Hi All,

I posted here a while ago about my eucalyptus trees. They had been pot bound
at my sister's but now in my garden. The stems weren't strong enough for the
leaves and were arching over. I was advised to cut them right back, one
person said maybe right away. I bit the bullet and did one last Autumn - it
survived, budding before winter - so did the other one early this Spring.
That is now budding.

So with that good advice I have another question :-)

I bought a whitebeam a couple of months ago from a supermarket. The main
reason I went for a whitebeam over the other choice they had (cherry) was
for the berries in the Autumn that the birds will eat. I'm not much of a
gardener and have only just realised something.

The whitebeam was grafted onto rowan root stock (if that's the right was to
say it) and tonight was when I realised, as I have two sets of leaves
growing. One main stem has whitebeam leaves but several from below the graft
have rowan leaves. These were all there when I bought it but nothing
occurred to me. As it happens rowans also produce berries that are loved by
birds.

I'm not sure what to do. Will both trees grow together so to speak? Or
should I keep cutting one right back?

--
Steve

Steve Turner writes
Hi All,

I posted here a while ago about my eucalyptus trees. They had been pot bound
at my sister's but now in my garden. The stems weren't strong enough for the
leaves and were arching over. I was advised to cut them right back, one
person said maybe right away. I bit the bullet and did one last Autumn - it
survived, budding before winter - so did the other one early this Spring.
That is now budding.

So with that good advice I have another question :-)

I bought a whitebeam a couple of months ago from a supermarket. The main
reason I went for a whitebeam over the other choice they had (cherry) was
for the berries in the Autumn that the birds will eat. I'm not much of a
gardener and have only just realised something.

The whitebeam was grafted onto rowan root stock (if that's the right was to
say it) and tonight was when I realised, as I have two sets of leaves
growing. One main stem has whitebeam leaves but several from below the graft
have rowan leaves. These were all there when I bought it but nothing
occurred to me. As it happens rowans also produce berries that are loved by
birds.

I'm not sure what to do. Will both trees grow together so to speak? Or
should I keep cutting one right back?

Usually with grafted plants the rootstock eventually wins out. But there
is a long period when both are growing. I had a R moyesii and the dog
rose it was grafted on to both flowering at the same time (I've now got
rid of the dog rose suckers). At the moment I'm trying to strike
cuttings of a wayfaring tree that is the rootstock of a Viburnum - at
the moment it looks strange, a compact bush of the scented Viburnum
flowering profusely, with some taller branches of the wayfaring tree
also flowering profusely. Once I've got the cuttings going, I'll get rid
of the wayfaring tree.

So you choices are
a) cut back the rowan and keep the whitebeam
b) do nothing - for a while you'll get both but eventually I'd expect
the rowan to take over completely
c) cut back the whitebeam, and achieve the same result as 2) rather more
quickly.
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message

Steve Turner writes


The whitebeam was grafted onto rowan root stock (if that's the right
was to say it) and tonight was when I realised, as I have two sets of
leaves growing. One main stem has whitebeam leaves but several from
below the graft have rowan leaves. These were all there when I bought
it but nothing occurred to me. As it happens rowans also produce
berries that are loved by birds.

I'm not sure what to do. Will both trees grow together so to speak? Or
should I keep cutting one right back?


So you choices are
a) cut back the rowan and keep the whitebeam
b) do nothing - for a while you'll get both but eventually I'd expect
the rowan to take over completely
c) cut back the whitebeam, and achieve the same result as 2) rather more
quickly.

Thanks, Kay.

--
Steve

Get rid of it and look for a whitebeam on its own roots. I cannot think why anyone would want to graft them. They are natives. None of the whitebeams in Magdalen College gardens in Oxford are like that, and they are terrific trees.

Put in a more interesting rowan if you want to feed the birds - Joseph Rock has yellow berries that are taken in January/February.

On 2009-05-15 13:05:58 +0100, beccabunga
said:


'Steve Turner[_2_ Wrote:
;844321']

I bought a whitebeam a couple of months ago from a supermarket. The
main
reason I went for a whitebeam over the other choice they had (cherry)
was
for the berries in the Autumn that the birds will eat. I'm not much of
a
gardener and have only just realised something.

The whitebeam was grafted onto rowan root stock (if that's the right
was to
say it) and tonight was when I realised, as I have two sets of leaves
growing. One main stem has whitebeam leaves but several from below the
graft
have rowan leaves. These were all there when I bought it but nothing
occurred to me. As it happens rowans also produce berries that are
loved by
birds.


--
Steve

Get rid of it and look for a whitebeam on its own roots. I cannot think
why anyone would want to graft them. They are natives. None of the
whitebeams in Magdalen College gardens in Oxford are like that, and
they are terrific trees.

Put in a more interesting rowan if you want to feed the birds - Joseph
Rock has yellow berries that are taken in January/February.

I wonder if it's definitely a whitebeam or something more 'exotic'
that's got into a whitebeam batch by mistake, hence the graft. It can
happen.
--
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon

beccabunga writes
Put in a more interesting rowan if you want to feed the birds -
Joseph
Rock has yellow berries that are taken in January/February.

Because they're not favoured by birds - probably not the taste, just
that their colour doesn't fit the search pattern. But it means that if
there are plenty of other berries around, they'll be taken in
preference. So if the aim is primarily bird feeding, it's probably best
to stick to the oranges and reds.
--
Kay