Today the honeylocust “Skyline” is to be planted in the parkway by the nursery. I’ve marked the location with a sign – 4′ from the street curb and about 7′ from the driveway, similarly to the thornless, seedless honeylocusts in the parkway in front of my house.
I’m hoping this will provide continuity between the lot and the next-door lot on which my house sits, which has 2 honeylocusts planted in 2015. Ordinarily I might try to plant a 4th honeylocust in the parkway, but the huge stump left from cutting the sweet gum prevents that – for now at least – and probably for many years to come.
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)
Instead, I’ll plant a small red buckeye in the front yard instead of the parkway. I was fortunate to find one at a local nursery in a small container, and I’ve been keeping it until the lawn is established enough to plant it without being too much of a mess. I’m starting early to be able to work in the shade, which at this time of year and sun angle lasts until about 9am. I have a a tarp to hold the soil from the hole and keep it out of the surrounding new grass. I dig a hole as deep as the container and twice as wide. Because I’ve been watering the grass every day, the soil is moist and very heavy. When the hole is dug, the tarp is too heavy to drag. I plant the buckeye so that its root flare is even with the ground and most of its branches are pointing in to the lot, since it’s only 8′ from the sidewalk and the neighbor’s driveway. I fill in the hole, and then the tarp is light enough to drag off the lot and up the driveway – but it’s still so heavy that I have to take a couple of breaks before I get it to the back garden where it can sit and kill some weeds while it dries out. I water the new little tree with about 4 gallons, which should be plenty since the soil is damp. Later I’ll mulch it.
I first saw a red buckeye in Washington Park. The park had just replaced the bridge over Fayette Avenue, cleaned out the streambanks north of the spillway into the Jacksonville Branch (aka Littles Creek), and regraded and planted the slopes. The red buckeye was about 8′ tall and covered with gaudy bright pink flower bundles. I knew it was a buckeye thanks to the 5-fingered leaves, but I had to look it up once I got home. The larger and more common Ohio buckeye has yellow flower panicles. Red buckeye blossoms attract hummingbirds and butterflies.
The red buckeye is listed as a desirable urban tree in the “Arboricultural
Specifications Manual” from the City of Springfield Urban Forestry Commission. I’m grateful they included multiple native options on the list – those trees should be easy to grow and provide food and shelter to our native wildlife, birds and pollinators. At an anticipated maximum height of 15-20′ and a spread of 15-30′, it would make a good small yard tree for any 40′ wide urban lot, although you’d need to take into consideration that it may drop fruit, which, once peeled, results in the “lucky buckeye”, a smooth round-ish pit that is said to bring good luck if you keep one in your pocket. However, buckeye trees, including fruit and seeds, are poisonous, and I’ll need to keep it picked up when the fruit drops.
Stealth Skyline Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos)
The nursery was supposed to call around 8am to let me know when they will arrive to plan the honeylocust, but the buckeye is planted and it’s nearly 9:30, and I have to go to work. I try to keep an eye out for them, but it’s a busy day, and when I take a break and go out to check on the buckeye, I’m surprised to find it’s been planted already! It’s in just the right spot with a huge ring of mulch about 4′ in diameter. But I have questions: did they water it? What kind of care does it need? How big was the root ball (I couldn’t tell in the nursery, it was covered up.)
In addition, they did me a “favor” and put the leftover fill dirt atop the stump, which I had previously cleaned out. Now I’ll have to clean that out again. I remove all the tags and the plastic ties that I suppose are intended to hold the tree upright, attached to a bamboo pole. The plastic ties have already started to leave marks, and I don’t want them to further cut into the bark. When I remove the pole, it’s rotted at the bottom and holding up nothing, so it’s fine to remove it. The tree is probably 7′ tall but it seems pretty sturdily situated, so I don’t bother staking it. One of the other honeylocusts ended up leaning away from the old sweet gum and had to be firmly staked for a year before it started to grow straight.
But at least both trees are planted, and they look great. It feels like big progress.