Horticultural sins

I've got a few, but I think the one that bothers me the most is taking down a mature tree with a chain saw for no other reason than to make space for "must have" non-native trees. It has been a long time since I've done that, but it still doesn't sit well with me. We now have plenty of dead/dying native oaks in need of replacement, so no tempation to remove perfectly healthy trees. Any horticultural skeletons out there?

We bought an established yard and most changes have been positive. But I'll confess to aiding and abetting a Mahonia bealei, invasive non native. I just can't seem to pull the trigger on this guy. And at the current size, it will fight back very ably if I try!

I recently removed a healthy native elderberry, for the sin of not fruiting. I supposed I don't have other elders close enough.

The most ignorant thing I have ever done was plant a Pieris in full sun. It was fried in a month.

[[chuckle]]

Well, there was the Ninebark Summer Wine saga…bought on clearance, in fall, left pot in hot sun, semi fried roots. Planted and it recovered. Decided it was too wide for that spot, moved it. Decided to move it again a year later. that last one did it in. It was the farthest you could get from the hose bib in my yard.

The area I cleared was at the base of a north-facing slope, which had a thicket of Prunus americana. In addition to clearing out the plums, I took out a few oaks, pines, and poplars. It was a really dumb thing to do.

In my teens I cut down a fairly large native holly because it was too close to a pathway I used to hual up wood. I cursed it every time I hauled up a wheel barrel. After one too many wheel barrels I took a chainsaw to it and lopped it off satisfied with myself to no end. My dad was not. At all.

I love hollys too. Last year I drove by the campus of SAS in Cary, NC they used Holly's as a privacy fence. It was something. I wish I took a picture of it.

ah the misspent youth! Other kids drink, Terp cuts hollies

I am guilty of more than one sin, some of which were due to my quest for grass (no, not that kind - - lawn grass!). We had 2 large red maples cut down, one because grass wouldn't grow under it, and the other because we wanted to put a swing set in its place (and also because grass wouldn't grow there). We could have/should have cut down the Bradford pear and put the swing set there instead, but we didn't. We also had limbs cut off the remaining maples to raise the crowns so grass would grow better (note: it didn't work; grass still didn't grow well).

I spent way too much time and money killing moss and spreading toxic chemicals in a futile effort to grow grass in the shade - including on the top of a hill that was a huge pain to mow - before finally giving up and planting ground cover and shrubs instead.

Sally, if it makes you feel better, I have yet to see a Mahonia bealei growing in our neighborhood woods even though there is one growing in a yard bordering on the woods. I had 3 myself, even after I knew they were NNIS, and removed them only because they weren't growing all that well and I needed room to plant bayberry shrubs.
I also had a Euonymus alatus, the only one I've seen in the neighborhood and thus possibly the one responsible for an isolated escapee in the woods.

that does make me feel better. I too have never seen a bealei in any woods around where I roam. I have seen E alatus, but Jap barberry is more common than that, and Oriental bittersweet, Japanese polygonum bamboo what-sit, and Tree of heaven far outweigh even barberry.

But it may be a matter of time.

What is Japanese polygonum bamboo what-sit and what's it look like? I should be on the look-out for it.

Sally, we have to Mahonia Bealei's and so far, 4 seedlings :) I like them though and there are no woods near our house so I'm not really worried about them becoming invasive, plus the birds love the berries.

Muddy, whoever wants grass anyway...that's what parks are for and they have the added benefit of a swing set :)

Muddy I meant Fallopia japonica, the Japanese knotweed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallopia_japonica
But let's not get off topic here I can tell you more via D mail if you like.

See , Seq- you are north of me but are getting seedlings….tick …tick…tick...

Yeah well those are only the children I know about :)

I agree, Seq, grass is highly overrated. Every time I need more room to plant other things, I kill off more grass. It gets easier to mow every year!

Sally, I've seen pictures of Japanese knotweed, and I don't think I've seen any yet. The stilt grass has probably crowded it out !

My sin(s)? Planting a row of 10 Buckthorn, Frangula alnus, across the middle of the backyard. We have a back neighbor who likes to stand by his garage door and stare into our yard while he smokes. It's good cover and he can't see us now but every Spring I pull hundreds of seedlings from the darned things! I think the neighbors are getting them, too, because the birds love the berries.

I planted a row of Arundo donax for a quick fix until the Buckthorn grew in. Three days, 2 people, one shovel, one mattock and one lamented broken garden fork is what it took to get that out. Talk about a mess.

I've killed 4 Barberry bushes. They don't like me but I keep trying.

Oh man kwanjin! Sounds like quite the situation...

Pick several handfuls of berries every now and then and casually toss them into your neighbor's yard...perhaps saying "oops, didn't mean to do that" while you do it. If other neighbors mention the seedlings, plead ignorance.

my neighbors sin on both sides of me when we lived up north, they cut down most all of their trees, because they wanted to plant a garden, one side had a rather large sunny all day area but he wanted the garden in the very back of the yard where all the trees were, the other wanted to take down trees in my yard that cast a shadow on his yard where he wanted his garden. We we left they both came in an cut down all the trees in our backyard before the house was sold.

I really want to go on the warpath when new road construction, new housing developments go in and cut down trees and don't replant trees. That is a serious sin in my book!

The only time I've taken a tree down, was after it was stuck by lightening and it was laying on the ground.

Jan

We we left they both came in an cut down all the trees in our backyard before the house was sold.

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1341708/#ixzz2o7Qu1lNM

holy cow

I'm with you meadow, I think new housing developments are so unappealing because of that. And then to make matters worse the builders plant the same thing in every yard. Always the same predictable list of overused plants. I hate seeing healthy trees get cut down for what seems like no good reason. I will say though that I would love for our neighbor's silver maple to get cut down. I have extreme prejudice for those trees.

