Help us decide what tree to plant in our front yard. I "master" gardener that I am (in my own universe that is), killed our maple out front. We've always hated it. It isn't, er, wasn't a very nice tree. The leader branch was out of the side and no amount of pruning would cure that, and it was puny, the thing would NOT grow. So we fertilized it. And it looked a lot better and actually grew some. But then the hot weather came, and all the leaves started dying - we looked up the symptoms and over fertilizing looked to be the culprit. Then, I decided to "help" Mike out and do the grass trimming - well.....I trimmed a little too close to the tree and nicked it pretty good. At that point, I suspected it was a goner. And yep, no sign of life this spring and all the bark is coming off the trunk. It's certified dead.
So here are our two choices:
A Magnolia Tree, or Tulip Tree: We've always wanted one of these. I fell in love with them when we lived in Champaign, IL.
The pros: beautiful, large blossoms, the Southern look would go very well with our "colonial" style house, I really like the multi-trunk look.
The cons: It is a smaller tree - max of 25 ft and I don't believe it is a fast grower. It also likes slightly acidic soil - which we do not have. And some shade wouldn't be a bad thing. And it is pretty expensive!
An Ornamental Pear: I've always been attracted to these too - for their flowers, height and for their fall color.
The pros: What I listed above, also they reach a nice height 35-50 ft. They like full sun - which we have! They adapt to most soil conditions.
The cons: Pretty popular. Doesn't have the "wow" factor a magnolia does.
So, what do you think?
April 17, 2009
Help Us Decide
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5 comments:
I vote for the magnolia tree. The house behind ours has an ornamental pear and that's the tree that broke off and landed on our deck in a bad thunderstorm. Our neighbor across the street lost half of her tree in another bad thunderstorm. Don't know the "weatherability" of the magnolia, but the pear tree does not stand up to strong winds at all!
Grandma Richard
I voted for the magnolia...I had to stick with my southern roots!
Oh do the magnolia one! I love those trees and they are all over here in Utah - I think Serena has one in her back yard - I wish I had one.
I'd have to agree with the magnolia too! But save up for it & buy the biggest you can get, they do grow slow. My MIL has one & it's grown about 3" in the last 2.5 years.
Huh - funny thing is I just found out I have an ornamental pear in our front yard - silly me:) We weren't here for the spring last year and it's fun to see what keeps popping up. As for the tree it blossomed the other day and I finally realized what it was - ha! Have you made a decision yet? Both trees are really pretty but it's true, the pear is EVERYwhere - even in Utah
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