A pause for appreciation before they go: Fraxinus

There has a been a lot of writing and a lot of lamenting due to the arrival of the emerald ash borer. Many fine trees have been lost, and undoubtedly there are many more that will follow.

The beast hasn't made it to KY yet. Before it does, I intend to document the trees that we have here. These gentle souls may go on into the night, but not unrecognized.

In central KY, three species are significant in local plant communities. I'll describe them in turn.

Blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata) partners with bur oak and chinkapin oak in the old savannas that still dot the thoroughbred horse farm and agricultural landscapes. Formerly towering among cane breaks, these old denizens now cast their shade over cropland and pastures. Many are multiple hundred years old, having been larger than the saws used to cut smaller trees during settlement, or already having hollows making them useless for lumber. They are easily recognized by their ramrod straight trunks, lightly flaking gray bark, and branches that reach out horizontally, like arms being raised in greeting.

Seldom produced commercially, blue ash is a very long lived species and incredibly tolerant of drought conditions. The fall color is a reserved pale yellow, but it has lustrous dark green foliage through the summer months. It is easy to germinate seedlings. This is one of the species I have made a mission to plant in parks and to recommend for larger properties and mixed plantings of shade trees, so that future generations have the opportunity to appreciate blue ash when the old patriarchs finally fall.

White ash (Fraxinus americana) occurs in woodlands, fence lines, and less often as old individuals open grown. It associates with most of the common tree species on calcareous soils around KY, including hackberry, black cherry, walnut, ash, oak, hickory, sugar maple, and coffee tree. Sporting purples, oranges, and yellows, it is quite showy as one of the early shade trees to begin the fall color cavalcade. White ash tend to spread into several main trunks, forming a broader rounder head than blue ash. Their bark is strongly ridged and furrowed.

White ash is produced by almost every nursery that grows shade trees, with many selections made in the eastern US. 'Autumn Purple' is so ubiquitous that most purchasers don't know it as a white ash, but as a purple ash. Tough in the landscape, it has been used formally as a street tree and massed in large landscapes. This clone (and several others) is one of the most reliable shade trees for fall color every year.

This tree has had many commercial uses. Locally, the Hillerich & Bradsby Company make their famous Louisville Slugger bats from its wood. Tool handles are made from ash, and the handsome broad board flooring of the two hundred year old house in which I grew up. It is valuable firewood as well, which is most likely how the EAB insect is moving so rapidly from the initial point of documented infestation in Michigan to the various adjoining states.

It is easy to germinate seedlings. The various clones are budded/grafted on seedling understock. White ash is very easy to transplant, and establishes pretty quickly. It is well-represented in all landscapes due to the colorful clones.

So sad, but so true. Ash will be wiped off the continent for all practical purposes.

Bite your tongue.

If all lovers of trees took that attitude, then the Elm Research Institute efforts with Ulmus and the American Chestnut Foundation work on Castanea would be fig newtons of our imaginations. Franklinia would be a finite footnote. And the wee threatened species that you have given tender loving care on windowsills (and every other non-cat-occupied ledge) would have no significant future to expect.

I expect that something will come along to slow down and stymie EAB, and/or there will be remnant individual trees in the Fraxinus genus that will resist its ravages. Of course, we will all see in time.

Until then, I will employ the reasonable approach of a diverse planting palette in our parks and in landscapes that I can influence. I couldn't stand it if I didn't try to leave these kinds of legacies for posterity.

Biting tingue, praying for a biological control, continuing to practice diversification planting, and hoping that the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation keeps up the good work- http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-02-05-00

Other than that, I'm fast and furiously companion planting in tight to every Ash I've got on this property.

I recently was so moved by the beauty of a Eucalyptus tenuiramis 'Silver Peppermint' that I went up and gave it a hug. I would do the same to the Blue Ash. kt

kt, where is that Eucalyptus?

Christchurch Botanic Gardens in New Zealand. I was in NZ for a while this spring and depended on the microphone option on my camera for record keeping and unbeknownst to me it wasn't working. Sadly I have forgotten many plant id's but I could never forget the beautiful 'Silver Peppermint'. Don't you just want to give the old gal a hug? kt

Here she is with her arms raised in victory.kt

Yes, I loved her worts and all. kt

That's knock down drop dead gorgeous bark!

Well I have planted a few white ash trees here to get some additional diversity. I had none in the beginning. They are seldom sold by nuseries here and I never see them in woodland areas, so I feel like my three little ash trees are very well isolated. The EAB would have to fly much further than the reported 2 miles in order to get to mine.

Well, very nice documentaries and gorgeous pics honoring the ash. Hopefully they don't meet the demise anticipated.

I wasn't aware of a Blue Ash. I am only familiar with Fraxinus americana and Fraxinus pennsylvanica and the only way I can tell them apart is by the way the axillary bud sit. The "Green can be seen" is the way I remember it.

VV I went hunting to see what this borer was about and read that it even attacks young trees of 1" in diameter. Have you read anywheres where they have tried using phermone traps yet to attract and kill them? Maybe sticky box type of trap you could attach to the tree would help capture and kill some of the beetles before they have a chance to lay their eggs in the bark. Sure it may not look pretty for a bit , but if it stops em, so what. They could make them out of the trees they are cutting down and destroying.

I don't know alot about the outside workings of the bark , but I wonder if a waxy coating of some sort couldn't be sprayed on the trunks of the trees during mating and egg laying season. Kinda like a white-wash. Would it sufficate the tree do you think?

