I gave a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation and they sent me some trees. Unfortunately they were not tagged, so I am now trying to determine what kind I have. The only one I can ID is the maple, the rest are unknown. If anyone can help ID, I'd appreciate it. Here is a pic of one. Thanks!
Here is another. Thanks again!
Your first picture is Golden Rain Tree, Koelreuteria paniculata.
Your second picture is Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis.
The National Arbor Day Foundation, while a worthy organization, is woefully inadequate when distributing trees in this manner. Your post unfortunately follows a flotilla of previous experiences, all equally dissatisfying.
You should write to them, factually, about your experience with their plants. This is such an avoidable situation, and I would have to believe that they are doing themselves a disservice by such shoddy handling of trees. There are probably far fewer repeat customers than they might otherwise have, if they were more adept at labeling and distributing what they claim to.
Thank You VV. They also didn't send them until well into December, after the winter of many, many snowflakes had started. I'm actually surprised that any survived!
I am so glad you started this thread. I have wondered about those ads the Arbor day Foundation places in all the magazines. I have really come close to ordering some myself but I worried that I wouldn't live to see them mature. LOL (Old timer here) Those look fairly decent sized, though. And in very good condition.
I recommend their trees. I ordered their ten free trees back in late 01'.
And the label dilemma, sympathetic I am. They just splashed a drop of color on the sticks then you have to dig out their color chart thing and find it out for yourself. I don't know about anyone else, but I am tempted to throw away papers that come with stuff I buy.
And if their chart is thrown out, and one doesn't know their trees too good, its just too bad according to Arbor Day. But, they are trees, it just takes many years for them to be sizeable. Here is a Redbud photo that I took just yesterday at my Mom's, it is one of two remaining "10 free trees". She just trimmed on it, (see the branches all over the ground?).
I wish she'd leave it alone, but at least it's still there! : ) Arbor Day's headquarters in Nebraska City really is outstanding, it was a vacation destination a while back.
All those "ten free trees" have made a bunch of stuff up there, a State Park, a lodge,
a museum-like place and educational displays and more, it is worthy of a visit.
Will
Heres the other remaining "ten free trees" tree, its a Crabapple at my Aunt and Uncle's house.
I ordered trees from them once. I remember the colored paint dots on each one. They say they will send them at the proper planting time in the fall. Nuts. They arrived in December here in zone 5a. There was no way I could get them in the ground. I never ordered trees from them again.
I consider the 50 dollars a donation to good works rather than a purchase of trees. It's nicer getting trees as a thank you instead of the obligatory tote.
Will, I have to laugh at the spray paint id. Like you, I threw out the corresponding color chart, hence mystery trees ;)
Even if you hadn't thrown out the color chart you could have easily ended up with mystery trees--plants from Arbor Day show up quite frequently on the ID forum when they turn out to be something other than what they were supposed to be.
My experience with Arbor Day is that IF you get your order and IF you can figure out from the colors which is which, the plants are actually very good and healthy! I've been on the wrong side of both "IFs" with them, but I've been on the right side, too. They're actually very nice people and I think it's fundamentally a good organization . . . it's just not good at organization!
I had long forgotten that my husband, Jack, sent in the check for the trees but they arrived yesterday. We may be hit with 1 to 3" of snow today. Does everyone who plants them do it even in this cold weather? I'm not concerned that it's cold out or about the snow but I am curious.
I was thinking of bringing in some potting soil to allow it to get warm and potting them up and setting them in our indoor, unheated porch. It takes me a lot of time to decide where each one will get planted. I could plant them outside in a temporary spot. Any advice?
Hi pirl:
Your idea of potting them up and keeping them in the unheated porch sounds like the best plan. Depending on how big your containers are, you could double up - or put them all in one for the time being, and separate them when you are ready to install them permanently.
Thanks, VV. I already put the soil-less mix in a big pot and it's warming to room temperature now. I intend to label each one, providing I can identify them, and put them all in the one pot.
Great minds think alike!
If there are some that appear to be NOID, post them on the ID forum and give us a shot at them...
Sure thing. I did a careful exam of the colors and planted them side by side in pairs, with labels. I have many large stakes and wondered if you'd advise putting a large, clear, dry cleaner type bag over the whole pot with the stakes keeping the bag a good distance from the "trees" or would that just encourage early leafing out?
The Crape Myrtle trees look nothing at all like the rooted cuttings I have of my own Crape Myrtles. Time will tell, I'm sure.
I don't think you'd need to put any kind of cover or bagging over dormant woody plants, unless you were trying to "force" them.
If you are worried about dessication, then just periodically spritz them with water (like with a Windex bottle of water). Other than that, I think you could just about ignore them.
What is the range of species that NADF distributes these days? I always thought that they were touting native species, but I hear more stories about Koelreuteria and Lagerstroemia than oaks and redbuds.
Thanks.
