Hi all,

We are having 2 large old oak trees taken out of our yard today :-( I will
miss them dearly. One is very close to our house and the other leans toward
the house & has some rot on the bottom and that is why they are being
removed.

I'm in Zone 5, about 20 miles north of Boston and I'm looking for pretty
tree suggestions -- maybe something w/some type of berry on it (aren't there
trees that have berries in the winter?). Something that will attract
different birds or interest the ones I already have even more. The front
yard will look so empty w/o a tree in it, I need to replace it w/something.
Also need to give the birds good cover and a safe place to go to from the
bird feeder that's already in the front yard.

Also, maybe something that doesn't grow to gigantic proportions?

I'm going to post this to rec.birds too and see what they have to say.

--
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If you're an insomniac, agnostic, dyslexic do you lay
awake at night wondering if there is a dog?
-----

"LeeAnne" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for pretty
tree suggestions -- maybe something w/some type of berry on it (aren't
there
trees that have berries in the winter?). Something that will attract
different birds or interest the ones I already have even more. The
front
yard will look so empty w/o a tree in it, I need to replace it
w/something.
Also need to give the birds good cover and a safe place to go to from the
bird feeder that's already in the front yard.

Also, maybe something that doesn't grow to gigantic proportions?

Hi LeeAnne,

Sorry about your oaks. I have two mountain ash in my yard, and they meet
some of your criteria.

Pros: They do not get overly large (30 ft. max, I think), have pretty white
flowers in spring, and beautiful clumps of bright orange berries in
fall/winter. They tend to hold on to most of the berries all winter, and
then the birds eat them in very late winter or early spring. If you have
kids (or are just a kid at heart) it is a good tree for climbing if you
don't limb it up too high. I have, much to my husband's dismay, proven this
on more than one occasion.

Cons: If you don't like "messy" trees, this is probably not the right one
for you...the flowers seem to drop for about 2 weeks straight in late
spring, and then quite a few of the berries drop in fall. Personally, this
doesn't bother me, but it might bother some people. Also, it is not the best
tree around for fall color...turns yellow/brown. Also, it does not do
especially well with drought conditions. We had a pretty dry summer here in
Wisconsin last year, and I seldom watered it (maybe once every other week).
It survived, but certainly didn't look its best.

Hope that helps, and good luck finding a tree!
Shelly

I'm in Zone 5, about 20 miles north of Boston and I'm looking for pretty
tree suggestions -- maybe something w/some type of berry on it (aren't
there
trees that have berries in the winter?). Something that will attract
different birds or interest the ones I already have even more. The
front
yard will look so empty w/o a tree in it, I need to replace it
w/something.
Also need to give the birds good cover and a safe place to go to from the
bird feeder that's already in the front yard.

LeeAnne -- Why not replace one with an Oak and the other with a flowering
tree like a Crab Apple? It will be many years before another oak reaches
the same size as the ones you're removing of course so size will not be an
issue and you'll keep the nut food source for local wildlife. A Crab Apple
is small, gives a nice flower show mid to late spring, and the apples will
be a fav for early returning birds. Cherry is another nice one for flowers
and bird food. If you REALLY want to make 'em happy, plant a Mulberry
tree -- our birds absolutely adore the ones we have and so do the dogs (it's
the only part of the yard that is strictly off-limits for, ahem, relief).

If you really want to give the birds a food source and shelter/safe place,
you might want to consider some shrubs. Our birds love the shrubs as much
as the trees for quick getaways at the bird feeder. (Although, there are
just as many in the trees -- they all sit up there and tweet at me to get
out of the way so they can get back to eating!) Shrubs tend to produce a
lot more berries for birds than you'll get out of trees.

James

We do have one old large oak left in the backyard, so there are plenty of
nuts to go around :-) (including the ones that live in my house, hee hee)

Thank you for your suggestions, I'm writing them all down (from here and
rec.birds) and I'm going to look up the trees in my book to see what's what.

LeeAnne

"JNJ" wrote in message
...
LeeAnne -- Why not replace one with an Oak and the other with a flowering
tree like a Crab Apple? It will be many years before another oak reaches
the same size as the ones you're removing of course so size will not be an
issue and you'll keep the nut food source for local wildlife. A Crab
Apple
is small, gives a nice flower show mid to late spring, and the apples will
be a fav for early returning birds. Cherry is another nice one for
flowers
and bird food. If you REALLY want to make 'em happy, plant a Mulberry
tree -- our birds absolutely adore the ones we have and so do the dogs
(it's
the only part of the yard that is strictly off-limits for, ahem, relief).

