prairie point

I felt surely that I would write something about trees by the end of the month so that I would have something to contribute to the Festival of Trees. Nothing seems to have happened though and the deadline is drawing near so it looks like I am going to have to force myself to write something. Not very imaginative I’m afraid but I’m going to tell you a little something about the trees we have in our urban outpost.

We have a lot of trees here, actually. Across the front we have three fairly large cedar elms. Cedar elms grow naturally in this part of the country but these were obviously planted. They are spaced evenly in a row parallel with the street, and there are no others like them on the street. Most other homeowners on this street who chose to plant next to the street picked live oaks. If they chose to plant closer to the house they usually picked live oaks too although sometimes magnolia and even a few pines. This house was built about 60 years ago and I would not be surprised to learn that our elms were planted soon after.

When we first moved here there were neighbors who had lived here from the beginning. However their memories were bad about such matters as when trees were planted.

There were other trees along the sides of the yard then too. Hackberries had volunteered to grow up in the privet hedges. It made the side yards very shady. But the old-timers sold off to younger folks with no appreciation of hackberries. There were five or six big ones on the north side that overhung the neighbor’s driveway and there were birds in the trees, which led to complaints. I’ve replaced them with a little redbud and a Vasey oak, but these are a little further in from the property line, as well as being smaller scale trees to begin with, so there will be no immediate problem of that type

The back yard is dominated by three large pecan trees. They are all of the variety we call native pecans, meaning they have small nuts with hard shells. The meat is full-flavored and more oily than some of the larger varieties, but still it often seems hardly worth the trouble to compete with the squirrels and blue jays for them.

Around the perimeter of the back yard we have what amounts to a huge hedge or living fence composed primarily of junipers and cherry laurels, both also native plants. They were planted by the original owners also and the cherry laurels were probably kept pruned into a hedge then. They were already getting tall when we arrived and now they are 15 to 20 feet tall which qualifies them as trees I think. They have black berries and pretty white flowers in the spring.

A number of hackberries still remain in the hedge in the back, as many as ten I think; although every year or two one will come crashing down. None have ever caused any damage but they can scare the cats.

Two however continue to amaze us with their determination to remain standing. We call them the “cross” trees because of the peculiar way they lean away from each other. One appears to have been cut more than halfway though at a distance of about 5 or 6 feet above the ground. Maybe someone changed their mind partway through the job or was called into dinner or interrupted for some other reason and never returned to finish the job.

In addition they both have big rotted out areas that have been repaired with concrete. So evidently someone at some time wanted them to remain. We have left them too, even though they are not the best-looking trees we could imagine.

In the interstices of this big hedge I have planted a few trees of my own choosing - a vitex, a big-tooth maple, a couple of yaupon hollies. And I’ve also encouraged a few interesting volunteers - a roughleaf dogwood, and an Eve’s necklace.

Besides being a visual barrier, the hedge has created a little ring around the back that is a small wilderness area.I think some people might call it a “wildscape.” It has the additional advantage of requiring little maintenance since it shades out any grass.

I hope you have enjoyed this little verbal tour of the trees in the yard. Maybe I will go into more detail about one or two of them in the future if there is any interest.