{"id":3200,"date":"2019-10-31T00:12:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T07:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-832\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T13:11:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:11:01","slug":"on-selecting-cladrastis","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-selecting-cladrastis\/","title":{"rendered":"on selecting Cladrastis"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am trying to help my neighbors select trees for their front garden. The trees will be in a parking strip that doesn’t have any structures near it or any overhead lines and it is on the north side of a fairly large 2-story house. We live in an old neighborhood with very large, grand trees. One tree I thought might be a contender, which is approved by the city (Portland, OR), is Cladastris kentukea<\/em>. My only concern is that the seed pods might be messy. The neighbors themselves were thinking of aspen (nostalgic for them, as Coloradoans), but I didn’t think this was a good idea. What do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I checked in a few places, and the main thing that might be disappointing is that in the Pacific Northwest, Cladrastis kentukea<\/em> doesn’t flower reliably (although that solves the small trouble of seedpods, I guess!). Local tree expert Arthur Lee Jacobson says the following, in his book Trees of Seattle<\/em> (2006):
\n“In nature this is an uncommon, even endangered species. It has been recorded to 87′ x 23′ x 96′ wide, and has reliable bright yellow or even yellow-orange fall color. Its heartwood is also deep yellow. Uncommon in Seattle, Yellowwoods are unreliable as flowering trees: their white flowers appear full force in some Junes, but are absent or weak in most years. They have no other faults except a branching habit prone to breaking up; careful pruning can help with this.”
\n(The Seattle-dwelling specimens of this tree which Jacobson lists are between 23-60 feet tall by 4 to 8 feet wide)<\/p>\n

Below are links to information and images, from Oregon State University. This tree looks glorious when it flowers! Provided the spot is well-drained, and has no history of verticillium, to which Cladrastis is susceptible (see the link from SelecTree below for details), it seems like a great choice.<\/p>\n

OSU<\/a><\/p>\n

SelecTree<\/a><\/p>\n

As an argument against aspen (Populus<\/em> species, usually P. tremuloides<\/em> in our area), Arthur Lee Jacobson mentions that they tend to sucker from the roots. The SelecTree<\/a> site mentions twig and dry fruit litter, high allergen count, and numerous pest and disease problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am trying to help my neighbors select trees for their front garden. The trees will be in a parking strip that doesn’t have any structures near it or any overhead lines and it is on the north side of a fairly large 2-story house. We live in an old neighborhood with very large, grand trees. One tree I thought might be a contender, which is approved by the city (Portland, OR), is Cladastris kentukea. My only concern is that…<\/p>\n

Continue reading on selecting Cladrastis<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[927,334],"class_list":["post-3200","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-cladrastis-kentukea","keyword-populus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}