A builder in our area cut down all of the mature trees before he started construction so that he could put in more houses, even though he did not have county approval to remove them and knew he would have to pay a fine. He stood to gain so much more money by cutting them down that he didn't care. The county made him stop construction for awhile, and promise to plant new trees, but the damage was done.

A very wealthy homeowner cut down a bunch of trees so he could see the Potomac River from his house. He said a tree expert told him they were "dangerous". He was fined, but I'm sure the amount was pennies to him.

Sequoiadendron4, I can't stand the same trees being put in either, my pet peeve is Bradford pear trees, hate them and they are such a much when there is ice or heavy snow....

Muddy1, When the fines are enough to put a hurt in the form of lets think about this first before doing, it will never change. I love the Potomac River as well, but would never cut trees down just to see it from my yard... what a nut. I use to live Alexandria, and live high up could see the Potomac as well as all the planes landing at (then) national airport, (now) Ronald Regan airport.

Jan

Yeah, it almost makes me want to do consulting for the builders for free. As it is, I could name all the plants they offer on each hand...

My turn to vent. I can top all of these laments!
We had one dead tree in our back "native" forest yard. This area goes down hill steeply and the tree roots help hold the soil.
A shiftless guy came by with his chain saw and wanted to know if he could cut down any trees. My husband asked me, and I agreed to cut down the one dead tree.
When I went into the backyard, he had cut down six, healthy, mature trees. Now, we see the unfriendly neighbors tacky above ground swimming pool from my kitchen window and our deck. We have lost our privacy.

I was just sick. I told my husband it takes two life times to grow a tree and thirty minutes to cut it down. It was all too late. What do you do? It makes me very, very sad every time I think of it--much less, look out my kitchen window.

Ouch! That's the stuff of nightmares. Did this just happen?

If I were you, I would get all of the stumps ground so they're not constant reminders of the lost trees. Then, I would plant some very fast-growing plants at the top of the hill to block the view, and maybe train some vines on a very tall trellis. Finally, I would plant replacement trees on the hill, or more shrubs if there isn't enough room for new tree roots.

Yes, this happened in November. I have been soooo upset about it; I haven't been able to even think about replacements yet.

This guy cut down all these trees and then, just left all of the wood laying around the tree stumps. Hubby has a bad hip and will not be able to get rid of the logs. It's just a darn mess and like you say, nightmare. I won't be able to lift those logs out of there either.

These trees were at the bottom of the hill. I said I can see this from my kitchen window which is 15' above the ground. Kitchen extends out to deck where we see the dead tree stumps and neighbor's backyard. So, growing something "tall" enough to block the view, I think, is going to be next to impossible..

The stumps have been left to keep the soil from eroding even more.

Birder I would plant cold hardy clumping Bamboo. It will grow fast enough and tall enough to hide them from your kitchen view.

Jan

birder, that would make me ill as well. So sorry.

Birder, that's a story of nightmare proportions, sorry for your loss.

Jan, thanks for your suggestion. I know Bamboo is one of those quick, tall fillers, but I just don't care for it. I just feel it's out of place in my Missouri backyard. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Thanks for the empathy. I am just pretty sick about it. It's so outrageously upsetting; I can't think about it for very long at one time.

When I asked him why he did that, "Because I wanted to". I have no words to describe my frustration at that point. You're probably wondering if we had a big fight--not really--. What good would it do? The trees are gone. I am just very sad about it.

so sorry birder that you had to see them gone. I've unfortunately had that same thing. When someone who loves trees ends up with neighbors who seem to hate them, it makes for hard feelings. I hope in 2014 this guy will come to understand his mistake.

Jan

Jan, "this guy" was my husband! Makes it worse than neighbors! And, we don't get along with these neighbors that we see from our deck now.

Sycamore or Tulip Poplar should merge with conditions in your Missouri property, and they are quite rapid growing. I'd plant them this winter/spring, and you will have screening sooner than you might imagine.

During that period, you can plan for planting more permanent species that you might like better, and then edit out anything you don't care for. To wait is to waste time, and to continue to "curse the darkness."

Thanks for the suggestions VV. I will look into these two trees. I am assuming both of these get tall quickly?

I know very little about trees and shrubs. I have spent most of my research on perennials and roses.

When things settle down from the holidays, I am going to take some pictures and post them on this website for some suggestions,. I think I will post on Landscaping forum (there is one isn't there?) and this forum.

Having a deck 15 feet above ground level does make a bit of a difference!

In addition to the trees, and following up on Pseudo's suggestion, what about some fast-growing conifers that could be planted on or near the top of the hill to screen your view from your kitchen? As long as you get the proper mix of male/female or (theoretically) self-pollinating ones, you'd attract some birds, too.

Hanging some trailing plants in your kitchen would give you instant screening there, and a vine-covered trellis on your patio would block the view when you're sitting outside this summer.

Stumps would be a great place for potted strawberries.

Perhaps a "free firewood" sign would help clear your yard?.

Good suggestion for the firewood.
Good suggestions. I will take some pics later. I am visiting my son in Fl. right now. I need to take them before it greens up outside.
The only two evergreens I know that grow readily in my area are White Pine and Cedars.
I am not sure what "conifers" you are thinking of. I don't have much knowledge about trees.

I do visit this forum often to learn.

what part of FL? Sorry it was your husband.... When we had a tree go down due to storm, two of my neighbors came and chopped up the tree and hauled it off for firewood for themselves. Win win I think.

Best to you in 2014.

Jan