Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. I am removing several box elder trees (aka
ashleaf maple, manitoba maple). I don't really want to do this, but
they are huge and falling apart (occasionally dropping very large
limbs) and they are also attracting large amounts of boxelder beetles
which enter my home in the fall. I would like suggestions for a tree
species to replace them with. My soil has high clay content and my zone
is 6b. I think the soil is slightly acidic, but I need to retest it.

An ideal tree would be something very hardy that grows fast. I'd much
rather have a deciduous leaf tree than something with needles. A native
species is preferred, but I'd consider others.

Thanks

In article .com,
"me" wrote:

Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. I am removing several box elder trees (aka
ashleaf maple, manitoba maple). I don't really want to do this, but
they are huge and falling apart (occasionally dropping very large
limbs) and they are also attracting large amounts of boxelder beetles
which enter my home in the fall. I would like suggestions for a tree
species to replace them with. My soil has high clay content and my zone
is 6b. I think the soil is slightly acidic, but I need to retest it.

An ideal tree would be something very hardy that grows fast. I'd much
rather have a deciduous leaf tree than something with needles. A native
species is preferred, but I'd consider others.

Thanks

I love the deciduous pine tree in our yard. Fast and hardy vs. slow
and beautiful ...consider Kousa Dogwood. Japanese Maple upright type
another question.

So many options! I'd walk about your area and inquire with the owner
when something catches your interest.

Bill

--
Garden Shade Zone 5 S Jersey USA in a Japanese Jungle Manner.39.6376 -75.0208
This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational
and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit.
Moose I'm trying to understand why Kamikaze pilots wear helments?

me wrote:

Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. [...]. I would like suggestions for a tree
species to replace them with. My soil has high clay content and my zone
is 6b. I think the soil is slightly acidic, but I need to retest it.

An ideal tree would be something very hardy that grows fast.

You might consider red maple. I mean Acer rubrum, NOT the
Japanese maple, Acer palmatum, which is sometimes called "red
maple" in error.

It grows in your area, has good fall color, is relatively fast
growing, and is relatively sturdy. It is hardy (able to
withstand cold) up into zone 3.

Mike
On the North Carolina coast - Zone 8a
(Remove spam traps from email address to reply.)

In article .com,
"me" wrote:

Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. I am removing several box elder trees (aka
ashleaf maple, manitoba maple). I don't really want to do this, but
they are huge and falling apart (occasionally dropping very large
limbs) and they are also attracting large amounts of boxelder beetles
which enter my home in the fall. I would like suggestions for a tree
species to replace them with. My soil has high clay content and my zone
is 6b. I think the soil is slightly acidic, but I need to retest it.

An ideal tree would be something very hardy that grows fast. I'd much
rather have a deciduous leaf tree than something with needles. A native
species is preferred, but I'd consider others.

Thanks

Acer saccharum Sugar Maple is native to your region & have such a
wonderful history & value to them. Even very young sugar maples have
beautiful autumn color.

Acer rubrum is famous for its autumn reds. It's fast growing but branches
can be weaker than a sugar maple, & may need regular summer watering
making it harder to ignore on a roadside, but it has one of the highest
ornamental ratings & because Japanese maples can be frozen to death where
winters are severe, A. rubrum is its typical substute further north.

Both the sugar & red maples can get fairly large. Acer pennsylvanicum
remains smaller, so regarded as a choice ornamental tree that won't get
too large for a smallish yard. It has white-striped bark & a duckfoot
rather than standard maple leaf that can turn a pleasant pink in autumn
though autumn color excellence can vary a lot.

One of the most beautifully flowering no-care native trees is the
Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana). The cherries aren't edible raw but make
great syrups & jellies. The racemes of flowers are enormous & the black
fruit clings pretty strongly to the branches until birds get them. Autumn
colors of yellow, maroon & brown aren't quite fabulous but can be pretty
nice. There is a purple leaf cultivar called 'Schubert.' Check local
growers or experts to see if it is afflicted with pests in your area; some
regions it is a totally disease-free native tree, but there are other
places where it suffers from just about any insect or pathogen that can
afflict an orchard.

Fire cherry or Pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) has May racemes of white
flowers not as showy as the chokecherry but still pretty showy. Tiny red
sour berries too tart to eat raw but superb for jellies or pies; or if
left on the branches will cling prettil;y until about leaf-fall when birds
finally get them (birds tend to leave tend to leave them be until after a
couple frosts sweeten them a bit or when sweeter fruits are no longer
available). Like the chokecherry, autumn leaves can range from maroon to
golden but not generally extremely bright. Probably available from a
native plants specialist in your area.

