Alright, so most of us here own a chainsaw or 5. And most of us will cut down a tree in a heartbeat. But who here is planting trees . And if so, what are you planting and why? I'll just say I have planted 5 trees on my small property. I have 1 red maple in the front yard and 4 eastern red cedars in the back yard for a wind break. I was trying to plant Norway spruce in the back yard but they kept dying because they don't tolerate drought very well.
I have a few dozen trees in a staging area that I setup 4 years ago. Some of the trees I actually started from seed but they're all at least 3 feet high now. Black cherry, hickory, and heartnut (a type of black walnut). I'll be transplanting those out in the next few years to replace trees that I'm culling mostly due to disease or bad leaning.
I have planted a dozen or more paper birch, 4 dawn redwoods, 2 maples, several ponderosa pines, 8 apple, 4 quaking aspen, 1 peach, 1 pear, 1 thornless honey locust, 7 arborvitae, 1 ginkgo, and 1 red oak.They are mostly all bare root seedlings.
I planted a Shagbark Hickory several months ago. If I remember to water it through the summer it might make it.
We planted 40-50 white oaks in the last two years. Probably 10 apples and four chestnut hybrids. I have 80 chestnut seedlings ready for next year. It’s a fun hobby.
My wife has planted a few ornamental trees over the years. She's had some good luck with a few Japanese Maple trees. We have a cherry tree up in VT that produced some sour cherries last year. Fingers crossed we get another crop this year. I've been making smoothies since working from home and those cherries are one of my favorite ingredients.
I have planted a few fruit trees....peach, apple, cherry, and pear. The pear tree has about 30 pears on it this year (first time)
Good thread SD Steve . We planted 2 river birch, and a red plum coming down the drive 2 years ago. They're doing really well. This year I planted 7 thuja green giants for a living fence. Need to plant 2 more at a different location but I took all the nursery had. When they got more in, they were $20.00 more and smaller than what I bought before. Also planted 2 self pollinating peach trees. They both are bearing fruit already. As I clear the woods of dead, and junk trees, Im going to plant some dunstan chestnut, and crab apple trees for the wildlife.
I've planted oaks and some norway spruce. The spruce where I hope not to cut lawn eventually. I also planted a row of white pines which were to be temporary and a bit of privacy while some oaks came up. The pines ( and some forsythia) were actually planted on the neighbor's side of the line. The owner at the time didn't care as they rarely used their yard, but now there is a new owner (he rents the place) and he kinda likes the pines. Trees are constantly coming up where I don't want them here so I probably spend more time weeding and moving them.
I have not planted many trees now for several years. The last were peach and apple. Many years ago we planted a few thousand pines and then cut most of those about 10 years ago as many of them were dieing. We thought about planting more but held off. Now we find they are coming up on their own plus some oaks in there too.
We planted 45 softwood bare-root trees last summer (Norway Spruce, Larch, and Balsam Fir). The spruce were on a whim, the Larch were for their fall foliage, and the Balsam Fir are for family Christmas trees. We have done Christmas tree plantings in the past and are depleted (actually, a few are 20’ tall now). A few years ago a solar farm went in next door. We were concerned about the aesthetics, but also had sold them an easement that we would not shade their panels, so we planted 5 Sugar Maples and 4 Blue Spruce as eventual screens, well away from the property line. Oh, and one white Magnolia.
I just picked up two 4+ ft rose of Sharon bushes, a flowering dogwood tree and a kwanzan cherry tree. These are replacing the ash trees that I had to cut down. We'll need one more too, probably a magnolia.
These might be some future trees around here. A few weeks ago I found seeds sprouting in a Gala Apple apple core. They were all coiled up ( kinda like fetal positions, LOL ) so I just tossed them in some vermiculite and so far 6 of 7 are continuing to grow. They're probably future 40 foot tall crabapple trees that taste like Gala apples but hey, they're trees and unless they are some future invasive species they'll just be trees some future moths, bees and birds might appreciate. Maybe they'll be firewood for some future person. (if firewood isn't outlawed)
The Rose of Sharon are nice because of how late they bloom in the season after everything else. The only issue I've had is they spread like crazy. I'm always on the lookout for young shoots to pull up. I just dug one up right over my property line that somehow sprouted a good 70-80 feet from the mother tree.
Part of it is a hobby and the other part for wildlife. We planted two crabapples last year and 1 this year that I grew from a seed. 7 bare root beach plums are in now and taking off well. I have about 20 peat pucks with spruce seeds, but nothing sprouting yet. The seeds were stratified too. I just read an article about throwing a handful of pinecones in a flowerpot with loose dirt and water them. Some may sprout. I could be overthinking and just do the lazy man route. I found a mulberry sapling the other day that could make a nice tree. It is growing at the base of a spruce. We like spruce for nesting birds and the deer shelter under them in the winter. There are lots of young saplings from oak, cherry, maple, etc out back here. Easy to dig and transplant.
2 years ago I planted 2 cherry, peach plum pear and a Sugar maple and few apples. All 12 footers as a nursery was going out of business and they were free. Would have taken another trailer full but they were all gone.
When I bought my home it was wide open in the back yard, so I put in a fence and lined the inside of the fence with arborvitae- not all lived but a good number did and some are more than 12 feet tall now. I planted a maple and a dogwood something or other. In the front my wife and I have a number of blue spruce each a year apart- we buy a potted Christmas tree each year, and plant it when the holidays are over. Hoping to keep the tradition going.
But yes all had price tags that that totaled over $1,000. Wife favorite was a late throw on a very fragrant butterfly bush.. Jon you know me.. I am cheeaap Nursery here go up to 80% off before thanksgiving. Edit. I got to learn how to trim fruit trees
I’m all for more trees less grass, especially at this time of year when I can cut and split in the shade for most of the day. A Greek proverb A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit in.
