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snowguy716
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« on: June 01, 2010, 09:15:33 PM »

What is your favorite kind?

I have a big interest in trees.  I know, I'm a nerd.  And a tree hugger.  I love planting them and watching them grow and sitting under them in a hammock reading a book on a warm summer day.  There's nothing better than the smell of a pine forest as the wind whispers through the needles.

My favorite is Eastern White Pine.  They are the kings of the forest around here.  They can grow to 200 feet tall and live for centuries.  Unfortunately, we have done everything in our power to reduce this tree to a shadow of its former self.

Through fire suppression, hunting of large game that competed with deer, who love white pine seedlings more than any other thing, and the importation of white pine blister rust from Europe... the tree struggles to become dominant in Minnesota, thanks to the abundance of Quaking Aspen which grows rapidly and shades out pine in the absence of fire, the way overpopulation of white tailed deer that kill the seedlings, and the cool, humid late summers that are perfect for the maturation and spreading of the blister rust, which girdles the trees and often kills them completely.

Here are white pine trees left standing to act as seed trees.  The ground has been scarified in order to expose mineral soil that will allow the pine seeds to germinate and get a good start.  This, or burning of slash around selective cut areas (where large seed trees are left standing) is a sustainable way to regenerate pine stands.


My other favorite is equally endangered:  The American Elm.  It is such a graceful tree.  It is literally the perfect street/boulevard tree as it grows upwards into a massive vase/umbrella shape that leaves the bottom open while shading a massive area.  The strong wood resists breakage in high winds and it stands up well to salt and pollution.

Unfortunately, Dutch Elm's Disease has killed most urban elm trees in the U.S. since the 1930s.  Here in northern MN, our climate is too cold for the invasive European Elm Bark Beetle, which is the best vehicle for the spread of DED.  The American Elm Bark Beetle can still spread the disease, but many street trees and wild elms have survived thanks to lack of exposure to DED.



A street lined with large elms that have been protected from DED in Fargo, North Dakota.

My last one is the state tree of Minnesota:  The Red Pine (or Norway Pine as many call it here).  It is a hardy tree that grows in a straight form and is an exceptional self pruner (meaning that lower branches die and fall off quickly, nearly eliminating any evidence that they were ever there).  The result is a beautiful open forest floor dappled in sun.

Red Pine are the most planted tree for forestry products in Minnesota.  They are exceptionally drought tolerant, but almost require fire to reseed naturally since the seeds must fall on exposed mineral soil in order to germinate and are very shade intolerant.

Here is a mature stand of red pine (some 300 years old) at Preacher's Grove in Itasca State Park (the headwaters of the MIssissippi River).  A derecho storm system in mid July 1995 that caused major damage at our family resort all the way to Itasca twisted many of the 300 year old pines like toothpicks (it also destroyed 2 of our docks and sunk many boats and knocked down 14 trees over our half mile driveway).
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Torie
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« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2010, 09:47:38 PM »

Camphor trees are my favorite among larger trees. But my favorite of all going away is Japanese Maples. Their graceful limbs, and delicate leaves, and shape, and the hybrids with their colorful leaves, with Azaleas on the ground below, well,  that is one of the great joys that nature has to offer to my aesthetic sense.
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fezzyfestoon
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« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2010, 09:50:03 PM »
« Edited: June 01, 2010, 09:51:41 PM by Fez-bomb »

Good topic idea!  I'm fascinated by trees.  There are two gigantic locust trees in my backyard shading our deck.  I love those, but they shed a lot of crap.  I'd like to see the Redwoods someday, they are incredible.  The palm trees along streets in LA amaze me as well.  Oaks like the ones in the picture are cool, too.  There's a gigantic one downtown George Washington used to sit under.  I'm basically a huge fan of gigantic, widespread trees that create canopies.  There's a section of road down the street that is completely covered by trees very high above the road itself that I just love.

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Torie
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« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2010, 11:19:09 PM »

Good topic idea!  I'm fascinated by trees.  There are two gigantic locust trees in my backyard shading our deck.  I love those, but they shed a lot of crap.  I'd like to see the Redwoods someday, they are incredible.  The palm trees along streets in LA amaze me as well.  Oaks like the ones in the picture are cool, too.  There's a gigantic one downtown George Washington used to sit under.  I'm basically a huge fan of gigantic, widespread trees that create canopies.  There's a section of road down the street that is completely covered by trees very high above the road itself that I just love.



You might not know this, but those oaks in the pic are 300 years older than the house they frame. The house planned by the Frenchman who planted the trees, had to put the house on hold due to circumstances.
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Fmr. Pres. Duke
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« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2010, 11:25:53 PM »

Oaks. Charleston basicallly owns anyone else and  I mean it with every bone in my body.
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snowguy716
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« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2010, 11:55:04 PM »

we have a ton of Northern Red Oak and Northern Pin Oak around our cabin.. the northern red oak can turn an almost purple color in fall in good years.. the pin oaks turn deep red.. almost maroon.  They are stunning against the orange sugar maples, red red maples, and gold birch.

My grandparents live in a mature maple forest that is beautiful in the fall.  The most beautiful time/place in Minnesota is along the North Shore of Lake Superior in late September when the massive maple forests turn color.

This photo you can see the maples all turning with the Aspen/Birch/Spruce/Fir forests still green.


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StatesRights
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« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2010, 10:20:57 AM »

Duke and Fez are referring to Live Oaks, which have a tendency to rot in the middle and fall over on your house and car with little to no warning. They also grow like weeds, they are a pain in the ass to remove and the stumps keep growing back over and over, they're pretty though. I personally like either the dogwood or Magnolia tree. I have somewhat of an affinity for the Palmetto but they aren't always popular.
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fezzyfestoon
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« Reply #7 on: June 02, 2010, 10:29:00 AM »

Duke and Fez are referring to Live Oaks, which have a tendency to rot in the middle and fall over on your house and car with little to no warning. They also grow like weeds, they are a pain in the ass to remove and the stumps keep growing back over and over, they're pretty though. I personally like either the dogwood or Magnolia tree. I have somewhat of an affinity for the Palmetto but they aren't always popular.

Yeah.  Actually, Elon means oak tree in Hebrew and the campus is loaded with them.  It's a huge part of the school.

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Bacon King
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« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2010, 10:29:37 AM »

Live oaks are awesome:


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StatesRights
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« Reply #9 on: June 02, 2010, 10:34:40 AM »

They rot in that center area where the branches spread out, that's why many people don't know they're done until, flop, over on your roof, lol.
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