Where to Plant Flowering trees

Last year I joined the Arbor day foundation and got 10 free trees. They are supposed to be White Flowering Dogwood, American Redbud, Goldenraintree, sargent Crabapple, Washington Hawthorn, and a Rose of Sharon. They were supposed to have paint on the trunks so I could tell the difference, but some did not. I planted them in a temporary place last year and plan on planting this fall. I #1 don't know which tree is which(I have a leaf ID page, but I can only ID the redbud for sure....there's two types of trees that look like they have the dogwood leaves. I think I know which is Rose of Sharon, but it somewhat resembles the goldenraintree and possibly the crabapple). I lost 2 trees last year, so I only have 8 now, and I believe I've lost one whole category of trees(5 different kinds, 2 each, plus the rose of sharon). So, anyway...once I ID them, I also am not sure how close to the house/fence they can be planted. Any help would be great! If I get ahold of a camera, I'll try posting the pics in the ID section.

Thanks!
Kristie

All of those have leaves that look different enough from each other that someone who is familiar with them will definitely know the difference. So if you can get pics and post them on the ID forum I know someone will know which one is which.

Thanks! The illustrations the Arbor Day people sent look a lot different from each other. I'm just frustrated I can't figure out what they are! Like, for example the dogwood appear to be oval and smooth, not jagged at all. All the rest of the illustrations for the other trees look lobed(except for the redbud, I know what that is!) with teeth. Anyway, once I do figure out what they are, how closely can these be planted next to houses, utility lines, the road, etc? I put the one I thought was the Rose of Sharon in front of my house, maybe three foot away. Is this too close? Plus, now I'm worried that its actually one of these trees, in which case I'd probably better get it moved. The one I think is the Rose of Sharon grew pretty tall last year with just one twig. This year as it got its leaves, its gotten them from the bottom up, and doesn't have any leaves on the top half. It also sprouted new stems from the bottom. Does this maybe help ID it? The rest of them have leaves all the way up and have grown quite a bit. The one I think is the Dogwood is the tallest, probably four ft. Ok, sorry for going on and on about this, but I'm really wanting to know what they are. Thanks for the help ecrane!

Kristie

our rose of sharon is in full bloom now - so perhaps yours will bloom soon to help ID. l

Well, they were really small when we got them, maybe 12 inches tall tops, so would it take a few years for them to bloom?

Kristie

Mine was just two feet tall and it bloomed the next season. Rose of Sharon to me is a bush as opposed to a tree but it grows big and wide - so maybe that is why folks say tree. It is multi stemmed tho and it will get maybe four/five feet in diameter - at least the one I have is that big around and it is around five years old. So maybe not too close to the house. Also the June Bugs LOVE it and if you don't want to be dive bombed and buzzed etc., you may not want to put it near a walkway.

Thanks for the help missingrosie! We always use the side door, so the only one who has to worry about dive bombing june bugs is the mailman. But, it is far enough away from the door I don't think that will happen. Thanks again!

Kristie

Hi Kristie, WeeNel here, do you mean that even the trees are the same size, 12 inches, if so, you will wait forever and a day to try identify the true leaves, however, I would go to a librery, book store and get some books on trees that grow in your area, as there are lots of types of trees from the same family, it would be such a shame to plant a tree and find it needs moved again the next year when you discover it is in the wrong spot. If the trees are really young saplings, like really baby trees, I would be inclined to get them into bigger pots, not too big as you can go up sizes of pots as the roots fill the pot it is in, but if potted up with good quality compost, you should allow yourself much more time to learn all about the trees needs/care, like full sun/shade finnal hight when mature and all these kind of things, remember, the final hight of a tree normally equals the root area it can spread, rather than being rushed into making the wrong decisions or guessing what they are, young trees can be looked after, watered and fed in a pot for a good couple of years before any damage is done to the growing conditions, so I would think about that if they are tiny plants/trees, then you can really enjoy there beauty knowing they are eventually planted in the right place and spot for your enjoyment also. good luck. Weenel.

No, they were about 12 inches when I first got them last year. This year the tallest is probably about 4 foot tall. I know how big they will get and all that, because the arbor day sent me a leaf identification sheet and a description of each tree. The only problem is that now the pics of the leaves don't look like the leaves I have, so I don't know which ones are which. *sigh

Kristie

I had a flowering dogwood, I believe it's a Cherekee Chief, given to me last year, unfortunately it didn't bloom this year due to the weather. I have a silly question, I looked at pictures of this beautfiful tree and I'm beginning to wonder if it is a dogwood afterall.
It looks like a fruit tree!
Everyone who comes over asks me if its a peach or apricot tree! Do the dogwood leaves resemble fruit tree leaves?
I will laugh if I get a big peach instead of dogwood blooms!! lol

Kristie,
I too got trees from Arbor Day for our new house. They were so small that I put them in medium sized pots to start with and then the following spring, moved them up to larger pots (always left them outside, of course). I didn't finally get them into the ground until the 3rd spring I had them and they all did just fine. If you can do this, it would give you more time to see them leafed out so you can get a positive ID. That would be critical since you have trees with different needs there (i.e., dogwood needs partial shade, Washington hawthorn likes moist soil, etc.). My trees are all at least 8 to 10 feet tall now and beautiful--hope yours do as well as mine have. BTW, mine have only been in the ground for 2 1/2 years--they grow pretty fast. I have a Washington hawthorn and it's a beautiful tree.

