Zone Denial Year 3: Setbacks and Successes

13 years ago

Year 3 of my zone-pushing/denial experiments! Sadly -- as noted elsewhere -- I lost my fargesia rufa bamboo and my 'purple robe' r. pseudoacacia sometime during our long, long winter (mid-October to the end of April!)

RIP:

R. pseudoacacia
Fargesia rufa
Taxodium distichium

Frozen to the root line:

Catalpa speciosa (picutred)

Survived and thrived:

Celtis Occidentalis
Celtis tenuifolia
Morus alba
Rhus Typhina
Acer Saccharum

Experimental trees, 2013:

Aralia spinosa
Catalpa Ovata
Cladastris kentuckea
Chionanthus virginicus
Sassafras albidium (may not have survived the journey from 'down east'

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Comments (6)

davidpeaceriver__2b
Original Author
13 years ago
Mulberry (m. alba)
davidpeaceriver__2b
Original Author
13 years ago
Dwarf or Georgia hackberry (c. tenuifolia)
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don555
13 years ago
Good job on the white mulberry! I would have bet that one wouldn't have made it through the winter, let alone thrived.

I had a dwarf catalpa in Edmonton for a number of years but it never survived above the snow-line so after I had fun experimenting I took it out.
SouthCountryGuy Zone 4b-5 SE BC
13 years ago
While I have to look up which each are you are giving me some interesting ideas for putting some trees in my yard.

Would love to see more pictures of your beautiful trees. :-)

SCG
davidpeaceriver__2b
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks! It's been a lot of fun, although the process has (at times) been frustrating.

I grew both of my catalpa trees from seeds ordered from eBay. I decided that geographical source probably didn't really matter since the native range of these trees is probably limited to the upper South, and long-term survival in northern Canada is a dim prospect. This picture is of catalpa seedling 2013; the other catalpa, which froze to the roots, was planted in 2012. You can see how high the seedling got last year; the dead 'stick' in the background is last year's trunk.

I bent the Mulberry down to the ground last winter, but didn't cover it. I'm going to try to train the main trunk along the ground this year, and protect it during the winter. I hope that the tree will get hardier as it ages.

The Georgia/dwarf hackberry (c. tenuifolia) has been a surprise. I haven't done anything at all to protect it, and it seems to be doing just fine. It may help that my soils are alkaline, as it seems to be a calciphile; in any case, low winter temps don't seem to be as much as a limited factor as they do with so many other trees from the deciduous forest zone. I'd certainly recommend both of Canada's native hackberries for any gardener in zone 2 and 'above'.
weeper_11
13 years ago
Wow, good for you for trying stuff.

I get too depressed trying things that I know will eventually kick the bucket if we have a bad year or once they get bigger. But, I imagine some plants haven't been fully tested up north so it makes sense to at least try them if you have the funds and patience!