Urban core neighborhoods set to lose many trees

[BridgeTroll]

Get there early!

[hanjin1]

I got a Yoshino Cherry tree and redbud last year. My Yoshino is doing great and I'm waiting for it to flower next month, but the redbud ending up dieing with a couple months. But you can't beat $10. I remember a few years back when all the trees were free, now that was crazy. Anyways you do need to get there early if you want any of the good trees or you will end up with just oak or maple trees.

http://www.greenscapeofjacksonville.org/


23rd Annual Flowering Tree Sale
Greenscape will celebrate twenty three years of providing quality plant material to Jacksonvillians as our Flowering Tree Sale gets underway at 7a.m. This annual event provides deeply discounted trees to the public and serves as a fundraiser for Greenscape of Jacksonville, the local non-profit tree planting volunteer organization. Be sure to come early as past years have been very successful and often sell out within a couple of hours! The location of the sale will be announced in plenty of time to make your plans to attend. By Mayoral Proclamation, the Flowering Tree Sale is Jacksonville’s official Arbor Day.
Thousands of trees and shrubs will be presented for sale at $10.00 each. A wide variety of species are usually offered, from Japanese Magnolias to Knock Out Roses. A final inventory of material will be posted closer to the sale. All material are sold in three gallon containers. Proceeds from the Sale support tree planting programs for Greenscape in Jacksonville.
As in the past, representatives from the Division of Forestry, tree growers, arborists, the Duval County Master Gardener Program, JEA Forestry and the American Society of Landscape Architects will be on hand to answer questions and assist in your selections.

DATE: Saturday, February 27, 2010
TIME: 7:00 a.m.
PRICE: FREE
LOCATION: Parking lot at the intersection of Philips Highway and Emerson St.

[Dog Walker]

Another really great landscape tree for this area is a Hackberry.  They are very hurricane resistant because they have huge root systems and relatively thin limbs.  Unlike Live Oaks, they lose their leaves in the wintertime.  They are native to the area, but no nurseries seem to be growing them.  You have to find saplings in the woods.

Their roots will absolutely destroy anything close to them. 

There are actually a good number of Hackberry trees around Riverside.  They are the trees that have trunks that look like they are covered with warts.  If you have ever been to the White Lion Pub in St. Augustine and sat on their patio across from the fort, you have sat under the biggest Hackberry tree anyone has ever seen.  It is huge.

[reednavy]

Hackberry, are you serious? They're just as bad as Water Oaks as they grow fast, but are notorious for having rotted cores and are not very wind resistant. It is a tree that has strong roots, but I have witnessed many that have snapped at the abse due to rotting on the inside. I'm from Tennessee, where they're native as well, and can tell you they're one of the most common native species that falls in storms be either blowing over or losing large limbs. They are also well known for having disease and insect problems, adding to their vulnerability.

[Dog Walker]

They don't have those problems here in Florida.  Tennessee is at the extreme northern edge of their range so they are constantly stressed there.  The one in St. Augustine has to be a couple of hundred years old and has withstood many hurricanes.  There are lots of big ones standing proud in some of our old growth bottomlands.  Walk south from the entrance of Freedom Commerce Center off Philips Highway into the protected area and you will see some magnificent specimens.  I think they like fairly wet soil.  There is also a cypress as big as a redwood back in there.

True, funny tree removal story:  We had some neighbors who had a big house on the St. John's River in San Jose.  There was a huge Magnolia tree between their house and the bulkhead of the river.  They started worrying about the tree blowing over on their house in a storm so they consulted one of those "tree surgeons" you talked about earlier.  Of course he convinced them to have the tree removed.

A big crane was brought in to remove the branches and trunk over the house since the tree was not accessible to heavy equipment any other way.  All went well until the biggest section of the trunk was lifted.  It was so heavy that the outrigger feet of the crane sunk into the ground and the crane toppled over, dropping the trunk through the roof of the house, the ceiling, the floor, the downstairs ceiling, the dining room table and the bottom floor floor like a pile driver.  I was standing across the street watching when it happened and felt the ground shake.  Magnolia is HEAVY!