It would be a terrible shame if a whole species had to be destroyed is right. I enjoy the color and shape of the leaves. I hope this pest is stopped before it reaches your trees.

I've been growing Autumn Purple for several years and it's just starting to make its presence known. The fall color has been outstanding the past couple of years. My number one hope is that EAB doesn't make it this far north, but if it does then I'll pray my AP is isolated from this pernicious pest. With out-of-staters flocking to northern Wisconsin for sporting and recreational pursuits, and the infected firewood they're likely to bring with them, I imagine it will come down to a question of isolation.

The only place I've ever been to that offered F. quadrangulata was Cucumber Tree Nursery located SW of Madison. This was a few years ago and I'm not even sure if he still has them (or if he's still in business). His main interest is Magnolia hybridizing and if you're ever in the Madison (Blanchardville) area you might want to check it out. I was totally unfamiliar with Blue Ash when I visited and didn't give it a second glance. Its tolerance to dry conditions makes it more suitable for my property and I wish I'd taken one.

John, you mention you are going to document the trees you have there, and I'm curious what you mean by that. Are you talking about the Louisville parks? Sounds like a noble but mammoth undertaking.

Bob

But then John is a noble and mammoth guy!

Why do so many Magnolia breeders come from Northern Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin? They must be a masochistic lot.

Scott

VV, what are all of the smaller trees in the background of your first picture?

I sometimes forget that most of you are not from KY.

Bob:

Beaver Creek Nursery grows/sells Fraxinus quadrangulata.

By document, I mean attempt to record "...a day in the life of..." type information about what the species is/does/means to the landscape. For me, it's the pictures above. I drive rural lanes to the interstate, and then highways to Louisville where I work for the parks. These rural lanes pass through agricultural lands (mainly thoroughbred horse farms; yeah, my life is extremely difficult but someone has to do it). Here ash grows in mixed adventitious fence rows and in pastures as the big old patriarchs from times of yore. The interstate cuts a swift swath through similar landscapes but observed at much higher speeds. Finally, the parks in Louisville run the gamut from small urban blocks of designed tree stands to many thousand acres of forested lands.

In each of these situations, as well as the neighborhoods of Louisville and Lexington, the various ash species each perform a role, fill a niche, and pass through their seasons. This may be one of the first times that humans have seen a harbinger of doom for a plant coming and have the time to take account of what no longer may be.

E-guy:

Those would be an allée of the ubiquitous Quercus palustris, pin oak, that somehow became the landmark tree for central KY when one horse farm lined its drives with that species sometime back in the '20s. Transplants easy; grows fast; decent fall color; and then all succumb simultaneously to Xyllela fastidiosa (bacterial leaf scorch) when they reach chronological senescence. Funny: a colorful tree to be sure, but the shortest lived of all the trees that could have been chosen.

Same as subdivisions full of Callery pears, honeylocusts, and this century's most likely to crash at once -- red maples and lacebark elms.

No, I'm not bitter.

I'll wade into the fray and add one of F. pensylvanica. Although I'm not overly wild about the species, I did take a liking to this old plant.

Regards,
Ernie

VV,

Does Beaver Creek sell to the general public? Their website says they're a wholesale nursery, and directs you to Song Sparrow for retail (I'm assuming they're under common ownership). On another thread you indicated BC sells larger-sized Pseudolarix, but SS doesn't list it, and neither shows Blue Ash on their inventory list.

Recent research in Ohio indicates that EAB will travel 10 kilometers if undistracted by intervening ash. The only known possible control at this time is imadicloprid, obviously an unfavorable choice due to toxicity as well as the impracticality of administration.

I happened across this thread while catching up on old threads that I missed (being a very latecomer in the GW exodus). I live at the epicenter of the EAB infestation -- it all started here in SE Michigan I think. Millions of dollars have been spent in SE MI removing trees, and it barely has made a dent. In my city, unofficially "Tree Town" for its longstanding program of planting municipal trees and supporting residents in doing so, ashes were the most commonly planted street trees. One can drive down whole streets that are now lined with the ghosts of dead trees -- devoid of their rich green color in summer, the toughness of their constitution, and the beautiful range of fall color throughout the spectrum. An important lesson in the need for diversity in municipal planting programs.

I removed a few big ashes from my woods that were dead, but there are lots of young plants coming up in the wetter areas, up to about 6-8' tall. I have debated with myself about whether to cut them down or leave them. This fall, still enjoying these youngsters in their fine dress, some burgundy, some rich yellow, others orange red, I decided I am just going to leave them. Who knows, maybe a resistant tree will arise from the crop? As VV says, for me at least, this is the first time I have witnessed personally the demise of a whole group of organisms -- quite a sobering experience to say the least.

BTW, I have seen a mature chestnut in Sault Saint Marie ON, at the far northern end of that species range, that either through resistance or isolation survived the blight. It was absolutely magnificent, though that was 20 years ago. I wonder if it is still there? A cause for hope, perhaps with the breeding programs there will be chestnuts again. Though I am sure, never the dominant plants of the Appalachian forests like they once were.

I was just reading about a chemical called permethrin, it has been proven to control southern pine beetles when used as a trunk spray. It also says that can be used for borers. I wonder if it has been tested for use on EAB. http://www.pestproducts.com/treespray.htm

According to this website Ligustrum is a good alternate host for EAB. http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/moredocs/agrpla01.pdf