I'm enamored of chartreuse green foliage and I've noticed my local Lowes has a number of these lime green trees planted. At first I thought they might be sickly, but being that they were planted when the store opened and that's been at least 3 years ago, I think the coloring is not from bad health. I cut a branch and took of pic of it
I stuck a small brug plant right in the middle of my mystery branch so that you can see the difference in green coloring.
don't know if it's useful, but here a pic of the trunk
full view of tree. Unfortunately you can't see how chartreusy it really is. It's not like it is "new" foliage. The tree is chartreuse color all the time. Also, these trees are never scorched.
your help in IDing will be greatly appreciated.
another pic of foliage
Yes, it's sickly. It's a pin oak with chlorosis.
That's certainly an oak tree with tremendous difficulty taking up necessary nutrients/elements from the soil it is growing in. This is typically due to a pH too high for those elements to be available to the plant's roots for uptake.
For species of the red oak group in your area (that could include Texas red oak, Shumard oak, Pin oak, or Red oak), the pH should be below 6.5 or so for optimum growth. I'd suspect that the soil conditions were already a higher pH (7.0+) or that there was excess limestone gravel in the vicinity when the site was under construction.
Yellowish foliage on these species is not a desirable feature. They can struggle to survive, but to what end? I imagine you will see relatively short stem extension annually.
There are a number of Pin Oak trees that were planted along the historic parkways in Louisville KY where I work, before I started employment there (1994). These trees are still alive, but they have not markedly changed dimensions in all that time, over 16 growing seasons. They have a remarkably yellow cast to them, like some trees that are supposed to be yellow variegated. I wish these were the trees that would be vandalized, hit by cars, or stripped of bark by careless mowing or weedeating. Alas, these still exist as an embarrassment and eyesore for our community.
One day, we will have a decent tree planting budget and then these trees can achieve a higher calling as firewood. New trees more suited to their permanent growing environment will then hopefully reach canopy size and finally contribute something to the urban forest.
Pin oaks were a favorite street tree around our region also.
They similarly are suffering - to the point that I thought at first it was typical of the species.
Rarely do they have such a full outline as the post above - usually narrow spindly growth with distinctly yellow leaves.
And unfortunately, it's a very common sight around here.
thanks everyone, I've learned a lot. I will go to Lowe's and tell them what's going on w/ their trees. VV, you say the trees planted along parkways have survived in similar conditions for 16 seasons. that is amazing.
I think I will go to Lowe's and tell them they need to work on fertilizing their trees.....WHO AM I KIDDING? youi know they will look at me like I've lost my mind and go about their business, lol.
Survived is the operative term. They certainly are not increasing in size/spread in any appreciable manner. Some seem to be even regressing, growing from dormant buds along the branches rather than from the tips.
It really is more of a death spiral - not fair to the tree and certainly not adding value to the urban forest. Trees in this situation ought to be removed and replaced with a plant that can live a long life and prosper (a Trekkie Tree?) in THAT set of growing conditions.
Fertilizer will only suffice for a very short term. Pin Oaks and their ilk are not appropriate for that site. Plant a KY Coffee Tree, a Thornless Honeylocust, a Chinkapin Oak, something that will appreciate those soils.
Most Texas soils are basic — ranging from slightly basic to highly basic. Given that the tree is almost completely surrounded by concrete or asphalt, there is no way to change the soil pH even temporarily. Fertilizer might not help even for a short term.
I did a bit of digging and came up with a few cultivars with chartreuse leaves. You might look into them to see if they would grow in your area and soil.
Sunburst Honeylocust: Thornless variety, beautiful chartreuse leaves in summer on this medium size tree.
Ulmus parvifolia 'Aurea' Sunshine Lacebark Elm Chartreuse leaves are exceptional when lit at night with mercury vapor lighting, causing the tree to "glow." 6-10 45' 45'
Cotinus 'Golden Spirit' (smoke tree) with wonderful chartreuse foliage all season. This is a deciduous shrub or small tree and can be kept small by pruning hard in winter.
Swane's Golden Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Swane's Golden' pp#3839) This plant is like a bright yellow green exclamation point. It will punctuate your landscape with its evergreen foliage.
