If it were me, I'd choose the Royalty Crab. For a small yard, I think it's the smallest of the trees offered. It also has the added bonus of spring flowers.

I like the purple leaves of the Schubert chokecherry, but they do sucker and inevitably will contract black knot, which will look like dog turds hanging off your tree. Not terribly nice to look at.

A spruce or pine will engulf a small yard in 20 years. I'm not sure how big the Brandon Elm gets, but first find out if it's sterile or not, because a mature elm tree can send forth thousands of seedlings each spring.

So on that note, my vote is still for the crab :o)

Laurie

Out of your list I have Prunus virginiana ÂSchubertÂ, it does sucker, but theyÂre easy to prune off at the base when they appear. Colourful foliage and the showiest variety of common chokecherry.

I love my Colorado Blue Spruce, great shelter belt trees for acreages. But yes, they do grow tall and wide in years to come.

I don't have Royalty Crab, but I have seen it in town, it's a beautiful front yard tree. I would for sure pick that one if I were you.

Sharon

Laurie has a good point, the Royalty crab is a smaller sized tree to begin with but, if it's like other apple trees, you can probably prune the heck out of it if you want to keep it a more manageable size yet. ItÂs probably some chance of it being prone to some apple tree diseases, but each type of tree has itÂs potential problems. I think all you can do is try to keep a tree healthy and hope for the best.

Not sure about the Mayday tree, though IÂm sure youÂve done some google searches on it. My neighbors have a Shubert chokecherry bordering their yard and my yard. ItÂs burgundy leaves and smooth grayish bark are attractive. They just need to trim it a bit because it does seem fairly wide for itÂs height (though every tree needs trimming I suppose.)

I have a couple of Swedish Columnar aspens (prunus tremula ÂerectaÂ), but about 30 feet from the house. Not sure about the invasiveness of the roots, but I didnÂt want to take chances. They supposedly sucker if stressed and stress can be anything from drought to bugs (they tolerate dry but prefer moist). Mine have done very well, but I attribute this to them being in a low moist spot. On the plus side, they grow tall (30 feet?) but only 3 to 6 feet wide), so would fit in a smaller yard. If I had to choose IÂd pick the Aspen over the Towering Poplar, it has smaller finely toothed leaves that flutter in the wind and the new growth is often tinted reddish.

I have a huge spruce in my tiny front yard. It was planted long ago (not by me) and is out of proportion to the house so IÂm thinking of removing it next year. If your front yard is only 20 feet wide, you would think they would recommend a tall and narrow conifer instead, maybe Brandon cedar. Not everyone wants to give up their entire front yard to a tree.

Brandon Elm: One site I visited said "a more compact form of American elm. Weak branch angles make it susceptible to splitting from wind/heavy snow loads. Tolerates urban condition but susceptible to some diseases". One site said resistant to Dutch elm, the other said susceptible, so take your pick. I think I read itÂs resistant. They donÂt mention it being seedless but regardless, apparently this is still a large tree. Apparently there is another elm out there, Discovery elm, about 30% smaller in size and which is resistant to dutch elm and most of the seeds that fall donÂt germinate as easily. Still, you can tell the effect that Dutch elm disease has had on planting elms. Most nurseries donÂt even offer elms anymore, at least not here.

Glen

Sounds like they were getting a deal somewhere - maybe castoffs from somewhere! LOL

As far as the aspens go, we have them by the dozens here. They're fine in the bush and we've never noticed a root problem with them, BUT they reseed like mad! There are seedlings all over the place here. Mostly we just mow them down or pull them out of the vegetable garden - they come up easily when they're small. But no, i wouldn't plant one on purpose. :)

DO NOT get the Royalty Crabapple. It is VERY fireblight susceptible. Why they're even offering it is amazing, as barely anyone here in Calgary sells them anymore, being almost totally supplanted by the Thunderchild Crabapple.

I'd get the Schubert/Mayday. They do sucker, but only if you haven't given them enough water. There's quite a few in the house lots around me and they look great and I haven't seen one sucker here. Black knot does happen very occasionally but you just need to prune off the branch and throw it away carefully.

They also have the most wonderful fragrant blossoms in May/June. And the cherries are edible.

Hmmm, it seems like a lot of these trees do have problems. I didn't realize that the Royalty crab was that susceptible to fireblight. Maybe that's why when I checked my Lois Hole book, they didn't have it.

In Brandon, they planted 100's of the Schubert chokecherry trees down the boulevards, and now one by one they are being cut down due to the black knot fungus.

Can I now change my vote to the Mayday?! It's again, not a huge tree and will have spring blooms.

I guess your decision may be about finding the lesser of all these evils..........

Could you not order something off of their list and plant it, but then mysteriously after midnight some time, the tree metamorphasizes into something you really want???? ;^)

Laurie

The Mayday tree is lovely in spring, which may be why it's so popular, but here in Alaska, they've learned that it's also seriously invasive in our climate. The trees are spreading out of Anchorage neighborhoods and popping up everywhere in the surrounding woods, so if you are concerned about planting a potentially invasive species, you might want to look elsewhere.

Another issue that might make you think twice -- a young moose keeled over dead in an Anchorage yard this year from cyanide poisoning, believed to be from eating the fruit (actually the pits of the fruit) of the Mayday!

