Cool trees 2009 as presented to the Fort Wayne arborist society

Cool Trees 2009 as presented to the Fort Wayne Arborist SocietyMalus ‘Royal Raindrops’ I have no love affair with Crabapple trees. I have the ones I like ‘Sugartyme’ which is white, ‘Louisa’ which is a weeper with white flowers, and ‘Prairiefire’ which is dark pink. So many crabs are nasty looking in the fall have disease issues, etc. I just do not care for them that much. That being said. The tree I am most excited this year is the Crabapple tree. The cultivar being a new introduction called ‘Royal Raindrops’ This is a very nice tree, and quite dynamic for a crabapple. Flowers are striking bright pink. The foliage has the burgundy green leaves like ‘Prairiefire’ although they Are larger and slightly differently shaped than most crabs. Foliage is deeply lobed and almost looks like a skinny maple leaf. Fall color is striking metallic burgundy to orange red unlike most crabs that only shine in the spring. Fruit on this tree is persistant and cherry red in color. Tree will reach 20’ tall and 15’ wide.Acer Griseum , Paperbark Maple This plant is used seldom despite its beautiful charateristics. Paperbark Maple has interesting exfoliating bark that is a cinnamon brown. This bark provides subtle yet thought provoking winter interest. Leaves are tri-foliate and a medium green during the growing season.. Fall color is fire engine red and to die for. Branching is upright. Although this tree is slow growing it may reach 20-25’ tall and 12’ wide. This tree has few if any bug or disease problems. I believe its lack of use can be attributed to the difficulty of propagating it and its slow growth.Pseudocamellia japonica, Japanese Stewartia Japanese Stewartia have beautiful patterned bark that is different shades of brown and tan that appear to be exfoliating but are really quite smooth. Leaves are dark green turning reds and oranges with a splash of yellow in the Fall. The highlight of this tree is the pure white blooms that come out in July and early August. Although the literature says over and over again this plant is not a zone 5 plant our research at Blue River Nursery suggest other wise. We have been growing Stewartia for 10 years or so and have not observed any problems whatsoever with these trees during this time. There are large 10” caliper plants at the Dawes Arboretum East of Columbus Ohio where there age and condition of the specimens are a testimony to the plants ability to survive in Zone 5. The plant in our gardens was actually under a foot and a half of ice two winters ago for 3 months and came out fine in the spring. We are also presently growing Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Native Stewartia. Picea glauca ‘Pendula’ Weeping White Spruce This plant rocks! This one of the greatest cultivars ever selected for landscape purposes. As a result of complacency and the greater nursery industry being in a rut for the past 30 years it is seldom seen. Forget putting a Blue Spruce off the corner of the house this is where its at. This plant grows12-18” per year. The base of the plant will not exceed 6’ maybe in 50 years it will be 7’. At that point you will not care if it touches the corner of your house. The plant can reach heights of 25-30’ in 20-30 years. Plant this tree 5’ away from the corner of your two story house and you are good. Needles are a gray green color. Branches weep sharply to the ground giving the plant a awesome jaw dropping narrow perspective similar in shape to a rocket. Plant and rock with this great plant! Hardy to zones 2-6, that’s 50 degrees below zero to the uninitiated. (check out our zone chart to get initiated).Picea Pungens ‘Pendula’ This is a great alternative to the Weeping Norway Spruce. Needles are sky blue and as almost as thick as ‘Hoopsii’ Blue Spruce. Pendula seems to want to maintain a central leader for awhile then gravity takes over and the leader wobbles back and forth eventually coming back towards earth. The body and leader then take on there own unique shape eventually becoming a unique specimen. I like keeping the leaders on these plants staked up to 6’ feet minimum and then let nature take over. I also do this to the Weeping Norway Spruce but to a higher level around 8-10’ at least.Pinus Banksiana ‘Uncle Fogey’ This a very unusual cultivar of Jack Pine. Needles are 2 –3” long dark green and attached to randomly twisting gray brown wood. Some plants set leaders and may reach 6-8’ tall and 5-6’ wide. Other plants just twist around never getting larger than 2’ tall and 4-5’ wide exhibiting extra thick wood. Each one is unique. Excellent for use in rock gardens and around water features.Acer rubrum Red Maple When we say Red Maple we mean the one that is green during the growing season yet turns red in the fall. There have been some developments in the past few years where some of these trees have been selected because they are sterile and do not produce the obnoxious “helicopter” seeds as well as for their outstanding fall color. The seeds of course sprout all over the place, clog up gutters and give a very useful tree a bad name for being dirty. The cultivars we are growing are ‘Sun Valley’, bright red in fall, ‘Somerset’,orange red in fall and ‘Brandywine’which is a burgundy in the fall. I advise making mulch circles around these plants to protect the roots from lawn mowers and the lawn mowers from the roots.