Japanese Maple 'Green Filigree,' another choice dissectum, bears a lacy chartreuse leaf that, in some locations? remains on the tree well into December.
http://plants.steingg.com/NetPS-Engine.asp?CCID=12100001&page=pdp&PID=7497
http://www.qscaping.com/NetPS-Engine.asp?CCID=20000010&page=pdp&PID=4270
http://www.extension.org/pages/These_Plants_Have_the_Midas_Touch
http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/park-seed-thuja-yellow-holmstrup--a-semi-dwarf-white-cedar-with-yellow-evergreen-foliage.
http://plants.bachmanslandscaping.com/NetPS-Engine.asp?CCID=12070012&page=pdp&PID=49
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=387311
thank you both for your comments. I will look those up. I do have a chartreuse tree in my yard, but I'm beginning to think that as VV says, it's sickly b/c it's planted in the wrong soil. I think it is another oak, but don't know what kind. To the left, is the leaf from the tree at Lowe's, to the right, a leaf from my tree. BTW, mine is beautiful in spring but it scorches badly in summer. It is about 10 ft all, medium grower.
VV, yes about Chinkapin resenting excessive moisture. I have two of them, planted at the same time, relatively close to each other. One got hit by an overworking sprinkler head and for a while I thought I was going to lose it. It took a while to discover the faulty sprinkler head. The healthy tree is about 33% bigger/bushier. Since we fixed the problem, the tree looks much improved.
Bettydee, I have looked at some on your list and they seem to be hardy to zone8b. I keep looking at golden redwood but DH is strongly against such a big tree, plus it's another one which is hardy to z8. I'm thinking that I could perhaps get away w/ it by planting in shade, but I keep hoping I'll find something hardy for my zone.
As to conifers, especially the golden ones, I dare not invest on one of them b/c on any given day, quite unexpectedly, they would die due to our high humidity. They don't like that at all! Very few thrive in my area. Yes, you see a lot of them planted, but over half of them are sickly, if you look closely.
There a golden redbut that fits my criteria and it's at the top of my list. It sells fast. I need to start looking in Jan. if I ever have a chance of finding one, but I forget (recuperating from holidays)
You are probably referring to Cercis canadensis 'Hearts of Gold'. It is bright.
That is nice, VV. I didn't even know it existed. I'm going to keep it mind for the future.
Now - you are supposed to be saving room for additional viburnums!
That picture was taken just down the road from you, kilda...
I am working on VVs, but not that many hardy in my zone. don't know if you were talking to me or not, but I do appreciate VVs an working on adding them to my garden.
yes, that was the cercis I was talking about. I think that if you look in the PF, it lists who carries them.
Saving room for additional viburnums applies to everyone - but I was pointing at kilda that time.
Droughtiness might be your limiting factor - not necessarily the zone.
I don't know TX well at all. Is it a small place - maybe not enough room there for a few viburnums?
don't know TX, huh? well, get on over hear (here) LOL
Where down the road is the redbud, VV?
Does the golden redbud retain the golden color all season?
And does it need sun to retain golden coloration?
I've shied away from it, since most of my garden is woodland and I waasn't sure it would retain gold color.
Anyone with experience with it's performance in the shade?
So, you want my tale of woe?
The pics are from the nursery of one of the finest propagators I know (in Belvidere, TN). The date on the images is August 17, 2006.
'Hearts of Gold' emerges in the spring with this color foliage. That foliage will gain some greenness as it matures. New flushes of foliage (as illustrated) will again be incandescent yellow.
I expect the shadier your site, the less the intensity of variegation will be. That is typical with a lot of variegated woody plants.
I got this plant that year (2006). The Easter freeze in spring 2007 was not kind to it. It survived - barely - and was insulted yet again by cicadas and drought. That it still bothers to put out leaves here is simply amazing, so I will give it bonus points for tenacity.
I'm not one for much in the variegated category. I can count on one hand the sum total on the Valley's ten acres (I think I'm up to three). I try these few in order to be able to recommend (or not) these plants for others' landscapes.
This image shows the range of August foliage color in 'Forest Pansy' and 'Hearts of Gold' under nursery conditions (with some nice TN hillside forest in the background).
just beautiful. All my redbuds, ALL get appear to be delectable by critters and some years are worse than others. sometimes I spray in time, sometimes I don't. It doesn't hurt them.
