Buying trees and other landscaping items

[GrrlGoalie33]

Originally Posted by MacDougalbry

Just noticed that a guy on a corner lot on my street is in the process of planting several large Swedish Aspens on the city property on the outside his fence (along his back yard). What is the deal with that, I thought it was a big no-no, but does the city actually ever bust anyone for doing this? (Just curious as I am on a corner lot as well.)

I don't think the city really cracks down on it, but if they need to dig up for any reason, they will and you are out your trees. The city will not pay to replace them.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by MacDougalbry

Just noticed that a guy on a corner lot on my street is in the process of planting several large Swedish Aspens on the city property on the outside his fence (along his back yard). What is the deal with that, I thought it was a big no-no, but does the city actually ever bust anyone for doing this? (Just curious as I am on a corner lot as well.)

There are bylaws, but they don't completely forbid you planting trees on the city property. A good example of this is the boulevard between the sidewalk and the curb. As long as you allow sufficient access points and don't obscure sightlines, you can plant your own trees or gardens along such property. However, those trees become property of the city, and they can cut them down at any time if they so choose. So if you're planning on planting trees in such a spot, you can protect the trees by filing an application through the tree protection bylaw. I don't know the whole process and you'll definitely want to talk to someone with the city before planting anything on such land.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

See if you can't find a landscaping/tree book that is written specific to Calgary. You might not be able to, but with Calgary being so large there's a decent chance there is something out there.

Research the specific plants you like before buying them...make sure you know what kind of light, water etc they will need before you buy.

Spend a little extra and get a more mature tree.

We killed a little red maple last year....a tree that is supposed to be nearly impossible to kill. This year, we spent $575 US on a more mature tree and it is doing much better. I also paid to have the tree planted by a pro, because I wasn't confident in my own process.

Believe me...money was a huge concern of mine, but I feel much better having spent the extra that I did.

Gardening under the Arch was written by the Millarville Horticultural Society.

And there are 2 books written by the Calgary Horticultural Society too, the Calgary Gardener and the Calgary Gardener II. All should be readily available to buy. Both Sunnyside Nurseries as well as Golden Acres Nursery and GreenGate Nursery have extensive book sections.

Personally, I much prefer to buy trees and shrubs on the small side. My experience is they are not set back as much as buying a large one. And while they grow, it is easier to prune them to a nice shape. Large spruce trees will do well if dug out properly with the truck that has the large spade, although they might not do much active growing for the first year or two.

In terms of nurseries for trees and shrubs, the major ones in the Calgary area are Sunnyside in the NW, Golden Acre in the NE and GreenGate in the SW. Sunnyside offers 2 year warranties, the others, one year. None will warranty cedars as they simply are not hardy in the Calgary area. If you want mainly smaller trees and shrubs, Edwards Garden Center in the NW, close to Sunnyside, has some as well. Also, Vales Nursery in Black Diamond has smaller trees and shrubs too, mainly the ones hardy for our area. Beaver Dam, south of Okotoks, on the west side of Highway 2, has a good selection, and the Saskatoon farm, almost directly east of Okotoks, on the east side of Highway 2, also has some. I do not know about the warranties offered by Vale's , the Beaver Dam, or the Saskatoon Farm. Most of the nurseries within Calgary warranty perennials for the first growing season, but not over the winter. Perennials would be those type of flowers and grasses etc that are winter hardy and come up year after year as opposed to annuals that you buy and plant in your baskets yearly. Be careful how perennials are rated for their growing zones. The same plant can have a different rating from different growers. I would not plant anything higher than a zone 3 in the Calgary area, in other words, buy for zone 1, 2, or 3, although some zone 4 will grow if you can create a microclimate for them, and perhaps mulch them over the winter. I live in the Priddis area, one of the hardest areas to garden in the province. Personally, I am really careful about looking at the temperatures they are hardy to, rather than how the growers rate them for a growing zone. Many plants that might do well in a sheltered yard within the confines of the city will not make it over the winter in my area, hence, I am very careful to buy anything that is not hardy to at least -35F. I have created a few micro climates, against rocks that I have incorportated into my large perennial bed and by mulching with straw, I have been able to grow borderline plants, such as perhaps coryadallis etc.

