a heavy ice storm. Fortunately, major ice storms do not occur on a regular basis. The trees that normally take the brunt of the damage - Chinese and Siberian elms, poplars, silver maples, birches and willows - are the predictable victims. All of these species have brittle wood and are easily damaged by ice and wind storms.
Homeowners often plant fast-growing species like the ones mentioned above for rapid shade. Fast-growing trees normally have brittle wood and develop weak, V-shaped crotches that easily split apart under added weight. Often, trees with extensive internal rot and decay that may not have been evident from the exterior receive severe damage.
Many times these trees overhang the house, driveway or power lines servicing the home. When large limbs or tree tops are broken in an ice storm, they can cause major damage and expense.
Source: urbanext.illinois.edu
Red Maple Trees are Beautiful Fast Growing Shade Trees
This is a reposted article from: southern-gardening.com.
I love trees. I think I have mentioned before that my ideal landscape would be full of trees and quite shady. While our home sits on 18 acres of land, the previous owner situated the house in a place that has only a few pine trees nearby. I have planted several trees since we have lived here one of them the tree that is pictured here, which is an “October Glory” red maple tree.
Red maple trees (Acer rubrum) are native to the swampy areas in the south hence, another common name, swamp maple. Don’t let that scare you away from choosing to plant a red maple in your landscape. Because they are adaptable to many growing conditions and do quite well in drier locations. They are a fast growing tree to around sixty feet tall with a spread of around forty feet. Unlike some trees that grow quickly, red maples don’t sacrifice strength while producing that fast growth.
Read the full post on southern-gardening.com.
Source: southern-gardening.com
Angel Oak: The Oldest Tree in the Southeast
Angel Oak (John’s Island, South Carolina)
Reportedly the oldest thing — living or man-made — east of the Rockies, Angel Oak is a live oak tree aged approximately 1,500 years. Some locals simply call it The Tree. It stands in a wooded area along Bohicket Road of John’s Island outside Charleston, South Carolina. You won’t find a lot of stuff like tee shirt shacks around there, because basically the attraction is a single tree standing in a park. So keep an eye out for signs and drive slowly. — Duane Spurlock
Angel Oak is a live oak. It is native to the low country and is not very tall but has a wide spread canopy. Lumber from the live oak forests in the sea islands was highly valued for shipbuilding in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Angel Oak stands on part of Abraham Waight’s 1717 land grant. Mr. Waight owned several plantations. The City of Charleston now owns Angel Oak. There is no charge to view the tree and is a must see when visiting Charleston, South Carolina.
For tourists who haven’t visited Angel Oak, you should know that it is this state’s most imposing work of nature, more impressive even than a plate of shrimp and grits. The Tree (one instinctively capitalizes the word when talking about this colossal vegetable) stands in an obscure wooded area of John’s Island, some 12 miles beyond the Ashley River. The Tree is huge, and it is ancient. Estimates of its age run as high as 1,500 years.
Towering over 65 feet high, the Angel Oak has shaded John’s Island, South Carolina, for over 1400 years, and would have sprouted 1000 years before Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Recorded history traces the ownership of the live oak and surrounding land, back to the year 1717 when Abraham Waight received it as part of a small land grant. The tree stayed in the Waight family for four generations, and was part of a Marriage Settlement to Justus Angel and Martha Waight Tucker Angel. In modern times, the Angel Oak has become the focal point of a public park. Today the live oak has a diameter of spread reaching 160 feet, a circumference of nearly 25 feet, and covers 17,100 square feet of ground. www.historictrees.org
The Angel Oak is thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. Acorns from the Angel Oak have grown to produce authentic direct-offspring trees.. Live oaks generally grow out and not up, but the Angel Oak has had plenty of time to do both, standing 65 ft high and with a canopy providing 17,000 square feet of shade. Its limbs, the size of tree trunks themselves, are so large and heavy that some of them rest on the ground (some even drop underground for a few feet and then come back up), a feature common to only the very oldest live oaks. It has survived countless hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and human interference, so there’s a good chance it will still be there waiting for you.
In the spring and summer there are numerous artistic events, including the “Evening Under the Angel Oak” series, which feature music, dramatic presentations, and various other activities, especially during the Spoleto Festival in May/June. Keep an eye out for these, as they present an especially rewarding opportunity to visit this majestic figure. Jill Bahr, the choreographer of this particular “Rite,” told me she was amazed to find that the entire Charleston Ballet company, 19 dancers, could hide behind the trunk of The Tree.
Angel Oak was damaged severely during Hurricane Hugo but has since recovered and grows on John’s Island near Charleston, South Carolina.
Source: angeloaktree.org
Getting to know your chainsaw. Topics include safety, kick-back prevention, chainsaw maintenance and working with trees.