Of course the "tree surgeon" was uninsured and immediately left the scene, leaving behind the rented crane and the magnolia trunk in the house.  It took them days to get it out of the house and caused even more damage.  MORAL:  If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

[Dog Walker]

We planted one of the Treaty Oak seedlings about four feet tall in out front yard in Southside about ten years ago.  When we moved it was close to twenty feet tall and ten/twelve inches in diameter.  Live Oaks can grow fast in the right circumstances!  Maybe the Treaty Oak specimens have some genetic advantages too.

[reednavy]

Northern limit? The Hackberry is seen throughout the Great Plains and Midwest as well, where it is native.

http://www.gardenguides.com/taxonomy/common-hackberry-celtis-occidentalis/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtis_occidentalis

Of course, there are rarities in each species.

[Sigma]

Of course the "tree surgeon" was uninsured and immediately left the scene, leaving behind the rented crane and the magnolia trunk in the house.  It took them days to get it out of the house and caused even more damage.  MORAL:  If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

right on.  Also be wary of "tree surgeons" combing the neighborhoods right after a storm.  Most of these guys have no license, no insurance, and are not bonded in anyway.  If they get hurt on your property ..... well, you know.


I do like hackberry as well.  Never thought of planting one though. 

[fieldafm]

Does anyone know when the inventory list is going to be released?  It would be great if they had some cherry blossoms like Hanjin was able to acquire.

I dug up a crape myrtle in the front yard and about to replace it with a 5 gallon lagustrum(however its spelled).  I agree with Sigma and FSU on the crape myrtles.. not a big fan.

I'm looking at a good shade tree for the back yard.  Live Oaks get too big as I want to plant it near a shed in the backyard.  Does anyone know if I'm going to have the same problem with a Drake Elm?  Going to work I drive by tons of Drake Elms in the southside area that were planted a few years ago and they don't appear to grow as fast or big as the Live Oaks do in the same period of time.

If anyone in the riverside/avondale/fairfax/ortega area is going to this but do not have a truck, pm me I'd be glad to offer free space in the bed of my truck as long as you're willing to get up early!

[reednavy]

Drake Elms are relatively fast growers, of course not as fast as the native Live Oak. They're inexpensive, easy to maintain, and have roots that don't run along the surface. I have on from the plant sale last year and it has grown 2 feet since then.

[Sigma]

Does anyone know when the inventory list is going to be released?

There's an ad in todays paper, though their website should tell you.

And you should be fine with a drake elm or river birch close to the shed.  The good thing about the river birch - buy a container that looks like there are 2 or more sprouts coming out of the ground.  You can split these and get several trees for the price of one!

[fieldafm]

Thanks Reed and Sigma!

[fieldafm]

The inventory list has been added to their website today!
http://greenscapeofjacksonville.com/index.php/events/view/23rd_annual_florewing_tree_sale/

[fieldafm]

Reed, Sigma, et al.... I picked up a Japanese Magnolia at the sale on Saturday... I started digging where I wanted to plant that particular tree and (as feared) came across piping for my sprinkler system.  Do you know what the root structure is like for this tree?  The pipe is about 10" below grade.  Should I pretty much abandon any thought of planting anything short of perennials or shrubs in this spot?

[Sigma]

I would not plant directly over any pipe or conduit.  If you can adjust a foot or so on either side you should be ok, as most root systems will grow around obstacles.  Japanese Magnolias do not get too big so I don't think the root systems would cause a problem.  I was forced several years back to run irrigation pipes "through" some large oak roots.  I've never had a problem.  But planting directly over a pipe is a no-no because the tap root goes straight down.

I bought several trees Sat myself.  What a crowd - and I got there at 7:30.  I bought bald cypress, red maple, and river birch.  My neighbor bought some live oaks and bald cypress.  None have gone in my yard as I have too many.  We went and planted them all in our neighbors' yards(with permission of course).  Some of our neighbors are new, others are elderly who have lost their trees due to age or storms.

I'm working on getting some treaty oaks donated for community improvement and will let you know if that happens.