Here's the list (2 plants of each cultivar):
Sargent Crabapple (Malus sargentii)
Eastern Redbud (Cercis Canadensis)
Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
White Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Goldenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata)
Crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
All spellings are as shown on their literature.
Is there a reliable site that shows the growth rate of each, sun or shade preferences, any fall color, eventual height and width?
Well - far be it from me to advocate that you look elsewhere but the site which you currently patronize...
I am not going to claim close knowledge of maritime NY gardening, but since I've grown all these plants I'll offer my experience. I'd hope others from the mid Atlantic to northeast region will weigh in with their experiences which more closely match your growing conditions.
**Sargent Crabapple (Malus sargentii) - slower growing compact crabapple, full sun, reasonable fall color in yellows/oranges, 10-12 feet by 10-12 feet
**Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) - medium to fast growing, full sun to full shade, yellow fall color, 20 feet by 20 feet
**Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) - medium growth rate and very thorny, full sun, yellow/orange/scarlet fall color, 25 feet by 25 feet
**White Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) - medium growth rate, full sun to full shade, reddish orange to burgundy fall color, 20 feet by 20 feet
**Goldenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata) - medium to fast growth rate, full sun, orange/yellow/golden fall color, 35 feet by 35 feet - watch this one seeding into cultivated areas (especially mulched beds) and unexpectedly elsewhere
**Crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) - medium to fast growth rate, full sun, kaleidoscope fall color of brilliant reds/oranges/yellows/burgundies (most unappreciated aspect of this genus), 20 feet by 20 feet can be assumed but the range in this genus is pretty broad and the provenance of your plants is unknown
Interesting that these are all small to medium trees, with no shade tree species included.
You've been a very big help, VV, and I thank you.
The Washington Hawthorn is the one that concerns me due to the thorns. I'll have to give it a spot where it won't pose a problem.
I agree about the Crapemyrtle. The fall color is great on our Powhatan. The picture I posted shows it two years ago and that's when we moved it to a better spot to show off in fall.
I have also received trees years ago from Arbor Day and have a beautiful eastern Redbud tree that is close to 15' x 15' right now. The list Pirl has shown is similar to the standard trees they send out. I got rid of the Washington Hawthorne's because of the thorns, although my neighbors have a very nicely shaped one that is closing in on 20'. Several of the dogwoods are just now large enough to flower. The Goldenraintree's have been ignored so far and are in pots buried in the ground which has limited their growth. Plan to "free" one this spring and see what becomes of it.
If you lose the color guide just ask them for another, it never has changed to my knowledge. Only concern is if the paint on the tree's wears off, still the leaves on these should be easy to identify and since they only send out a limited type of tree so that reduces the possible type.
I planted them in sets of two and each set has my label on them. The Hawthorns just may end up on a small vacant strip of land around here.
Not to be a buzz kill but a while back I was going to order from them but first did some checking as they were bombarding us with flyers and surveys which seemed odd. I then read that John Rosenow founder and CEO of the National Arbor Day Foundation pays himself a salary of 369K (as reported by Charity Navigator) and I also have read that they sell their mailing list to everyone. Patti
Oops, just checked again and now I see John Rosenow Chief Executive Officer got a raise in June 2011 to $380,164 which is 1.03% of Expenses . Maybe he has now paid himself more. Patti
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=arbor+day+foundation&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results
Actually I have no quarrel with the man's salary. They wouldn't be paying him if they felt he wasn't worth the money. Mailing lists are so widely circulated that it would be hard for anyone to get much more junk mail than we already get. The CEO's of so many companies get salaries in the millions that his looks skimpy compared to others.
Anyhow, we were all here to talk about the trees, right?
my better half sent in a donation and the trees came this spring....color coded of course! i got the same ones that you did, pirl, minus the crabapple and the hawthorn. the only ones that made it are the redbuds but that's okay with me. i'm actually surprised that any of them made it! lol
i'm hoping to see a burst of growth this spring!
Me, too!
Happy New Year!
a salary that high for a charity is wrong
Many CEO's of non profits make millions:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-17/nonprofit-ceo-pay-topping-1-million-rises-with-scrutiny.html
Aren't we here to talk about the trees?
the Benjamen's are made from trees :)
i'm dense today......what is a benjamen?
Ditto.
slang for money with a picture of Franklin on them
oh, lol. Benjamin Franklin....all i could think of was Ficus benjamina....the spelling threw me!
Ficus benjamina - LOL!!!
I have one of those, it's a Variegated Weeping Fig! - It's not looking too good but someday it will! By the way, the tinfoil is good at deterring cats from getting in it, they don't like the feel of it on their feet I hear.
Very pretty! That's a good tip, too!
Thanks pirl. Tinfoil has worked for about 2 years now. Before that there was so much cat excrement in it, I thought I was going to pass out when I carried it outside in the Spring!
At least it got fertilized heavily for a while I suppose!