[photon]

I'm getting landscapers to design and estimate our yard right now, and I've sent them that Swedish Columnar Aspen as a suggestion (I can't remember which trees they had).

I guess when I get the plan I should post the trees and shrubs they suggest here to find out if they are good choices. I know they had a crab apple tree suggested for the front but we already have one (one of the ones that flowers pink first thing, it's already done).

[MacDougalbry]

A good ornamental tree for a smaller yard is a Japanese Tree Lilac (Ivory Silk Lilac, pruned to tree form.) This tree flowers late in the season, long after most other trees are done.

As for planting on city property, I did research this. Supposedly, you can get a utility line assignment and an excavation permit to do this, but when I inquired about this, the permits department had no clue what I was talking about.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by MacDougalbry

A good ornamental tree for a smaller yard is a Japanese Tree Lilac (Ivory Silk Lilac, pruned to tree form.) This tree flowers late in the season, long after most other trees are done.

As for planting on city property, I did research this. Supposedly, you can get a utility line assignment and an excavation permit to do this, but when I inquired about this, the permits department had no clue what I was talking about.

Well, you will have to continually prune a lilac to keep the tree form, since their natural form is a shrub. I think maybe the one I am thinking of might be the same one as you have mentioned here, as I have seen it pruned in the tree form, but mine is called Korean or Miss Kim. The one I have though is just about to flower right now, is not a late flowering variety. Beautiful small heart shaped leaves, does not sucker compared to most lilacs, and has to be the most fragrant lilac I have ever smelled, and I have pretty well had just about every lilac there is. It is very very easy to shape into a nice round shape, keeps that shape with minimal care, and does not get real large, hence nice for around your foundation, or in beds of mass plantings of shrubs as it will not overtake the bed, even nice in perennial flower beds as it does not get real large.

The columnar aspens are not that hardy in our Chinook zone, they can take cold, but in a very warm winter with a lot of Chinooks, which is the case here, they can start to dry out, perhaps not the whole tree, but once they do start to dry out in patches, they look pretty ugly and the end is near.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by photon

I'm getting landscapers to design and estimate our yard right now, and I've sent them that Swedish Columnar Aspen as a suggestion (I can't remember which trees they had).

I guess when I get the plan I should post the trees and shrubs they suggest here to find out if they are good choices. I know they had a crab apple tree suggested for the front but we already have one (one of the ones that flowers pink first thing, it's already done).

Usually when an apple tree ( and I include crabapple in that description ) flowers pink or deep pink, it is of the ornamental variety. They will have those very small little apple shaped fruit, usually deep purple, that are way too bitter to eat. On the other hand, they attract a lot of birds. If on the other hand the blossoms are very pale pink or white, they are the edible variety. There are edible apples, crabapples and applecrabs that are hardy for our area. Some apple trees tend to have a horizontal spreading shape and I would steer clear from them unless your yard is very sheltered. Their branches are more prone to break with the wind and are very prone to breaking with a spring snowstorm such as Calgary just had this last week. If you want a gorgeous tree, it is ornamental though, and from wayyyyyyyyyy back, sort of a Heritage variety, try to find the Almy. Gorgeous flowering tree, does have more of a horizontal shape, is ornamental and can support itself better than some of the edible fruit trees.

[MacDougalbry]

The Japanese Tree Lilac is completely different than the Miss Kim or Korean lilacs. It doesn't require that much pruning.

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en...ee+lilac&gbv=2

[redforever]

I would suggest an Amur cherry tree. This is not the type of cherry tree that bears edible fruit as in the Okanogan. BUT, it is very hardy, and has beautiful bark. The bark looks like a birch, in other words, it sort of has that flakey peeled look, BUT, it is a burnt rust color. It is a tree, but grows in a bunch form, it will have a trunk around 2 or 3 feet and then branches out evenly from there. I have seen them all over, but if you want to see large specimens of this tree, they have a lot planted in the Willowpark Shopping center. I have one in my yard and I live in the Priddis area, so I would suspect, you can grow them anywhere in Calgary. They easily grow 20 to 30 feet but retain a nice clumped form and are minimal care in terms of pruning etc.

