lawn irrigation is rarely sufficient to get water down thru the root mass planted ... and your gorgeous lawn much be watered ...

but the soil circles around your tree look very dry ...

tkae a hand trowel and dig a couple holes gently around each tree.. AND FIND OUT about moisture 3 to 6 inches down.. if dry.. put the hose on a trickle.. and water them very deeply to make sure they are fully hydrated for winter ...

in the altenative.. lack of mulch is making it look very dry ...

i hate spellchuckeruppers ... im sure you typed cultivars ... and look what it did ... cultivar is a hort term for cultivated varietals ....

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cultivar+define&t=ffcm&ia=definition

ken

Looks great. It's always awesome to get such robust growth from such a young tree.

@ken no lawn irrigation here. Also first year having a chemical free lawn! Used to hit it with a weed and feed a couple times a year. I cut it high which helps keep moisture in and weeds down. Yeah mulch has disappeared over the summer between critters digging and cutting the lawn. All my trees survived with only a couple deep waterings this year. I don’t believe in babying them and we had some decent rain this summer. I’ll be adding some new mulch soon.
@ l Clarke thanks !

Jim,

Your trees look good despite having a rough year with the heavy snows and a hot dry summer. I would definitely get some fresh bark mulch at root zone and occasionally water them until ground freezes. It takes 3-5 years to develop a good root system on a transplant.

I don't have any of the cultivars you posted but plan to purchase a blackgum to replace a dying 80yr old magnolia. Where did you purchase your trees? Thinking of a wildfire or possibly an afterburner, red rage , or firestarter. Was at a nursery in New Hope that carried a variegated cultivar( Sheri's Cloud) but was hesitant to purchase.

Thanks,

Will

Hey will I got there at tree authority in perkasie. Awesome place !

Thanks Jim, I'll check them out next time I'm in Bucks County.

Will

I am originally from Bucks County, Pa but I have been living in central NJ for a while now. I love Nyssas. I only have one mature tree which I got as a young plant from a native plant nursery. This tree has done well but unfortunately doesn't get much of the fantastic red fall color the tree is famous for.

Hopefully your blackgum will eventually look like this fine specimen on a PA lakeside.

Ripe fruits taste like little lemons.

The grove of Nyssa sounds awesome ! It’s definitely an underused tree I hope to see gain popularity !

I suffered about a quarter inch of die back on the leader and 2 branch tips this winter. First year the leader lost close to an inch and almost every branch had some die back. Updating for people who search old threads like I did.

Wildfire is the one that usually has issues with die back. Green gable has not had those issues.

Grab gable

Green gable ^*

Hello James- how has been the fall color on your Green Gable and Wildfire?

Green gable great fall color ! Wildfire doesn’t get any fall color. The leaves just turn brown late in the season. It has spring color which is nice and unusual. Also some tip dieback the first couple winters.

Can you upload a photo of your wildfire and greengabke now? Perhaps one from summer and one from fall?
I’d be curious to see how the two cultivars look now!
Where’d you get your green table btw?

This is one of our 5 wildfires. It’s the only one that didn’t lose its central leader tip, and kept a straight trunk. It was just planted this spring.
I wish I had planted the green gable cultivar instead…

Wildfire is a great tree! I had no winter die back and it was a frigid winter with lots of snow in Pennsylvania. I had plants with dieback that have never had dieback before. I think once it became established dieback stopped. Fall color for me doesn’t exist with wildfire. I lost my central leader on my green cable during a high wind storm. I also have a David Odom aka afterburner. Wildfire has probably tripled the size of the green gable and I planted them the same year. Wildfire has great structure. Green gable has a nice solid red fall color. David Odom was probably planted 3 years after green gable and is about its size. So wildfire and David Odom have quicker growth. David Odom has the best fall color. I’d say it resembled the straight species with orange, reds and purples. This is one plant where the straight species has better color. I think the cultivars may have better structure. Anyway I would regret your decision. But also now if the time to change your mind. I personally couldn’t commit to the same of any tree in my yard but that’s just me.

Wildfire

Green gable

David Odom aka afterburner. This wasn’t the ideal tree. Root bound and not the straightest. But it’s hard to find. Found one that wasn’t for sale yet but the guy agreed to sell it to me being that I knew exactly what it was

Hi James, thanks uploading more photos!

The upright branching of the green gable I feel is nicer than the “wild” branching of the wildfire (in my opinion). I feel it won’t need as much pruning to keep the symmetrical shape.

And the main reason I wanted the Tupelo trees is the hardiness and the fall color. If wildfire has no fall color, then that’s a real bummer for me…

I read the green gable is a slow grower, but hopefully it catches up in the end when all the trees are mature?
Schmidt site says wildfire and green gable should end up the same size..

Btw, I thought in 2022 your wildfire had issues with tip die back, but now in 2026 seems you green gable had more dieback issues over the years?

I have a lot of space so planted 5 wildfires last April. But I’m thinking of changing out the 3 wildfires in front for green gables.

Here’s the row of 5 wildfire.
And my straightest wildfire (the only one delivered without the leader tip dieback).

No dieback on the green gable just a snapped central leader in a big wind storm that damaged a lot of trees and large shrubs in my area. Not a bad idea. Me personally if I had that much room I’d plant as many different cultivars as possible and also a straight species which still has the best fall color in my opinion.