Best Trees For Calgary; Ohio Buckeye

     Looking for something exotic? Ohio Buckeye , Aesculus glabra, a member of the Horse Chestnut family is a great addition to any landscape.

Above, the natural range of Ohio Buckeyes, the state tree and moniker for people from Ohio known as "Buckeyes". How does this tree grow in our high northern plains environment? I don't know, hardy as hell I guess! It just goes to show that we should try almost anything to see if it grows here. There are quite a few Buckeyes in Calgary in public parks and peoples yards, they seem to grow here just fine for being from much higher growing zones.

     Maybe the first Ohio Buckeye in Readers Rock Garden in Calgary. These trees can grow up to 50 feet tall (15m) and wide but probably never that large in our climate. They have a five-pointed palmate leaf like all Chestnuts which is a nice contrast to the majority of our deciduous trees. Plant in a large yard away from too much heat or wind as the leaves can scorch, water well until established.

     Ohio Buckeye is one of the earliest trees to leaf out in the spring followed by large flower spikes.

     Here are a couple of Buckeyes in my neighbourhood in bloom around mid May.

     After flowering chestnuts develop through the summer. By around the end of August the spiny casing opens to reveal the shiny chestnut, if you have squirrels the nuts will disappear immediately! Even Magpies will eat the nuts. If you pick the spiney nuts before they split open and let them pop open indoors revealing the actual nut they can be grown quite easily just like Acorns which you can read about in the previous post, Burr Oak.

Here you can see a fairly large specimen, these trees make excellent shade and often have beautiful fall foliage ranging from orange to red which is very nice in our yellow dominated fall palette. These trees have interesting light coloured bark with very thick twigs on a fairly uniform rounded silhouette, little pruning is necessary.

     Despite their southern-midwest roots these trees thrive in Calgary. There is one at the base of the Centre St. Bridge on Memorial Dr., a few in Riley Park close to the Burns Rock Garden, Deerfoot Athletic Park and maybe in your own neighbourhood park or yard. Hardy, large flowering, great shade tree and virtually pest and maintenance free, if you have some space these are great specimens!

Best Trees For Calgary; Burr Oak

     Few trees live up to the Burr Oak's, Quercus macrocarpa, hardiness, beauty and longevity. Although quite common in Calgary these trees are quite interesting and as Wikipedia states "...withstands chinook conditions in Calgary, Alberta." These trees are named for the burr-like quality of the acorn casing, also called Mossycup Oak, as seen above.

     Burr Oaks are native to North America from South Eastern Saskatchewan south to the Gulf Coast of Texas North East to Southern Ontario and scattered populations East to New Brunswick, that said these trees are adapted to a wide range of climates and soil types. They are the hardiest of the White Oaks (White Oaks have rounded leaf lobes, Red Oaks have pointy lobes) and adapted well to the prairies because of extremely long tap roots and resistance to grass fires. 

     There is a wide variety of leaf shapes with this Oak, some of my relatives in Saskatchewan believe there are different species of Oak there but this is not true. There are two "clinal variants" or geographic variability such as the smaller leaf of the Burr Oaks of the Northern Plains as well as easy hybridizing with White Oak and eight other Oak species in overlapping ranges. Above, I collected leaves of Oaks as I passed down a street in my nighbourhood, as we can see there is a tremendous amount of variability! I'm going to guess that any native oaks in Saskatchewan would have the small leaves while the ones purchased at a greenhouse are probably from a different gene pool with larger leaves.

     I don't know when the first Burr Oaks were grown in Calgary but there are a few old specimens around in Elbow Park, Mount Royal and Crescent Heights, in recent times these trees have become common boulevard plantings all over the city.

These two Burr Oaks are in Crescent Heights, a neighbourhood that is just over 100 years old now, they are some of the oldest trees I've seen here and probably around 40 feet tall (12 m). You can also see the variance in fall leaf colour and change time, one is completely brown and ready to drop and the other is still green with a little yellow and they are side by side.

     I found an old photo of my dad, our dog Misty and the Burr Oak I wanted so badly, planted in this picture circa 1982. 35 or so years later...

I have turned grey, have a new dog and the tree is around 25 feet tall!