Marleine

Thanks for the help! I've been studying the leaves a little more closely, and the two varieties that I think look a lot alike are starting to look a little different. The one that I thought was the dogwood has oval leaves that has alternating leaves. So does the other one, but I noticed that those leaves are alternating bunches...meaning there's more than one leaf in that bunch. The one I thought was a dogwood is alternating single leaves.

How close to the house or a fence can you plant trees like these?

Kristie

Ok, I have pics!! I'll see if I can figure out how to post them....

The first one and this one are the one I think is the dogwood. The first is a close up of the leaves and here's the whole tree...Both the trees in the foreground are the same

Here's another one....I think this one is either a goldenraintree, a washington hawthorn, or sargent crabapple...or maybe the rose of sharon based on the leaf ID page I have...lol see why I'm having problems...pic of the whole tree will be in the next post...wish you could post more than one pic at a time

Here's the whole tree...as you can see its bushed out...I hope it isn't the Rose of sharon...that means I planted a tree right next to my house!

Here's the one in front of my house I'm hoping is the rose of sharon

What I did with every tree I planted was look at the approximate diameter it will be at maturity. Then I placed the tree, while still in the pot, approximately where I wanted it and paced it off in every direction. If a tree is going to be approximately 30 feet in diameter, add 15 feet to the point you start from (your potted tree) and then add at least another 15 to 20 feet so you will have room between your tree and house, fence, whatever. Something like a Rose of Sharon would be good by a fence since it doesn't get any huge overhanging limbs. Trees such as your redbud have a larger diameter and need to be placed more out in an open area where it has lots of room to spread. Also, be aware of any overhead wires--check to see what the approximate mature height of the tree will be. And of course, consider your windows--you may not want a tree to completely shade an east or north-facing window. I planted 5 red maples on the west end of my house just to shade the windows from the hot summer sun but left my east windows treeless so I could enjoy the rising sun in the morning.

Here's the entire "rose of sharon"

Here's the other one I thought might be the dogwood.....

And here's the whole tree.....I'm gonna post a link in the plant id forum to here as well. Thanks in advance for any help!

Kristie

Here's the one in front of my house I'm hoping is the rose of sharon--

those leaves look just like my rose of sharon which is in full bloom now.

Kristie
That last post with the two trees side by side. Can you tell me a little about the tree on the right? Is it my eyes or do the leaves at the bottom look much different from the leaves at the top of that tree? The leaves at the top sure look like redbud to me. And, the first tree you posted (where you said that you were going to see if you could figure how to post..) that tree doesn't look like a dogwood. You nailed the Rose of Sharon I think - good job!

First tree looks like a crabapple

Resin

Yes, those leaves are redbuds...you see, the garden they're planted in is a circle with "wedges" the ones in the forefront are the unknown tree. There are two redbuds planted behind them and those are the leaves you are seeing. Those were the only ones I could identify for sure! If the one at the top doesn't look like a dogwood, then the other ones that I think are a dogwood are the last pics that you saw the redbuds in....

Good to hear the "Rose of Sharon" really is a Rose of Sharon...one down...
Thanks for the help!

Kristie

Crabapple?! Wow, if left on my own I woulda screwed this all up! I thought if any of the remaining trees was a crabapple, it woulda been the second tree. I think I may scan the leaf id sheet they gave me so you guys can see it...I'm totally confused by it now....Thanks for taking time to help me figure this out!

Kristie

Here's the tree identification sheet I got....I'm so CONFUSED

Here's the tree identification sheet I got....I'm so CONFUSED

So confused you posted twice!

Next time (if you are so blessed as to have plenty more plants to ID), number the photos as you post them so that the responders have an easy way to refer to them with the identifications provided. You could actually go back and edit your posts, and include that (though you only get to do 5 edits in a day if I recall correctly).

Anyhoo...here's what I believe you have, in order posted:

First: Crabapple close (Malus spp.)
Second: Crabapple whole
Third: Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica) close
Fourth: Fragrant Sumac whole
Fifth: Rose of Sharon close (Hibiscus syriacus)
Sixth: Rose of Sharon whole
Seventh: could be Washington Hawthorn close (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
Eighth: could be Washington Hawthorn whole

I know you didn't list Fragrant Sumac as a choice, but sometimes big outfits like National Arbor Day Foundation mess up, too.

