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How Not to Choose a Tree

© Susan Ward

One of the things that makes spring so spectacular is all the blooming deciduous trees. Through the window of the room where I write this, for instance, I can see a young golden chain tree (Laburnum X watereri), completely covered with long yellow panicles. In bloom this tree is such an arresting sight that people walking by stop to admire it.(For pictures of a golden chain tree, see http://oregonwine.org/dlmark/lithiapk/lp...

I wanted a golden chain tree from the moment I first saw one years ago. When we moved into our current home, I decided that the front yard would be a perfect place for one, so my husband and I drove round to all the nurseries looking for one, until, at last we found 'the' tree which we took home and immediately planted in the prepared hole. (If we hadn't found one, I suppose we'd still have a tree-sized hole in our front yard.)

Planting a tree in your yard is not something to be taken lightly. The golden chain tree, for instance, isn't for everyone; it's highly poisonous, a consideration if you have small children. There have been cases of people dying from eating the seed pods and the roots are considered to be especially dangerous as they taste like licorice. (I don't understand how they know this, if the tree is so poisonous.)

Fortunately for me, the golden chain tree is not a large tree; it will grow to about 25 feet eventually. What if my gaze had fastened on a Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), for instance, a tree that can easily reach 50 feet? The Aesculus x carnea 'Briotii' is particularly gorgeous with its upright, 10 inch deep red flowers in spring, but it grows 40 feet tall and 20 feet wide eventually, which would have the same effect as boarding over my front windows. You've all seen those properties, I know, places that you walk by wondering if there is a house in there somewhere. There's a great example of this in Ray R. Rothenburger's 'Tree Placement on Home Grounds'; you can't even see the house in Figure 4 because of the trees in front.

Definitely just picking a tree you like the looks of is not the way to go. In the article mentioned above, http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/ag... Rothenburger advises that you should determine the positions where trees will serve the greatest benefit and select trees that will fit locations and fulfill needs best, and

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