St. Valentine's Day Ice-a-cree

Scott you have me drooling now for what, 10 years before my yellowood will bloom? I can wait I know I can wait, I hope I can wait. Boy oh boy. Me a proud father of a yellowood blossom. This is another bloom I have enjoyed 'Satomi' Cornus.

I want one. Yellowwood, and Satomi, also.

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/tree/tn_tree_bicentennial.htm

Sofer:

Get a 'Perkin's Pink'--they are grafted, and will bloom much sooner, and be PINK!

That yellowwood is a looker. Your post got me curious gloria, so I looked up my state tree. It is the stately white oak, Quercus alba, same as Maryland. Disappointing list, suger maple and tulip poplar predominate. Delaware gets American holly, Ilex opaca, no fair!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_trees

Is there really a 'Perkin's Pink'? That is one of my (female) woodies instructor's names. Is it a cornus or a cladrastis?

The Yellow wood flower looks very much like some Orchids I have seen. How many flowers are there on each stem, more than one I hope!

Decumbent...I am new here...just looking around...great pictures you have there. Love Basil. Our snow is finally melting tomorrow. I am wanting a yellowood.

Listen to Kevin.

I purchased a 6' tall 'Perkin's Pink' yellowwood in May of 2005 and the tree bloomed last spring. Beautiful light pink flowers. I was surprised that the tree flowered the year after I put the tree in the ground. I have heard that these trees flower heavily only every 2 to 3 years, so I would guess I won't get any flowers this spring.
Mike

I like the little U.S. flag flying under the pronouncement of Yellowwood as the bicentennial tree of Tennessee. Makes you feel like its your patriotic duty to plant one.

Satomi is a great tree. Beautiful blooms and great Fall color.

Too bad we couldn't convince Willis to name his baby Satomi. What a soft pretty pink. What is the fall color like?

This photo does not do it justice. I have to get a better shot this year. This is from 2003 when it was still young.

I planted my Yellowwood about 7 years ago and she has yet to flower. If this tree never flowered I would still love her, wonderful branching habit and beautiful leaves. I will be add a Perkin's Pink to my collection in a few years but a Santomi Chinese Dogwood is coming this spring...... giddy with excitement!

oh my! seeing all these wonderful 'Fall- overachievers', I almost wished it was Fall!
My yard isn't big enough for this type of growings, so I especially enjoy seeing all of your pictures!!!

PG:

Everyone should plant at least one yellowwood in their lifetime, even if it's in someone else's yard. Of course, I am partial to a tree named Cladrastis kentukea (lutea) being a Bluegrass Stater.

Reports of difficulty growing them don't hold true in my experience. Average soils (not water-logged or wetland) are about all that is necessary. These trees are indigenous to limestone-based soil, so a pH of 6.0 - 7.5 is going to be fine. I have seen them from TN up into mid-IN in their local haunts, usually on the northeast slopes in woodlands. Production nurseries are field-growing specimens of yellowwoods in northern IL/southern WI. Regeneration in high deer population areas is sketchy due to browse.

I have successfully sprouted and planted seedlings; bare-root liners; young container trees (1G to 5G); and balled/burlapped field-grown nursery trees up to 6" caliper. Of course, your resources may vary but the potential for success varies little if you start off with quality plants and give them a decent home and aftercare.

At my job, we've just installed eleven 3.5-4" caliper yellowwoods in a highway median. I'll be happy to report on their progress to those interested. In fact, I'd start a whole 'nother thread because this species deserves it.

Here is a young recent transplant (pardon the scanned slide quality). Even with an obvious mower/weedeater wound, this ~2" caliper tree can be pretty proud of itself.

This is my Cornus 'Satomi' in the early fall. It continued to redden as the weeks grew cold.

Though this tree is a performer in the early summer too.

