QUESTION OF THE DAY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022

[sivyaleah]

I have a relatively small piece of property so not too many but we do have:

Flowering Plum
An ancient Peegee Hydrangea (it's the tree size one)
White Dogwood
4 HUGE Cypress trees which act as a screen so you can't see the patio from the street (taller than our house if left untrimmed! I had no idea they would get as large as they have and it costs a small fortune to keep them under control)
Brown leave Magnolia
A mini Japanese Maple which technically is a tree, though small.

We also have a lot of conifer and other bushes that are so big they nearly count as trees!

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Could you put a little tree in a barrel? Are you allowed to rip up the concrete? We gotta figure this out.

Unfortunately I'm in rented accommodation so can't rip up the back yard. And neely surgested indoor trees that's a good idea. I'm actually pretty lucky because even though I have no garden, there's a beautiful big park just a few streets away. In the summer I meet up with my brother and sit at the cafe it's dog friendly. So I get trees and his cute doggo. It's a win win for me. But I do miss having a garden.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Don't worry, you can always grow one of these small trees indoors: 20 Popular Indoor Trees to Grow in Your Home

I think you are on to something.

 

[strider rose]

quite a few here at my apartment complex

 

[Willowy]

I love mulberries.

I do too! But so do birds, so the seeds end up all over the place. If I left this place alone I'm pretty sure the entire property would be mulberry trees, lol. I leave the ones that are growing in reasonable places so I can have my fresh mulberries every year.

 

[DreamerRose]

I have seven: hybrid elm, gingko, several crabs, and Colorado blue spruce. There are also volunteer trash trees that will be cut down this spring.

 

[Elphaba09]

A black walnut, two crepe myrtles (they are babies still), a (baby) Japanese red maple, three lilacs, four pines of some sort (three are tall and skinny, one is shorter and wider), three (baby) Eastern redbuds, a cherry tree, four full-grown locust trees, and at least six locust trees that are about six years old. So about 23, give or take. My son is moving the Japanese maple and a couple of the small locust trees to his property this spring.

 

[Jem]

2 pine and 3 spruce along the front property line on the Right of my yard. A small cedar tree on the far side of the fence that divides our front and back yard...on the front yard side. A row of about 5 spruce trees along the dividing line between me and my neighbor (front yard). A small tree at the end of the row of spruce...I don't know what it is. A small cedar tree at the corner of my house, again front. A half dead birch right out my front window...we have to cut it down...I would like to replace it with a lilac.
I have a birch near the fence line of my back yard, the fence that divides the front from back. 2 spruce, 2 pine, a blue spruce, lilac and 2 trees that I don't know what they are, kinda randomly around the back yard. A long row of cedar the divides my property from my neighbor (back yard) A couple of small cedars in one of my flower beds along the fence line dividing me from my other neighbor. And about 6 trees that have popped up, planted by the squirrels that I need to remove. Unfortunately squirrels don't always plant in the right spots.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Uuummm.... We've lost the majority of the trees that were originally here when we bought our house. One side of the property was lined with some kind of pine; but they'd never been cared for and started dying rapidly so they all went along with a few on the other side. That was something like 14 trees and we've lost 2 other big trees since. And another in our back hedge line but I don't know what kind it was.

So now we have:
2 Silver maple, one mature, one we planted
1 Fire Maple, we planted
1 Red Maple, we planted
1 Red Bud (we had 2 that I planted from twigs; one died but tries to send up shoots every now and then)
1 Unknown
1 Mulberry
1 Dogwood

The back side of our property is a mature privet hedge; which loses its leaves and feels very tree like because it's so tall. The unknown, mulberry and dogwood are all in the back corner next to those. I could probably count how many there are; but honestly that feels like too much work right now. We planted 5 or 6 of those thin juniper like shrubs on one side where the pines were for some privacy. I'm not a huge fan of them; but the new place next door looks into my backyard. So eventually it'll be a screen for the patio at least. We also have 2 lilac bushes and 5 rose bushes.