     Here are some young Burr Oaks in a public park in the late summer. These trees are very easy to grow in Calgary as they are adapted to growing on the Northern Plains, avoid planting in a wet area. Growth rates are slow to moderate but once established need little care, withstanding drought and needing little pruning. Oaks do not have flowers but male and female catkins that appear with the first leaves in spring, they are fairly late in leafing out in our area, late May, but provide nice shade through the summer. Fall leaf colour varies from yellow to brown and timing can vary from early fall to staying green until a hard frost. The undersides of the leaves are a pleasant silver-white adding some interest in the summer. These trees are virtually pest free and if you live in an area with squirrels or Blue Jays the acorns will be gone before you'd ever have to rake them up!

The bark is dark and deeply furrowed adding winter interest as well.

The winter profile of the Burr Oak, these trees have a fairly consistent oval to rounded form ideal for yards parks and boulevards.

     If you want more Oaks! Harvest acorns as soon as they are ready to drop off the tree or just as they have dropped on the ground, the acorns lose viability quickly so plant immediately! I used a deep seed tray here and some good potting soil. Poke the acorns about a 1/2 inch below the soil and water lightly. Find an out of the way spot in your yard that will get good snowcover and will not get trampled by dogs or people also cover with wire mesh or a cage to prevent squirrels they LOVE these nuts! This process is called "stratification" and most of our tree seeds need this process of several days of freezing weather to germinate. Keep moderately moist thru the fall and wait till spring...

Around the end of May or so the little trees should start sprouting and viola new oaks!

     

     If you're looking for a legacy tree that your grandchildren's grandchildren can enjoy this is it, these trees can live 300 to 400 years! It's a nice idea that something you plant today can be enjoyed by so many generations in the future, giving oxygen, shade on summer days and acorns for wildlife. Except for leaves to rake up these trees are practically maintenance free. So if you're looking for a shade tree or just a dependable tree that needs little from you this is for you. 

Best Trees For Calgary; Linden

          If you're looking for a beautiful, fragrant, mess free, shade tree, Linden is for you. Sometimes called Lime tree in England and Basswood in North America Linden is an attractive pyramidal shade tree easily grown in our climate. Linden is of the genus Tilia which means heart shaped referring to the leaves.

     There are a few varieties of Linden available in our area, mainly Dropmore, above, with its huge leaves and Little-Leaf varieties, Glenlevin and Corinthian. Also some varieties developed in Manitoba especially for our prairie climate Harvest Gold, Golden Cascade, and fast growing Norlin. Most of these trees grow to about 25' to 50' tall x 20'to40' wide although in Calgary I haven't seen them much over 25' tall. There are many of these trees in Saskatoon where they grow quite large and have naturalized a little too so we know it's not cold that slows them down!

     Lindens have a fragrant tiny flower in early summer described as somewhere between honey and lemon peel, followed by tiny nut like seeds accompanied by a ribbon shaped bract a little like a Maple wing which is another attractive feature through the summer. The fragrance is attractive to both humans and bees thus making this a very valuable tree in any landscape. It is widely stated that the flowers and sometimes leaves make a pleasant tea as all parts are edible. There were many uses for this tree in the past including lumber/ carving, Bast (from which we derive Basswood) a fiber derived from the bark used for fabric and also for honey. In Europe there are claims of Lindens as old as 1000 to 2000 years old so we know these are very long lived trees.

     I don't know why there weren't many Lindens in Calgary until recently, obviously they have been growing in Saskatoon for many years in a moderately similar climate. I recall seeing my first Linden in Calgary at the Prehistoric Park that was built in the 1980's growing happily amongst the recreated rockscapes. Years later my better trained eye for dendrology spotted this Little Leaf Linden variety, above, growing in Reader's Rock Garden, the biggest drawback is that we don't know the variety or year planted or where collected from, very interesting though.

     I spotted this row of Lindens in front of St. Mary's Cathedral in Calgary, they must be several decades old. Here you can see the typical straight trunk and pyramidal form excellent for streets and yards. These trees need little to no pruning are a great shade tree. Even though there are small seeds they are touted as being great for patios and decks and are very tidy and maintenance free. They should be planted in a site that is neither too wet or too dry, although this sounds "Goldilocks" I would say don't plant in a low spot or amend soil that has a lot of clay and as with most trees in Calgary water well when young.

     I'm glad the City is planting more Lindens around Calgary, the attractive leaves, fragrant flowers and beautiful shape add a lot to our landscape. Fall colour is yellow, given a long enough season of course, sometimes though the leaves do not change colour at all depending on the individual. The bare twigs are thick and dark making it attractive in the winter as well. These trees leaf out moderately early in our area and are listed as slow to moderate growth. I think they would be fine for a specimen tree in most yards and as we can see great for boulevards too. Undemanding and practically maintenance free make this one of my top recommendations.