Scott, since you're intchin' to go camera snapping, I mean picture taking, surely there must be some Corylus blooming down there. I think it would be safe to say that the vast majority of this forum has never seen a female flower. Now is the time, since we're not going to get the oogling over petaless flowers for much longer. They are interesting (at least to me), those little red spiders.

Scott great ice photos. Wish I could take pictures with my Cool Pix 4800 anywhere near as good as yours.

I planted my Yellowwood in 1996 and it bloomed for the first time last year !!!!

Soferdig, did you purchase your Cornus Satomi in Seattle, I don't see it in FF. Your photos make me want one, maybe to replace my Eddies White Wonder that the devil bunnies killed last winter. I do see Satomi in Greers, the smallest 1 to 2 ft. is 20.00.

Welcome aboard, tsurg. Don't get too impressed; plants are what I do. If you really want to be overwhelmed, ask after my affectation for oenology...that'd need another forum.

It's never too late to plant a great tree. There will always be children, grandchildren, pets, wildlife, etc. that will appreciate it even after we've "...slipped the surly bonds..."

“What artist so noble, …as he who,…directs the shadows of a picture so great that Nature shall be employed upon it for generations, before the work he has arranged for her shall realize his intentions.”

Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.

Thanks Victor, the fall color of Satomi is rich.

Vivid, how old is that transplanted yellowwood? The blossoms remind me of icicles on a Christmas tree. Too big for my yard, maybe the parkway. I would like to follow the progress of that highway median planting.

I would love to see a wider shot of that bed Steve. You combine plants with such artistry. Is that a geranium?

Donna I got my Satomi from Home depot as an unwanted end of year tree. I think I paid only 20 some bucks for it. Nobody out here knows the value of Cornus. Most think they aren't hearty. I got lucky! We have a few here at Hoopers a big nursery in Kalispell. I have seen many of them at Medina Nursery in Bellevue. Kind of pricey though.
PGZ I don't have a shot of the bed that shows the whole area just pieces of it. Here is one. Yes geranium my DW loves them (not me) and we have them everywhere.

This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 11:30 AM

Oh I love them too, now I know who to bug, LOL. Ask her if she's seen "Purple Pillow" this one even you might like.

Leftwood,

I'll try to get some Corylus pictures. I know Dawes has a great collection, but I don't think I'll get there until the end of the month. I'll try to swing through Spring Grove next week, but finding any there will be purely hit or miss. I don't even know if they have any. I think they do, but I'm not sure. And, if they are there, there is nothing to point me right to them. But I've been meaning to do SG lately anyway. I want to see if they have any other early bloomers such as Chimonanthus, Abeliophyllum, and the like.

Scott

PG:

Thawing out up there, I see. That yellowwood (at 2" caliper, 5 cm) will be 6-8 years old nursery grown from a seedling. I could cut it down and count the rings, I suppose.

You're probably tired of those lousy old spruces you have infesting the place. A yellowwood would be a stellar stand-in. I bet you won't find any bigger than about, say, 50' in Chicagoland. Maybe some good examples at the Morton.

I'll get some pictures of the new installation for a baseline. Meanwhile, some tired pics of existing trees at Boone Square Park in Louisville will have to tide you over.

Lousy spruce, good one! LOLThat spruce wood make a nice backdrop for a small grouping of trees and shrubs. What I started late last year looks more like a burial mound. It was my first attempt at making a lasagna bed, a no-dig gardening technique. Not my best work, LOL.

I aggree with you VV we who live in an area where you can choose trees only plant the blue boys to keep out the neighbors. LOL For anyone worried this is just a joke. All persons to whom this may assume to pertain are not herewithall engaged in the ..........

That's the ticket Sofer---we need to put disclaimers after every post!

One thing about those beautiful yellowwood flowers that doesn't get mentioned much--they are fragrant too.

http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/CLAKENA.pdf

I was concerned whether Cladrastis kentuckea would grow in my zone. Here is a fact sheet and distribution map. A beauty that will go just about anywhere.

