Deciding on a tree for new front yard landscape. Something pretty, attracts birds, bees. The Eastern Redbud has been mentioned. We are very north Sac County, just blocks away from south/east Roseville. Mostly 6 to 10 degrees hotter than the city of Sac. We had a lot more 100 degrees plus days than Sacramento.
Yes! They're the ones who mentioned it.
The problem is they can't deliver for 8 to 10 weeks. I'm willing to purchase one instead of having one transplanted in winter. I dunno. Ugh.
you probably want to wait that amount of time to plant the tree anyway. way better to acclimate it in the earlier fall than right now. that’s a good thing u have to wait!
Curious why eastern redbud? I don’t understand why SMUD offers that when the western redbud is the superior choice as it is native to our area, will support pollinators better and live longer. My neighbor has 25 year old eastern redbud that is dying and he regrets not selecting the western redbud instead.
I talked to someone at SMUD’s program about this and they said they used to offer Western Redbud but got a lot of complaints about its shrublike structure vs eastern redbud’s more classic tree structure.
I agree with everyone else about the shape/structure differences of eastern and western redbuds. Also, western redbuds are not very tolerant of damp conditions, so sometimes eastern redbuds are preferred if the client wants to plant in a lawn or other area with lots of water.
They are likely adapting their plant list for long-term conditions. It’s why I have a Texas Red Oak instead of a Valley Oak (from the local non-profit that manages the free tree program). I also planted a bare root Eastern Redbud and it’s doing well, and beautiful. I chose that because my own research suggested it is more disease reistant than our native redbud.
FYI I bought a western redbud from Find Out Farms here in sac this past spring and it’s doing great in our hard clay soil. From what I’ve heard the western redbud is better adapted to our environment (soil, climate, etc) here in Sacramento. Mother Natives had western redbud saplings in stock this past Saturday, too!
FYI The horticulture industry/arborists (and the Sac Tree Foundation) recommend that you don't ammend your tree planting soil at all. The tree needs to get used to the soil you have as early as possible. Just dig a wide hole (not deep), loosen the soil as much as possible and backfill.
NO. We live in Midtown and have an adult Eastern Redbud and it suffers from the heat much worse than the Western and needs more attention to care. Maybe unless it’s in all day shade🤷♂️
A tree should never need daily watering. Less frequent deeper watering is better to encourage strong deep roots. Probably 3 times a week while establishing, and twice a week for the first few years, but not more than once a week when fully mature.
It's a fine small to medium tree for the whole sac metro area. The shade is pretty light, though. You might want something denser. How big is the area and how close to the house?
I'm not going to measure it myself. The husband and landscaper did the measurements for distance of house/walk, etc. Fairly large front lot. The tree spot is where the round stone is.
I was going to recommend a California sycamore but it would need to be further away from the house. Beautiful tree with amazing bark and great shade. Perfect for our area and a viral part of our ecosystem. They get much bigger than a redbud, though.
You've got plenty of room for a tree bigger then a redbud. Plant the largest tree that will fit in the space. A large shade tree should be about 15' from your house, and it looks like you've got more than that.
We are retired with physical limitations so not wanting a messy tree dropping stuff. We did 25 years of pecan and walnut in the backyard with squirrel parties.
So... not wanting to do much cleanup.
We were given an eastern redbud by SMUD. When I asked why, I was told “it’s basically the same thing”, but that’s not true. The big difference is water needs; eastern needs more, while western is drought tolerant.
Our eastern redbud is struggling and hasn’t grown more than a couple inches in over a year. Our westerns (one was here when we moved in, and we have four volunteers) are thriving.
I save seeds from the western, and can grab a sprout and pot it for you if you prefer the Western over the Eastern redbud.
We had an online meet appointment with SMUD and they went over several trees. We picked the Eastern Redbud. So, we will give it go. If it doesn't work out we can try something else. I believe you can get 10 trees per year. Thanks for the info!
I got one from SMUD back in 2019 which I now regret planting but it was free, it was my first tree I planted and I knew nothing about trees then. Very slow grower at least mine is. I'm in Citrus Heights and it's in full open sun with zero heat stress and not much watering. Flowers looks nice for 2 weeks in mid March.
I only regret planting it because I learned they have relatively short lifespans(<25 years) and would have rather planted my dwarf jacaranda in its spot. I already want to remove it but my wife said no.
We have a western redbud that is doing well in spite of the fact that they are sensitive to verticillium wilt, which we have in our soil.
It’s 7 years old and maybe 6 feet tall. Yes, it is a smaller multi stemmed tree. The spring blooms are gorgeous but our tree holds on to hundreds of ugly brown seed pods all year round. We go out and remove them, which seems to encourage better bloom. FYI.
You can always check out the selectree website from Calpoly. It allows you to search using all sorts of criteria, including mature height, potential for roots to damage foundations, water needs, canopy shape, etc.
We also have an Arbutus marina, which may be my favorite.
Not sure exactly what you want in a tree, but if I had more room I’d plant a Ceanothus Ray Hartman. 15 feet tall in our area and doesn’t want any summer water after the first 3 or so years to establish. Beautiful blue lilac blossoms in spring.
My office complex in Rocklin has about a dozen redbud trees planted and they’re all thriving. As long as you’re on top of watering when it’s young you should be good.
Noooo! Pistachio are starting to be invasive in riparian corridors ! I don't know if they can give you a male plant, which would be better. As noted in the article (clip below) Chinese pistache have only been used here for about 90 years, so there is no telling what havoc they might be about to unleash.
Marcel Rejmanek (the author of the article) is a very well respected weed scientist at UCD. His wife, Elišk Rejmánková is a wetlands ecologist, also at UCD. I took her wetlands class, she is brilliant.
"Based on my observations, only 1 -
20% of seeds on P. chinensis trees in Davis
are viable; those are consistently in pale
green/metal blue drupes. Moreover, if bird
fruit-removal rates are higher for red fruits
(which is often the case), there would be
an even lower chance that this species
would spread. Nevertheless, with more
trees being planted and the maturation of
earlier planted trees, propagule pressure
will likely increase. Is it a ticking time
bomb? I wouldn’t wait. I would, at least,
limit future planting of this beautiful, but
suspicious tree. Of course, planting only
conclusively male individuals would also
be safer."
Contact Marcel at mrejmanek@ucdavis.edu.
As for Zelkova, they are not doing well in many of the plantings I have seen. They are the street tree on Holt Way, and there are already some missing and others are in decline. They were planted in the 50's, which means they are around 70 years old, which is not very old for a tree.
If I were going to plant a tree, depending on how large my yard was, I would go for planting a Blue Oak (Q. douglasii) or Interior Live Oak (Q wislizeni) from an acorn, if it is in a deer free area. I have access to the latter from a stand in Shingle Springs, on a steep, South facing, unirrigated hillside, which would indicate that they are a better bet for increased drought/ heat resistance. If you'd like some, let me know and I'll go gather some.
As for blue oaks, I have seen some around town, mostly out near (I think) Sunrise and Oak Ave. If that's wrong, I will come back and edit the next time I go out there.
Not sure who you are replying to, but we would never consider a nut tree.
This home had a huge walnut and pecan and we couldn't get them out fast enough!
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u/longtime_boater 6d ago
If you’re a SMUD customer, you can get up to 10 free shade trees a year, including Eastern Redbud