American Plum (Prunus americana) has small April clusters of white flowers
though pink-flowering forms exist. Tolerates equally dry or wet locations,
but grows quickly only with regular watering. It has very ornamental
plums, one of the prettiest fruits of any native prunus species, going
from green to yellow or red, but often cloudy or mottled in red, purple,
pink & mahogany -- edible especially for preserves. This is a tree or
shrub that SHOULD have cultivars because of its tendency to such variation
but predictable forms will have to await for enterprising future
ornamental breeders. If specimens can be selected from a native plants
specialist while in fruit that'd be great because specimens from different
regions have such differing fruit appearance; or selected in autumn to get
specimen with best autumn color which can also vary from brilliant
purple-reds to bland yellows. It needs suckers removed to become a
smallish tree (20 feet or so) instead of a multibranched shrub, but
otherwise takes no attention, very adaptable. If allowed to sucker it can
be used as part of a mixed hedge (& is sometimes called "hedge plum")
mixing well with serviceberry & viburnum cranberry for a colorful
flowering & fruiting big mixed hedge ten to fifteen feet tall. Note that
some but not all strains develop branch thorns.

Native choices can be super-rewarding, but so can cultivated fruit trees.
For something smallish yet fairly rapid in growth, semi-dwarf italian
prune and/or a crosspollinating pair of sweet cherries or a pair of apples
are beautiful trees in their own right, besides feeding you & when on a
roadside feeding the neighborhood kids. If there's worry about fruit
falling on sidewalk, sweet cherries are better than apples or plums
because if you fail to pick the cherries the birds will do so leaving none
to fall on the sidewalk.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to
liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson

You might consider a gingko, which in some areas is relatively fast growing.
Another tree which is ornamental and deciduous, but also coniferous, is the
dawn redwood. Both of these are chinese imports, but do well in the
mid-Atlantic, and are pretty pest free as far as I've ever heard. By the
way, congratulations on getting rid of your box-elders. They are waste
trees, perfectly acceptable along stream banks, but not in someone's yard.
"me" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. I am removing several box elder trees (aka
ashleaf maple, manitoba maple). I don't really want to do this, but
they are huge and falling apart (occasionally dropping very large
limbs) and they are also attracting large amounts of boxelder beetles
which enter my home in the fall. I would like suggestions for a tree
species to replace them with. My soil has high clay content and my zone
is 6b. I think the soil is slightly acidic, but I need to retest it.

An ideal tree would be something very hardy that grows fast. I'd much
rather have a deciduous leaf tree than something with needles. A native
species is preferred, but I'd consider others.

Thanks

presley wrote:
You might consider a gingko, which in some areas is relatively fast
growing. Another tree which is ornamental and deciduous, but also
coniferous, is the dawn redwood. Both of these are chinese imports,
but do well in the mid-Atlantic, and are pretty pest free as far as
I've ever heard. By the way, congratulations on getting rid of your
box-elders. They are waste trees, perfectly acceptable along stream
banks, but not in someone's yard. "me"
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I live in Southeast PA. I am removing several box elder trees (aka
ashleaf maple, manitoba maple). I don't really want to do this,
but they are huge and falling apart (occasionally dropping very
large limbs) and they are also attracting large amounts of
boxelder beetles which enter my home in the fall. I would like
suggestions for a tree species to replace them with. My soil has
high clay content and my zone is 6b. I think the soil is slightly
acidic, but I need to retest it. An ideal tree would be something
very hardy that grows fast. I'd
much rather have a deciduous leaf tree than something with
needles. A native species is preferred, but I'd consider others.

Thanks

The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) grows best in in good,
well-drained soil with regular moisture.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

presley wrote:

You might consider a gingko, which in some areas is relatively fast growing.

If so, make sure you get a male tree. The females grow a
fruit which when dropped smells like rotting dog excrement.

M

Mike
On the North Carolina coast - Zone 8a
(Remove spam traps from email address to reply.)

The tulip tree is a very fast grower. Attractive tree. However they get
very tall. So I would recommend these only if your yard is reasonably
large, or if you don't mind having a 60 to 90 footer out there in 20 or
30 years.