| Greetings!
A common problem for many homeowners with woody areas on their property is buckthorn. This invasive plant may make a nice screen, but there are numerous reasons for removing it from natural areas. Find out more about removing buckthorn by attending Managing Woodlands: Buckthorn and Beyond presented by the Minnesota Zoo on Thursday evening, September 16.
Also, September is your last chance this year to recycle your plastic garden pots and hanging baskets. Many sites accepted pots throughout summer and will continue through October 1st. Other sites will accept pots only on September 18-19, such as Bachman's stores. Visit GardenMinnesota.com for specific sites and dates.
Past newsletters are now archived and available for viewing. |
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Planting Trees for Your Area |
The MN Landscape Arboretum has a beautiful cucumber tree on its property. Above: fruit of tree |
Fall is a wonderful time to plant. To improve your chances of growing healthy trees, plant trees that are for your ecological site. The University of Minnesota Extension website offers homeowners a list of recommended trees and conifers for their region and specific area.
The state of Minnesota has six regions that share similar characteristics like rain fall, soils, topography, and natural vegetation. The Twin Cities metro area falls under the southeast region of Minnesota. Within this region there are six distinct ecological areas which are: big woods, Anoka sand plain, oak savannah, Twin Cities Highlands, and Rochester Plateau. Authors Gary R. Johnson and Katie M. Himanga of Recommended Trees: An Ecosystem Approach published by the University of Minnesota Extension describe these areas as follows:
Big Woods. Topography is gently to moderately rolling. Soils were formed in thick deposits of gray limy glacial till left by the retreat of the Des Moines lobe. Red oak, sugar maple, basswood, and American elm were most common in this dominantly forested region.
Anoka Sand Plain . Flat, sandy lake plain and terraces along the Mississippi River. Most of the soils are sandy and droughty, but there are some organic soils. About 20 percent of the soils are very poorly drained; the rest are excessively well drained sands. Originally oak barrens and openings, with some jack pine along the northern edge.
Oak Savannah. Much of this area is a rolling plain of loess-mantled ridges over sandstone and carbonate bedrock and till. Soils range from wet to well-drained, formed under prairie or forest conditions. Original vegetation included bur oaks, maples, basswood, and prairie tall grasses.
Twin Cities Highlands . Rolling to steep slopes on the moraine and level to rolling on the outwash plain, with soils ranging from clay loam to sand. This area was a mosaic of tall grass prairie, savannahs, and maple-basswood forests prior to settlement.
Rochester Plateau . A rolling, high plateau of windblown silt over glacial till in the west and bedrock in the east. Soil depth generally decreases from west to east. Plant communities historically dominated by oak forests, maple-basswood forests, riparian forests, and tall grass prairies and oak savannahs in the drier areas.
Blufflands. An old bedrock plateau covered by windblown silt and then extensively eroded by rivers and streams. Broad ridgetops, steep coulees, and deep valleys were dominated by oak, shagbark hickory-basswood forests on moist slopes, oak-basswood-black walnut forests in the valleys, and prairies on the ridge tops and dry valleys. Recommended trees to consider are Elms such as 'Accolade', 'Patriot' or 'New Horizon'. A lot of work has been done in recent years to create Dutch-elm resistant cultivars. Other trees often overlooked but recommended for the Twin Cities are black cherry, Northern catalpa, irownwood/hophornbeam, and magnolia cucumber tree. Some recommended conifers for the southeast region are Black Hills spruce, black spruce, and white fir.
For More Information:
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| What's Blooming? Black Cherry |
Vibrant red leaf color of black cherry |
Black cherry is an excellent shade tree choice to use in a more natural setting, such as in or along the edge of woods or in a savannah, but may not be a great choice for the average garden or landscape bed.
Black cherry, Prunus serotina, is a native tree hardy to zone 3 that turns a yellow/red color in fall. Other attributes include fragrant, white flowers that bloom in May and edible black fruit that matures in August. Black cherry provides high wildlife value to the landscape.
Black cherry grows best in moist to dry loam soils, and likes full sun to part shade. It is not flood tolerant. This tree will grow to 50-60' tall by 23-30' wide.
Check with nurseries or garden centers that sell native plants for availability. |
I welcome your feedback on the newsletter. If there are topics you want to learn more about, please email me at nancy.dahl@integra.net.
Sincerely,
Nancy Thorman Dahl, CLP
Cattail Design LLC
Creative Designs for Land and Lakeshore | |
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Money-Saving Tip | |
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Landscape fabric under an organic mulch doesn't deter weed growth long term. |
An easy way to save money on a landscaping project is to use landscape fabric only when needed -and that is under rock or gravel mulch and behind rock boulder walls.
The main function of landscape fabric is to block sunlight from reaching weed seeds already in the soil while still allowing air and water to penetrate through it into the soil.
Placing wood or any organic mulch over landscape fabric will not deter weed growth long term. The organic mulch will break down creating a layer of topsoil on top of the fabric where weed seeds will land, germinate and grow. Rain will also wash away organic mulch over fabric on sloped sites too.
And definitely make sure to use a landscape fabric versus plastic sheeting under rock mulch and around plants. Plastic doesn't allow oxygen or water to penetrate the soil which only stresses the plants from the start. |
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