Instead of an individual cherry for fruit, they flower like a MayDay tree, mine is in full flower now. So in other words, they have cluster flowers that hang down in grape form. They will form very small little cherries for fruit, like a MayDay, not messy like a MayDay though. Not edible fruit for humans but attracts birds. Because they grow in clump form, they have a lot of branches that will support bird feeders. I hang around 6 birdfeeders in mine every winter and suet logs etc. Then I can watch the birds which are very abundant where I live.

[stang]

www.treetime.ca

I bought about 55 trees from them, they are about 10 inches tall. I payed just under $150

I live on an acerage and I wanted to fill in som eof my property line so i bought a shelterbelt, they seem to be doing alright. I bought the hybrid poplars because they dont have a gender so they wont spread the fuzz, and they are way out on the edge of my land so no chance of my foundation getting wrecked.

They also grow really fast and that was important to me.

[cral12]

Thought I'd give this thread a well deserved bump...

[Northendzone]

Saskatoon tree farm south of the city.

Some neighbours around me have trees from Walmart and Costco have seem to have done well.

[Smartcar]

I'd recommend Eagle Lake Nurseries, I bought several trees and cotoneaster bushes a few years ago, and they were fine, reasonably priced with delivery. I don't know much about it, but I expect that being raised in this area would make them hardier.

The tree I bought a few years before that from Golden Acre died the first year, I got another one for free but it was a pain to take it out and plant the new one.

[Doodlebug]

Does anyone know a place to buy illuminated planters/lighted pots in Calgary? Would love to pick up a couple for the deck this summer.

[Suzles]

Originally Posted by Doodlebug

Does anyone know a place to buy illuminated planters/lighted pots in Calgary? Would love to pick up a couple for the deck this summer.

Lowe's (McKenzie) has some. $88 each if I remember correctly.

[rohara66]

In the process of landscaping the backyard and I'm looking for some suggestions for smaller trees for my tiny backyard.

Have approximately 30'x30' backyard between the house and detached garage, planing on having a 15'x15' patio off the house and we have a 5' URW running down the one side from the house to garage.

I've already planted 3 columnar aspens to screen the patio area from the one neighbor so I don't really want to use anymore of them but I'm looking to plant another tree in each back corner of the yard (one on the URW which I'll rip out later if need be). Thinking a flowering crabapple in one corner (pink spire or thunderchild?) and a dakota pinnacle birch in the other (on top of the URW). The crabapple tree will grow pretty wide which should offer some variation to the yard and the birch is fairly compact, columnar style tree but a little more bushy than the aspens.

Considering some larger shrubs in place of the birch on the URW just in case but I can't image the roots for large shrubs much less invasive than a tree but I dunno.

And any suggestion for shrubs to line up against the garage to hide it somewhat?

[Chingas]

^ What is URW?

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by Chingas

^ What is URW?

Utility right of way.

Where all the buried utilities (gas, power, cable, phone) are pulled off the rear into the meters/house.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by rohara66

In the process of landscaping the backyard and I'm looking for some suggestions for smaller trees for my tiny backyard.

Have approximately 30'x30' backyard between the house and detached garage, planing on having a 15'x15' patio off the house and we have a 5' URW running down the one side from the house to garage.

I've already planted 3 columnar aspens to screen the patio area from the one neighbor so I don't really want to use anymore of them but I'm looking to plant another tree in each back corner of the yard (one on the URW which I'll rip out later if need be). Thinking a flowering crabapple in one corner (pink spire or thunderchild?) and a dakota pinnacle birch in the other (on top of the URW). The crabapple tree will grow pretty wide which should offer some variation to the yard and the birch is fairly compact, columnar style tree but a little more bushy than the aspens.

Considering some larger shrubs in place of the birch on the URW just in case but I can't image the roots for large shrubs much less invasive than a tree but I dunno.

And any suggestion for shrubs to line up against the garage to hide it somewhat?

Cotoneasters if you want something extremely hardy and fast growing.