Just over the property line there is a huge pine that DH and I would really prefer they cut down; except for the birds it brings. It's lost quite a few branches the last few winters. Branches that are over 15' long. But the tree guy said it's healthy and I don't blame them for not wanting to shell out a minimum of $1500 to have it taken down. The one next to it came down in a storm years ago and thankfully did not damage our fence. On the other side there are quite a few trees on the neighbor's property. Some are pine and have been here for decades. Some have been planted in the last 10-13 years. I don't know what kind they all are; but they are a nice variety and interesting to look at. So they aren't "our" trees; but they are close enough that we get their benefit and their leaves in the fall.

There is an oak not too far onto the other neighbor's property too. It grew up under the old propane tank and is mostly shoots and suckers but they're letting it go. Oak get big enough that it's a little close to my house for comfort. Or will be eventually. If it were 10-15' the other direction I'd be happy to see it.

 

[susanm9006]

I'm jealous of all of you with trees. I live in a old terrace house with a concrete back yard, And when you open my front door you are right on the street.

Come visit in mid to late fall and I guarantee you would not be jealous. Although I only have one tree, my yard fills with leaves from neighboring trees. From October through snowfall I have to mow the leaves every day or they get so thick they smother my grass. And the pines are worse. They drop needles every fall that have to be raked. It’s pretty tiring.

 

[kashmir64]

From October through snowfall

So,.,,2 days?

 

[aliceneko]

We only have a small garden, but have managed to squeeze in a magnolia tree (spring is very pretty here!), an acer tree and a small twisted hazel tree.

 

[LTS3]

I think you are on to something.

Just double check to make sure the tree isn't toxic to cats. I know the rubber tree has a milky sap that is toxic to pets.

Are there community / victory gardens in the UK where you could rent a small plot?

 

[susanm9006]

A black walnut, two crepe myrtles (they are babies still), a (baby) Japanese red maple, three lilacs, four pines of some sort (three are tall and skinny, one is shorter and wider), three (baby) Eastern redbuds, a cherry tree, four full-grown locust trees, and at least six locust trees that are about six years old. So about 23, give or take. My son is moving the Japanese maple and a couple of the small locust trees to his property this spring.

The squirrels must love your place. Black walnuts are one of their favorites! Do you harvest them?

 

[NY cat man]

Only one; a maple that the local government planted, and was promised to be slow-growing. Since then it has:
Heaved up portions of my sidewalk
Done the same with the end of my concrete driveway
It's roots have started attacking the house foundation, spread all through our flower bed, and even to our neighbor's driveway, over 30 feet away
All of this in less than 10 years,and if it was my tree, it would be gone, but it's not, so I have no say.

 

[Elphaba09]

The squirrels must love your place. Black walnuts are one of their favorites! Do you harvest them?

The squirrels do love it! We often have crows and ravens who walk the yard looking for good ones. (I am guessing the shells get soft enough to break.) We do not harvest them, but there are a couple of people who come by and ask if they can. Of course, we let them! We also have a row of red, black, and gold raspberries for the birds. (We do harvest those!)

 

[vince]

Lets see... There's a Norway maple, a yellow buckeye, a redbud, and two Japanese maples. There's also a witch hazel, but I don't know if that's classified as a bush or a tree. It's maybe 15' tall, which is tall for just a bush.

I've been trying to get buckeye nuts to plant, but the squirrels clean it off before I get any.

 

[DreamerRose]

A black walnut,

Be careful with that black walnut. They exude a black sooty substance that kills everything underneath them. My parents had a lovely mountain laurel with lily-of-the-valley spread around it in a corner of the yard. Dad let a volunteer black walnut grow nearby and it killed the laurel and lily-of-the-valley. I had two black walnuts at my previous house, and they killed a spirea hedge. The black soot is not pretty.

 

[lizzie]

We have 3 acres,but the rear 1.5 acres are pasture.Seems like we have an assortment...soft maples,ash and elm,3 or 4 walnut,2 norway maples,2 basswoods,a few redbuds,wild cherry,a couple of mulberry,2 crepe myrtles,and there are some in the 2 fence rows I have no clue what they are.

 

[Jcatbird]

Like some others, too many to count! lol Cypress, Several types of pines, Maples, oaks, Sweet Gums, Myrtles, Bays, Plums and lots of others.