Shade Tree Recommendation

DSMCy

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Anyone ever bought a tree online?
I've been looking at this company, that appears to be based out of North Carolina.

They seem legit and their prices are much lower than what I've seen at local nurseries.
I'm always leery of "getting what you pay for" though.
 

mkadlmkadl

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Dec 5, 2017
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I have a Norway Maple about 50' on the south of my home and 30' east of the Driveway. Great shade and lets the sun through pretty well in the winter. I like the winter solar heat shooting underneath my overhang on the house. I planted it at 6' I kept the forks to a minimum and aggressively pruned No branches less than 12' off the ground. The dry weather (I believe) has sucked the moisture away and caused thinning bluegrass in my yard. That was just last summer now spring though. Never has happened before. They may develop a shallow root system which I am guessing may become a problem.
 

BoxsterCy

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Haven't been walkabout on campus in decades but there used to be a grove of ginkos that included the females in front of McKay. Ancient species so separate sexes. They produced a fruit that smelled like dog poop. These days anything in the nursery is a clone of a male tree to avoid this, but man did those stink.

I inherited a really nice little ginko when I bought this house. It turned into a good one with a single leader as straight as a telephone pole.** It has grown pretty fast after it got firmly established, maybe 2-foot a year. Must like my heavy clay soil as do the neighbors big oaks.

Edit: Downside is the heavy leaves in the fall. Most years they fall in a single evening/morning after a hard freeze. Whether green or yellow they are thick leaves and not dry at all, they weigh a ton. And since they aren't dry at all they are a pain to get out of anything like evergreen shrubs or ground covers.

ginko leas cf scale.jpg


** Ha, telephone pole, now that's sort of 20th century sort of thing now.
:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:

BoxsterCy

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Sep 14, 2009
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Minnesota
Anyone ever bought a tree online?
I've been looking at this company, that appears to be based out of North Carolina.

They seem legit and their prices are much lower than what I've seen at local nurseries.
I'm always leery of "getting what you pay for" though.

I'd never buy online especially from a southern nursery outside our climate zone regardless of the hardiness of the species/variety. Same for the big stores like Home Depot, they are okay for garden plants or maybe an experiment with a shrub but I'd never buy a tree there. You get what you pay for and I've never bought a tree I didn't pick out myself at Bachmann's or Gertens here in the Twin Cities. Full disclosure, I used to be a landscape architect before I sold out and went into project management and bureaucrat stuff so I am pretty fussy. I am the guy that buying a single Japanese Yew shrub and dragging six of them out into the isle looking them over and might pass on all of them.

Not directed at you, but it's always amazed me how peeps can buy a $475,000 house with $100K of cars in the garage and buy a $50 tree at a big box store as their investment for a yard or street tree.
 
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jdcyclone19

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Apr 14, 2017
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Iowa
Haven't been walkabout on campus in decades but there used to be a grove of ginkos that included the females in front of McKay. Ancient species so separate sexes. They produced a fruit that smelled like dog poop. These days anything in the nursery is a clone of a male tree to avoid this, but man did those stink.

I inherited a really nice little ginko when I bought this house. It turned into a good one with a single leader as straight as a telephone pole.** It has grown pretty fast after it got firmly established, maybe 2-foot a year. Must like my heavy clay soil as do the neighbors big oaks.

Edit: Downside is the heavy leaves in the fall. Most years they fall in a single evening/morning after a hard freeze. Whether green or yellow they are thick leaves and not dry at all, they weigh a ton. And since they aren't dry at all they are a pain to get out of anything like evergreen shrubs or ground covers.

View attachment 98311


** Ha, telephone pole, now that's sort of 20th century sort of thing now.
:rolleyes:

Yeah, definitely need to make sure you get a male but they are a super hardy tree and that is not a maple/oak/elm.
 

mkadlmkadl

New Member
Dec 5, 2017
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Anyone ever bought a tree online?
I've been looking at this company, that appears to be based out of North Carolina.

They seem legit and their prices are much lower than what I've seen at local nurseries.
I'm always leery of "getting what you pay for" though.
Bought a weeping mulberry at Sooner Plant farms. https://www.soonerplantfarm.com/
 
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cycloner29

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Dec 17, 2008
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Haven't been walkabout on campus in decades but there used to be a grove of ginkos that included the females in front of McKay. Ancient species so separate sexes. They produced a fruit that smelled like dog poop. These days anything in the nursery is a clone of a male tree to avoid this, but man did those stink.

I inherited a really nice little ginko when I bought this house. It turned into a good one with a single leader as straight as a telephone pole.** It has grown pretty fast after it got firmly established, maybe 2-foot a year. Must like my heavy clay soil as do the neighbors big oaks.

Edit: Downside is the heavy leaves in the fall. Most years they fall in a single evening/morning after a hard freeze. Whether green or yellow they are thick leaves and not dry at all, they weigh a ton. And since they aren't dry at all they are a pain to get out of anything like evergreen shrubs or ground covers.