You people are fabulous. Thanks to your collective heads-up, I did some in-depth poking around and discovered that nearly all of these trees are on Alberta Agriculture's "To be strongly discouraged" list! Only the evergreen offerings have a green light, and given the problems of the other offerings, I'm now suspicious of those too *LOL*

Ab-Ag has to say:
- Schubert and Mayday Chokecherries, strongly discouraged because of black-knot. The City of Red Deer has proscribed them outright for that reason.
- Royalty Crabapple, strongly discouraged for fire blight
- Brandon Elm, strongly discouraged for weakness in strong winds, finickiness about soil quality, and prone to a host of pests and diseases, including DED
- Towering Poplar and Swedish Columnar Aspen, discouraged due to black aphid infestations, susceptibility to Bronze Leaf disease, and heavy suckering habit.
- Quaking Aspen, discouraged from planting within 50 feet of buildings or infrastructure, due to invasive root system (personal experience with this, it's not funny!)

Lordy! With a list like *that*, what's a gal to do?? -- fire off an email to the developer, contractor, and City Engineering department Environmental Services division. I won't win any friends with my whistle but I think Marcia is right: Looks to me like some contractor got himself a case-lot of banned trees and is trying to unload them on our (probably unsuspecting) land developer. I'm all for beautifying the community with trees, but not at the risk of introducing disease to our city, or the risk of damage to homeowners' homes and infrastructure. I never planned to put a tree in my front yard because all of my buried utilities run diagonally right through it!

Thanks again, everybody. I just hope we can catch this in time - the letter specifies contacting the contractor with your choices, within five days (from Sept. 13)

(Oh and we're setting aside money for planting a row of upright junipers across our back fence, in spring. Thanks!)

Oh geez...

I have five Swedish Columnar Aspens, and none of them have suckered. I got a few black aphids (on five leaves) on one of them but I just washed them off and they never came back.

The Chokecherries are a fine compromise. Yes, they can get black knot. But, for instance, nearly every tree in the Rose family is susceptible to fireblight, along with a litany of other shrubs. All genuses have their one or two killer diseases. It's just the way it works.

If it were up to AA, we'd all have steel trees :)

LOL there is a section of Portage Avenue, here in Winnipeg, that does have steel trees. They redid the sidewalk a few years ago and thought these would be like modern art. No branches on them, so basically just a dull grey steel structure with lights on them at night. They might look better at night, but terrible during the day (or at least not very tree like).

Shazam you have a point, in a way. What might be a problem disease for a tree in one area might not affect it at all in another region. Also, some years some problems might show up and no so much in other years.

Overall, though, I think most contractors (and city forestry departments) don't really give people much selection. They seem to offer trees that are commonly available, at least hardy in regards to temperature, and sort of "standard" issue. There's usually not anything "new" or "rare" these type of lists plus they don't seem to be taking into account the width of katze's front yard. I'm surprised Manitoba maple (boxelder) doesn't show up on the list.

No matter which tree you choose, if it doesn't work out maybe they would be open to you buying and planting what you want yourself.

Glen

If it were up to AA, we'd all have steel trees :)

Not so, Shazam -- AA offers suggestions for more suitable varieties of nearly every species. I included those suggestions in my letters. Our city hall is surprisingly effective and actually seem to know what they're doing. There's a strong environmental emphasis in my city, and they frown most sternly on anything that's likely to disrupt the environment unnecessarily, especially if it could be prevented.

Glen, I'm not so surprised, not now. I've been unable to find much information on the contractor. They certainly aren't one of the better-known names, they have no web presence at all and not even a yellow pages ad. What they do have is a Hotmail address. This is looking more and more like a fly-by-nighter looking to unload on some uninformed developer. As far as planting what I want, it isn't a condo community, but private lots. I own my entire lot. As long as I comply with city by-laws, I'm free to do with it as I please. That's why I'm surprised that this proposal was even made, being on front lawns. On the city-property swales, sure, but the now-private front lawns? Surprising and suspicious - you know what they say, if it looks too good to be true....
I did see the Portage Ave. steel trees last year and had a chuckle over them. They do look... odd.

Thanks all!

It's May 2007. I have just received an offer for a "free" tree planting on behalf of my community developer.
It sounds exactly the same as the one cited in the original posting on this thread. The same selection of trees. The same requirement to respond within five days etc.
And the contractor is nowhwere to be found. Their e-mail address is a generic one.
I noticed that quite a few of my neighbours have already trees on their lawns ready for being planted.
I have a lot of suspicions about the whole deal.
I'm wondering if anyone has more insight into what is going on here.
I suspect the contractor would indeed come and plant the trees and then charge the unsuspected residents for the cost of trees. The carefully crafted notice says the service is paid for and compliments of my community developer and there is no mention that the trees are paid for too.
And BTW, this a well established community, I don't even know why the developer would still care about investing into this community.

Any feedback on this matter will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hey Glen - I'm originally from Winnipeg, & know about those awful Steel Trees. Some "art", eh? I know the businesses don't like them - they have to pay for the lights @ night. siiiiiiiiigh. Kinda reminds me of the 3-panel painting that Winnipegers had to pay for because the city wanted "art" to represent Winnipeg........

I hate those trees, does anyone remember how much the @%$* things cost taxpayers in the first place? I don't, but for some reason 7 digits rings a bell.

I hope someone can enlighten Misik about the developer's trees. It sounds like a scam.