24-10-2004, 04:35 PM
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(Ted Shoemaker) wrote in message . com...
Hello,
I have heard and read the expression "trash tree", but I don't know
what it means. If some trees are going to be offensive to my
neighbors, I want to know before I plant it! (And it's not as simple
as just asking my neighbors before buying. Lots of people don't know,
for example, what a blackgum, buckeye, or Euonymus is.)
So,
(1) What does the expression "trash tree" mean?
a tree with undesirable qualities, of course.
(2) How/where do I find out, before buying and planting, whether
species XYZ is a trash tree?
Here is alist of undesirable qualities:
1) a poor shape when full grown
2) a tendency to have diseased limbs (partially covered by others, but
those limbs make widows also when people go up and try to cut them)
3) prolific reseeding, in particular the capability to reseed through
thick groundcover
4) a combination of poor gardening qualities: tendency to disease or
tendency to attract pests (willow), poor fall color, no flowering, no
edible fruits or nuts, allelopathy
In my area, trash trees include hickory (which sprouts in all beds
within 50 yds, ground cover or not), elm (because of Dutch elm, the
elms here survive but are very poor-looking), poplar (ugly rotten
limbs, poor shape), various conifers (rot gutters, kills grass), some
maples (extreme seeding wherever ground is uncovered). Non trash trees
include oak, chestnut, ash (now extinct), most flowering trees, and
other maples.
Thank you very much!
Ted Shoemaker
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