View attachment 98311


** Ha, telephone pole, now that's sort of 20th century sort of thing now.
:rolleyes:

Our neighbor has a tree like this and the leaves are like sheep... when one drops they all follow. I should have taken a time lapse of it last fall. They seem to shed their leaves later and when they fall they usually have a lot moisture in them and don't mulch well. I went over one year to help them and we filled like a dozen or so trash bags in no time.
 

2122

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Mar 21, 2021
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Anyone ever bought a tree online?
I've been looking at this company, that appears to be based out of North Carolina.

They seem legit and their prices are much lower than what I've seen at local nurseries.
I'm always leery of "getting what you pay for" though.
I've bought lots of trees online. Arbor Foundation and eBay mostly. Try it, it can be fun. Never know if things'll work out. I have a pair of pitch pine I bought as seedlings on eBay and they're kicking butt. Dawn redwood too. And Rocky Mountain douglasfir. This is a good time to buy online, before it gets too warm. Trees in a box can get hot and dry and die in transit. Best to purchase on like Saturday, so they ship hopefully Monday - don't want a box sitting at post office over a weekend.
 
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Gunnerclone

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Jul 16, 2010
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DSM
Haven't been walkabout on campus in decades but there used to be a grove of ginkos that included the females in front of McKay. Ancient species so separate sexes. They produced a fruit that smelled like dog poop. These days anything in the nursery is a clone of a male tree to avoid this, but man did those stink.

I inherited a really nice little ginko when I bought this house. It turned into a good one with a single leader as straight as a telephone pole.** It has grown pretty fast after it got firmly established, maybe 2-foot a year. Must like my heavy clay soil as do the neighbors big oaks.

Edit: Downside is the heavy leaves in the fall. Most years they fall in a single evening/morning after a hard freeze. Whether green or yellow they are thick leaves and not dry at all, they weigh a ton. And since they aren't dry at all they are a pain to get out of anything like evergreen shrubs or ground covers.

View attachment 98311


** Ha, telephone pole, now that's sort of 20th century sort of thing now.
:rolleyes:

Botany 201 was a great class at ISU. Just walking around campus identifying trees. Ginkgos were always fun and easy to identify.
 

Bipolarcy

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Oct 27, 2008
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The acacia tree is pretty shady ... literally. It has a sprawling canopy that could stretch 50 feet or more and huge limbs and it grows very fast, especially in wetter climates. The only problem is it's considered an invasive species and the wood is brittle, so the huge branches could easily break and it often outgrows its root system, making it susceptible to falling over. So maybe a "peace" offering to that annoying neighbor?
 

Bestaluckcy

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There are some mature Tulip Trees at the park in Mapleton, Iowa. Very impressive tree when mature. There was a recommendation for Sycamore. The few that I have had experience with dropped too many sticks and limbs. There are some of those at the park in Toledo that are otherwise impressive for view.
 

jdcyclone19

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Apr 14, 2017
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There are some mature Tulip Trees at the park in Mapleton, Iowa. Very impressive tree when mature. There was a recommendation for Sycamore. The few that I have had experience with dropped too many sticks and limbs. There are some of those at the park in Toledo that are otherwise impressive for view.
Ah, good ole Mapleton. Haven't been there for a quite a while. Family always use to get together at Beef n Brew.
 

VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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Brooklyn Park, MN
Haven't been walkabout on campus in decades but there used to be a grove of ginkos that included the females in front of McKay. Ancient species so separate sexes. They produced a fruit that smelled like dog poop. These days anything in the nursery is a clone of a male tree to avoid this, but man did those stink.

I inherited a really nice little ginko when I bought this house. It turned into a good one with a single leader as straight as a telephone pole.** It has grown pretty fast after it got firmly established, maybe 2-foot a year. Must like my heavy clay soil as do the neighbors big oaks.

Edit: Downside is the heavy leaves in the fall. Most years they fall in a single evening/morning after a hard freeze. Whether green or yellow they are thick leaves and not dry at all, they weigh a ton. And since they aren't dry at all they are a pain to get out of anything like evergreen shrubs or ground covers.

View attachment 98311


** Ha, telephone pole, now that's sort of 20th century sort of thing now.
:rolleyes:
How can you tell if the ginko is male or female when buying? I have heard of people being assured they are buying a male and then dealing with pods several years later.
 

cycloner29

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Dec 17, 2008
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Ames
There are some mature Tulip Trees at the park in Mapleton, Iowa. Very impressive tree when mature. There was a recommendation for Sycamore. The few that I have had experience with dropped too many sticks and limbs. There are some of those at the park in Toledo that are otherwise impressive for view.

The only cool Sycamore tree is the one by the intersection of University and Lincolnway. Other than that, I hate them. Sticks, the huge leaves that once they fall into your yard they are never going to blow away again, and those god forsaken round seed heads that must hold a millions seeds that have all the fuzz on them. They are like a bomb when they hit the ground.
 
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