If you really want to give the birds a food source and shelter/safe place,
you might want to consider some shrubs. Our birds love the shrubs as much
as the trees for quick getaways at the bird feeder. (Although, there are
just as many in the trees -- they all sit up there and tweet at me to get
out of the way so they can get back to eating!) Shrubs tend to produce a
lot more berries for birds than you'll get out of trees.

James

We do have one old large oak left in the backyard, so there are plenty of
nuts to go around :-) (including the ones that live in my house, hee hee)

:-)

Thank you for your suggestions, I'm writing them all down (from here and
rec.birds) and I'm going to look up the trees in my book to see what's
what.

Our front yard is about 30'x50x I suppose (maybe a tad more) and we have two
very old Maples, a Redbud, and a Crab Apple. I've added a Lilac that is
doing well (3 years in the ground now) and I'll be planting another here
soon. There's also a honeysuckle bush in one corner and I intend to add
some more shrubs along one side plus more vines to cover a fence. We have
half a dozen different feeders out there with mostly sunflower seeds (gots 3
suet feeders that the woodpeckers like lots).

We'll be moving the feeders to the back yard (about 150'x50') since it is
more sheltered (trees all the way around, almost forming a dome) and away
from the street that sees 80,000 cars a day. I've trimmed all of the trees
up to about 7 or so feet and we'll be planting shrubs along the fence line
this spring. All of our choices of shrubs will be ones that are prolific
growers and that have lots of berries -- Honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, and Amur
Privet to name a few. I'm trying to find some that I can just direct sow as
well to cut back on the expense. If all goes well, next year the back yard
will be quite a little wildlife preserve.

James

LeeAnne wrote:

Hi all,

We are having 2 large old oak trees taken out of our yard today :-( I will
miss them dearly. One is very close to our house and the other leans toward
the house & has some rot on the bottom and that is why they are being
removed.

I'm in Zone 5, about 20 miles north of Boston and I'm looking for pretty
tree suggestions -- maybe something w/some type of berry on it (aren't there
trees that have berries in the winter?). Something that will attract
different birds or interest the ones I already have even more. The front
yard will look so empty w/o a tree in it, I need to replace it w/something.
Also need to give the birds good cover and a safe place to go to from the
bird feeder that's already in the front yard.

Also, maybe something that doesn't grow to gigantic proportions?

Flowering crabs, serviceberry (Amelanchier), Cornealian cherry (Cornus mas) and
hawthorns are all very attractive smallish trees that birds will find appealing.
They also appreciate an area they can hide and nest in, so I'd consider adding
something evergreen as well - a yew or small conifer might work well.

In addition to a number of trees, I have included in my garden various other,
more shrubby type plants they like too - viburnums, a large form of cotoneaster,
shrub dogwoods, mahonias, barberries. They love my holly tree, too, but it is
large and messy and the birds tend to seed it around very freely - I'd have to
think hard about recommending anyone plant a holly unless they have sufficient
room and don't mind plucking out errant holly seedlings continually.

pam - gardengal

Hi, You might consider a dogwood or magnolia tree. Both have attractive
flowers although the magnolia tends to be a bit messy when it drops it's
flowers. Both are medium size trees.

Pam wrote in message ...
LeeAnne wrote:

Hi all,

We are having 2 large old oak trees taken out of our yard today :-( I will
miss them dearly. One is very close to our house and the other leans toward
the house & has some rot on the bottom and that is why they are being
removed.

I'm in Zone 5, about 20 miles north of Boston and I'm looking for pretty
tree suggestions -- maybe something w/some type of berry on it (aren't there
trees that have berries in the winter?). Something that will attract
different birds or interest the ones I already have even more. The front
yard will look so empty w/o a tree in it, I need to replace it w/something.
Also need to give the birds good cover and a safe place to go to from the
bird feeder that's already in the front yard.

Also, maybe something that doesn't grow to gigantic proportions?

We have planted 2 Maple trees in our garden. Both have died. Is it
possible that poor drainage is the reason?

Flowering crabs, serviceberry (Amelanchier), Cornealian cherry (Cornus mas) and
hawthorns are all very attractive smallish trees that birds will find appealing.
They also appreciate an area they can hide and nest in, so I'd consider adding
something evergreen as well - a yew or small conifer might work well.

In addition to a number of trees, I have included in my garden various other,
more shrubby type plants they like too - viburnums, a large form of cotoneaster,
shrub dogwoods, mahonias, barberries. They love my holly tree, too, but it is
large and messy and the birds tend to seed it around very freely - I'd have to
think hard about recommending anyone plant a holly unless they have sufficient
room and don't mind plucking out errant holly seedlings continually.

pam - gardengal

We have planted 2 Maple trees in our garden. Both have died. Is it
possible that poor drainage is the reason?

One would think, but it sure hasn't been a problem with any of the maples or
seedlings we've had here....

James