To Plant or Not to Plant?

in the ground...that is the question.

Hi,

I am sure that many of you may have been faced with the same dilemma and may have come up with a solution or at least come up with a compromise. I currently have all my maples in containers. I started my maple collection about 4 years ago and have about 35 trees, from 1 gallon to 20 gallon. I have kept them in containers since I wanted to carry them with me whenever I moved (which has happened twice in the last 4 years). I have them in the root grow bags that look ugly as sin. I have a small backyard, and currently it has only my maple trees except for two bradford pear trees that provide some shade.
Needless to say the backyard looks terrible, especially in winter when the maples have no leaves. Ideally I would like to keep the maples in their containers, and plant enough companion plants around them to keep the focus off the containers. I have bought some nice looking containers, but given the size of the yard, the only thing that draws your focus are the containers.
I may have to plant some of them in the ground (I hate to do this and have to leave them behind when I move next), atleast that will reduce the number of containers.

any ideas?

thanks,
xman

Here is a web site for Pot in Pot system. They are wholesale but there is a link on there for 'where to buy'. I have seen this system in use and it is truly unique. Once you are finished planting you can dress up with mulch.

Dave

Forgot the link for the web site. I'm bad.

http://www.nurserysupplies.com/

One thing to add that has little to do with your current problem but may keep you from having future ones... PLEASE be advised that Bradford Pears (To many observers ) have a genetic disability ... and if you ever get high winds you will likely loose not only piece by piece ( branch by branch) of your tree but anything that is under it as well...IE your JM"S... In our town I have watch each and every visable ( to me) BP slowly loose branches til the home owner cuts it down!! I often see them desparatly trying to save an individual tree and want to stop my truck and tell them they are waisting their time just torch it ...Over the past couple of years we have had several high wind storm and one large tornado ..needless to say almost every BP in out city is GONE many thousands have been toppled.It is the only tree that as a species has almosr been wiped out here.And still nurseries stock and push them and unknowing folks buy and revere their beatiful spring blooms....SAD.....To put it bluntly this is a highly flawed junk tree.beware of putting anything anywhere near it!!!! David

Hi,

David,

I moved into this house a few months back, and the two bradford pears are the only trees in the yard. My yard faces south and without these two trees, my JMs are toast. They have been there for the last 10 years, I have seen many bradford trees breaking off in the wind. I will not plant a bradford pear and discourage people whenever I can, but I cannot bring myself to cut the trees down.

Dave,
I looked into the pot in pot option before, the biggest problem is the clay soil in TX. All my container have a light, well draining soil. If I do the pot in pot, the clay soil will not drain fast enough, and may cause the trees to drown.

thanks,
xman

Maybe you can plant something to replace the pears in a decade or so and then get rid of them. I have also seen so many break off in chunks, leaving half here, half there, or a piece missing from the middle.

Best of luck with your JMs. With some of the smaller ones, you might consider putting the bags inside of larger containers. I'm not very familiar with the grow bags, but I can imagine that they would conform somewhat to the shape of a ceramic container.

Laura

Not all flowering pears are genetically flawed. The original BRADFORD flowering pear is inferior, for sure. However, there are newer varieties that have superior branching structure and can hold their own in strong winds. These varieties include 'Cleveland Select', 'Aristocrat', 'Redspire', 'Trinity', and even one called 'New Bradford'. No reputable nursery should ever be marketing the original 'Bradford' flowering pear, but the big box stores still do (but are slowly getting better), so the vast majority of people think they're the only variety available, and identify the name Bradford with the entire flowering pear population. The problem is that the name 'Bradford' is being used by people in the same way people say "I need a Kleenex." or "I put a Band-Aid on my cut." The words Kleenex and Band-Aid are brand names commonly used for facial tissue and adhesive bandages respectively, and are much easier to say in everyday speech. It's the same with Bradford pear. Many people would be surprised to learn that there are actually other great varieties of flowering pear they could try. That said, I do think flowering pears are overused and misused. A lot of people think flowering pears are never going to outgrow the original smallish lollipop form, but they certainly do! Given enough room, they are a great addition to a landscape, but they shouldn't be used everywhere and by everybody when so many other great trees are available.

Firstly Laura ...no... grow bags that I have seen do not conform ...they are excellant for root developemant but must be cut off to change to a larger size they fill up with roots ansd conform to them ;>)... They are for growers not end users ...and must be removed at some point sometimes if left too long they are really hard to remove without alot of root pruning. They are also tippy...much more so than pots ...as I said thier big advantage ism for growers to develope stupendous root systems and the air prune the roots to some degree . here are the ones i am familiar with ...there are others out there

http://www.treebag.com/html/smart_pot.html

Secondly ..Hoosier,,,I agree and was only talking about the Bradford...and yes most folks also just want a red Japanese Maple and care or know little about any differnce between cultivars. Of course the bradford does have it's good parts it really helps the nursery economy #1 frequent replacement #2 most always long after any warrentee has expired ;>) David

Very interesting, David,

For plants that you aren't going to put in the ground, they seem a very useful product. The price is reasonable for the size of the container.


Nice to see that there are flowering pears that are yard worthy. I had a bradford pear planted in my condo back yard for its fast growth. The view wasn't very nice and we knew we had to sell in a few years. I didn't know of their vulnerability or I would have chosen something different, in hindsight. The spring flower show was gorgeous.

Laura

I agree on the reasonable price for size but IMHO they are a bit too unsighly for long term use as x-man eluded too... and even though the company claims stability I have not found that so ...I think they are basing that on the roots eventually growing through the bottom and into your soil which they will do..then i would agree on better stability. I also have never seen one filled and maybe thats why I have some fear of this ...it looks harder due to side and bottom fleability til filled and I am especially uptight about getting the right depth but I assume with practice you could get it down pretty good but that makes me nervious.... They do suggest pastic reusable forms for their larger sizes to keep the sides verticle while filling. ( which I assume they would be more than happy to sell you ;>) )

http://www.hummert.com/catalog.asp?P=4414
.In another forum they showed these for larger trees (25 gal and up) I do really like them and may get a few this spring to play with and these are actually nice looking and provide what i consider a unique sytem for tree viability..





This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 11:58 AM

Definitely better looking than the bags. For my trees, I tend to go for ceramic pots for their durability, but they are so heavy to move when needed.

Laura

These are polymere I believe they would be lighter and fold up for easy storage and to get the tree out for a larger size ...a big pLUS!! and have good unique venting ( see additional photos...here's a better link but i know i've seen one with the inside pictured...but can't find ... If you went much over the smallest 25 gal size you would need alot of help or a fork lift...but that size would be managable and MUCH lighter than pots that size ...if you could find them ;>) David

http://www.amarootreeboxes.com/21sbox.htm