In any event, you have no dogwoods illustrated. Dogwoods (Cornus spp.) and specifically Cornus florida, the white flowering dogwood, are primarily opposite foliaged plants except for Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) which you didn't ask about. Sorry about that.

The 3-leaflet compound foliage of the sumac is pretty standard. Golden Raintree (Koelreuteria paniculata) also has compound foliage, but with many more leaflets (from 7 to15).

Please feel free to take a look at PlantFiles entries, for comparison with your photos. It's a great resource here.

I'll copy this info to your plant ID post, too.

I have received many trees from Arbor Day and the color coded paint has always been there. Once I have sorted them out acording to the color I also tag them with a permanent tag. The sets that I have received always include a flowering crab and a flowering pear.
This photo is a leaf from a golden rain tree.

Washington Hawthorn leaf. This tree has many thorns,even at an early age.

Last year they did have paint on them, although there were I think two that I couldn't tell what they were. So, I just thought that since I had the leaf id thing I'd be able to easily identify them this year. So much for that. As you can tell I'm new at this...lol...and yes, I was so confused I posted twice...I almost went back and made a remark like that, but you beat me to it!

Of course, the dogwoods were the ones I really wanted. I'll have to check out sumac to see what it looks like. I had tried looking in the plant files to compare trees, but they just didn't look like anything I thought I had. I think I must be tree identification-impaired...lol

See, now that leaf of the goldenraintree looks just like the illustration they sent me. Is it more, or do the illustrations not look like the leaves?

So, we're pretty sure about the crabapple, rose of sharon and the sumac.....The possible washington hawthorne's leaves don't look anything like the illustration. In the pic they look oval and teethed, and in the illustration they look lobed like a maple leaf or something *sigh* Confusing myself again...hope I don't post this twice!

Thank you so much for all your help, and if I post any more pics I'll number them...don't know why I didn't do that before!

Kristie

Thanks for all the help

See, now that leaf looks like the illustration of the hawthorn. As far as I know, none of the trees have thorns.

Good shots, Rocco. I was squinting to see thorns in any of the photos, and could find none.

Nice golden rain tree, too; I've seen a zillion seedlings and young trees since my parents' tree is a prolific seeder into mulched areas (and even the lawn if you skip a mowing or two). I don't think I've ever seen one with uniformly trifoliate leaflets like illustrated above, so thus the Fragrant Sumac identification.

Kristie:

Gotta start somewhere! Here you are amongst a pretty supportive group, though we can dish out some sarcasm and good humor from time to time. All in good ID fun.

Well, I just looked at the plantfile of fragrant sumac, and they do look a lot alike. The only difference I can see is that the plantfile pic looks like the leaves at the bas seem to not be as wide and curve up more...mine seem wider at the base. Also, the plantfile pic looks like they're glossy...my pic doesn't.

I always wanted a sumac because of the seeds and the fall colors. I purchased a smooth sumac eight years ago.
Last year it started producing new little sumacs all over my yard. Some of them were forty feet or more from the mother tree. This year it was worse. Last month there were forty four of them,some twelve to eighteen inches tall. I mowed them down. The next week there were fifty five of them. This week I counted one hundred and two. I mowed them down and cut down the eight year old tree. One of the roots that I had dug up,about eighteen inches long, was lying on top of the ground and had sprouted nine little sumacs.
I think that they will be with me forever! the roots are radiating in all directions. I have been trying to kill trumpet vines for over twenty years, now it is sumacs. My advice is that if you have a sumac,kill it now! If you don't,in six or seven years the beast will turn your yard into a sumac jungle.

This message was edited Jul 17, 2007 7:07 AM

Ahhhhhh....great, just great. *sigh this is getting better and better :)

Look at it this way Kristie, better to find out now than 8 years down the road like poor Rocko! Trust me, we've all made such "mistakes." That's why, when I started landscaping our yard at our new house we built, I researched EVERYTHING (trees, shrubs, flowers, even the grass) before I ever put the shovel to the soil. It has saved me from some big time mistakes. I also think sumac is a beautiful tree and wanted to put some down by our creek. But when I read that they colonize, I knew they would not find a home in our yard! Be thankful for DG--there are so many knowledgeable folks here to help you through this process and, hopefully, some of us will spare you from making mistakes you will live to regret.

You do have a point! And, yes DG has been very helpful. I'm just amazed people can just look at these pics and give their fancy names and everything. Wow....very impressive. So, does fragrant sumac colonize as bad?

Kristie

The rhus aromatica, fragrant sumac. is a much smaller sumac than the one that I had but it still produces suckers and 'babies 'remotely from the mother plant.
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=L980