Two "negatives" I found in researching this tree:

1. Its roots can lift sidewalks. (Maybe that is an argument for softer hardscapes in our environment?)

2. It is little known and underused. (Maybe know one will ever find out since we hid it here in this ice-a-cree thread?)

gloria:

I have yet to encounter a temperate climate tree root (alive) that cannot lift pavement. It is simple physics and biology, following the location of the root in question. Roots increase in diameter just like branches and trunks (take a look at a cross section of one some day). Where you may see big old trees near pavement, I'd venture that there have been alterations to the paved surface over the years, or a major obstruction to root growth to keep them out from under the pavement.

If the tree grows a root under pavement, and that root lives (which means it will increase in diameter), it will someday alter the level of the pavement. The variables are the rate and distance of displacement. There are construction techniques that may help avoid this condition, or reduce the rate of it occurring, but sooner or later it'll happen. Pavement lifting can best be avoided by having no rooting environment below the pavement. Or not planting trees anywhere near pavement: fat chance.

Agreed on visibility of the yellowwood information; deserves its own thread.

I can confirm Kevin's statement above about wonderful fragrance; just didn't want to rub it into the northerner's noses lest accusations abound.

Right as always Mr. VV. (re both roots and northerners). And what you have said about trees + pavements goes for trees + houses also. The trees need to be a good distance away from foundations. Old southern homes had no plants at all squashed up against the structures (aka "foundation planting".) There were spatial lawns (grazed by sheep, not lawnmowers) and well spaced trees so each could develop to its own full and graceful potential.

And there's a whole 'nother thread: evolution of landscape design styles and residential plantings vis-à-vis architecture and cultures.

Reasons to plant well away from a house? I can imagine considerations like:

•beauty of the structure and its materials
•desire to keep stuff out of gutters/downspouts
•desire to keep fallen trees from impacting structures
•unimpeded views from inside
•many older homes (especially in relatively frost-free zones) don't have substantially deep foundations unless there is a basement or root cellar under them

Of course, the northerner comment refers to those still toughing out the frigid weather whilst us below the Ohio River are finally engaging spring's glory.

Are you referring to those of us who now are in Anchorage where this morning the 8:30 am temp is -4F? Just look at the beautiful evidence of spring on this boat. VV I am totally expecting to grow Cledrastis up in our Montana environment. Am I wrong? I thought it would go.

Sleddog:

I especially mean you, though I'm jealous of the snow pic and that you are in Alaska (again).

If you are choosy about the provenance of your Cladrastis, you should be able to give it a fighting chance. Bailey Nurseries (MN) produces liners of yellowwood, though I'm not sure that's a good test.

I thought Lawyer Nursery (down the block from you) grew them, too, but I'm not seeing it on their online list. You might ask after them.

http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/CLAKENA.pdf

Soferdig: This is the distribution map from the link above for Cladrastis kentuckea. I believe at least some of Montana is on it. Not anchorage, though.

I believe I do discern some spring thaw on that boat in your photo. As i remember, from my days in Houghton, Michigan, the parking lot stayed full of snowy mounds which were the students' transportation vehicles, until spring.

Gloria: my oldest is heading to Houghton next year. We've all ready been told that it's not a good idea for freshman to bring cars - just makes for more digging for the rest.

Plant files lists it down to 4a. I live in NW Montana so the map shows it good here. We are almost a 5. VV had me worried bragging of the lack of yellowood in the north. Thanks Gloria for the map. Now I can continue to wait in peace for the beauty to be.

Oh I forgot the picture this morning here. cook Inlet looking over to the Alaska Penninsula.

WOOO. Sofer: Wait in Peace for the beauty to come --- and the beauty that is. That is a breathtaking photo.

StPaulPeg: I hope there is a more even distribution between the sexes now than when I was at Michigan Tech
... 12 girls and some 3000 + guys. With vehicles frozen in the snow. They would not believe that I came there to study chemistry and Technical Russian.

This message was edited Mar 11, 2007 3:05 PM