A March snowstorm took out half of this Cedar leaving it angled precariously close to our house. The rest will have to go. |
We’ll be taking out the rest of the cedar that was badly damaged (and threatening to eat our house) during a late winter snowstorm as well as the giant birch that is sickly and has needed to be removed for years. I’m especially upset about losing the latter and I’ll be honest and tell you I might even shed a tear over that one.
I will really miss this birch tree. |
I have a personal goal to plant a new tree somewhere on our property every time we take one out. Part of the beauty of our property is the hundreds of mature trees and I want to make sure that future owners will be able to enjoy them as well.
Venus dogwood |
One tree I’m very interested in and actively trying to find is a Venus dogwood. I first read about this tree on Deborah Silver’s blog a few years ago and when I read a mention of it elsewhere the other day it sparked a mental note I had saved that this was a tree to look into should I ever have a place to put one.
Check out the size of those flowers! Dr. Elwin Orton showing off his tree. Rutgers photo |
Well guess what Venus, a hybrid developed by Dr. Elwin Orton at Rutgers University, has going for it? No disease issues. Huge flowers (up to 4 inches, they claim). Bloom that lasts for maybe as much as four weeks (at least it does for Deborah who lives and gardens in Detroit). Fall color. Fast growing. Pretty bark. Twenty feet wide and tall at maturity. What’s not to love? You can see why Deborah calls it, “the most spectacular white flowering tree on the planet.” High praise.
Interesting post & I do love the dogwood… though I confess I know nothing about trees.
Funny that you mention the deer & eating of Cedars… we own a Christmas tree farm. 35 acres, & we own for the sole purpose of deer hunting. The trees are planted in sections & when we bought it, they were quite small & still were able to harvest some trees. Now they are very large, but the deer will eat only certain evergreens & we are able to cut just above the line where the deer eat & get a perfect christmas tree or two. I almost always get a balsam. They LOVE Balsam pines. There are some they will not touch… it may be a good thing to research… Sorry about losing your trees, it is hard to see a mature tree have to go.
Deer eat balsams too? My gosh … what WON'T they eat?
Your Christmas tree farm sounds lovely.
So sad about the birch. They are one of my favourites too. We live right beside a little parkette and there's a big old birch that needs to come down in there. So sad to see this majestic tree slowly dying.
As for the dogwood – there's one on the property here (put in by the previous owner) – it has beautiful blooms on it and graceful arching branches. It's glorious!! I can't imagine your winters being harsher than ours here in Ontario. We are in Zone 6a (Canadian zone – different than your American zones) and it's thriving here. You will love this tree is you get it, Erin.
Good to know it's thriving there, Heather! Thanks for the report.
I know how you feel. Parts of our garden look like a war zone with sheared off trunks and piles of logs and sawdust. Ugh! Alas, most of those dogwoods with the big flowers aren't hardy here to my knowledge. I would check with local UW extension or someone at GBBG for some local info.
We have a weeping Alaskan cedar (Nootkatensis) that is gorgeous and doesn't have the snow damage because it is more open and weeping. Should be hardy for you but not sure if you would have the same deer issues since it is a cedar.
You might look for some of the newer borer-resistant white birches like White Spire, White Satin, Prairie Dream and Renaissance Reflection. Some of them were developed by Dr. Ed Hasselkus at the UW Arboretum.
Excellent recommendations, Linda. I will look into them. Thank you so much! Of course sourcing trees around here is so difficult. Seems like none of the nurseries want to sell anything other than the basics.