Friend or foe?

I have 4 of these trees. I posted a picture in the trees and shrubs forum and someone has identified it as a Rhamnus frangula 'Ron Williams' (Fine Line®)

Quote: "Minnesota(along with many other states) has banned the sale of all Rhamnus species. Buckthorn(Rhamnus) is a very bad invasive understory tree in our hardwood forests. I'm not sure what they might do in your wild areas, but I suspect the same.

Ron Williams is a nice columnar "cut leaf" form. Supposedly it will not produce fruit (a good thing), but I would not bet on it. Keep a close watch if you plan to keep it, and remove any berries before they ripen. Birds love them and will spread it around (a bad thing)."

I like the columnar structure and the fern-like foliage. Any one have any experience with this plant in the mid-atlantic area?

I have experience seeing buckthorns growing all over the place. I can't get within a hundred yards of the Schuylkill without seeing masses of it. It's probably a worse problem here than Minnesota.

Nurseries grow that sort of thing because it's easy for them to propagate, like Barberry and Euonymus. They said Bradford Pears were sterile, too, look what happened. They bred with other cultivars, now they're everywhere along Hwy 422, etc.

http://www.paflora.org/Rhamnus%20frangula.pdf

If you do a search for "Rhamnus frangula Pennsylvania", lots of sites will come up.

edited for wrong link

This message was edited Nov 6, 2007 3:34 PM

Michael Dirr says this about Rhamnus frangula (the straight species):

"Species is basically worthless for landscape considerations; falls into the weed character for the birds deposit the seeds everywhere and plants are found in unexpected places; cultivars offer some hope".

And yes, reportedly most of the 'cultivars' are sterile and shouldn't be a problem.
We have had Rhamnus frangula 'Asplenifolia' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81471/ in our gardens for about 7 years and have never seen seedlings anywhere in the garden. I think I posted on your thread in Trees and Shrubs already but just in case, we've only had 'Fine Line' in our gardens for a year now so too soon to tell if we'll have any problem. However, based on our experience with 'Asplenifolia' I'm betting that neither of these will live up to the bad rap the straight species has acquired but only time will tell.

Thanks rcn! I really like the way the look ... I would hate to have to get rid of them.

Have to agree with you, I "like the way they look" - always loved the foliage of the 'Asplenifolia' in our garden and when I first saw 'Fine Line' just knew I had to have it, perfect with its upright slim habit :)

Friend it is ... thanks!

Why not a nice variegated Kudzu to keep it company? Pueraria lobata 'Sherman's Ghost', only $15!

http://www.glasshouseworks.com/perr-p.html#

Already have that grow under my Bradford Pears