...ben ??? whos...ben ???

i really don't know what your point is...

don b

Monk's name is Adrian.
Now what rhymes with "ten"......
hmmmmm,
I think we know who, but we have an "open" relationship here, no cheating that way. Especially where conifers and heuchies are involved.

Dave, hon, you must get more rest. :)

He is in several other forums...and just as delightful no matter where he is.

-Babka

Aaw I thought this was going to be a thread about the merits or not of the Liquidamber tree as a shade tree for hostas lol. well as I'm here any thoughts?

(I sometimes get lost amongst your cultural References, nevermind.)

Denis

NO WAY, and no merits. Those damned Liquidamber balls are horrible...everywhere. Fall color is the only thing those trees have to offer.

Mountainyman- Nothing cultural here...Bragu has just fallen off the edge.

Be aware that Ken LIVES in Adrian, MI. That isn't his last name.

-Babka

Thanks Babka, I really hadn't considered the "balls", a friend has one in her garden and has never fruited, they are beautiful in autumn, we don't have many native trees that give good autumn colour and am loath to admit to you folks that I planted a Autumn blaze maple last year but not in my main hosta to be garden! I do need to plant some trees to the south and west of my new hosta area to shelter from wind more than sun,

lol poor Bragu! I knew that about Ken, thanks, crikey ect. ect. lol

Denis

glad you were able to cipher the simple riddle.

i just thot ken's comments were insightful, as i almost always do.

so many forums, so little time.

remember, those of us that have fallen off the edge ... are the ... only ones ... that have the road map back ... to the here and now!

bwah hah hah!

_~

dave

lol... what a hoot...

i think in the perennial forum ... someone started a post about favorite plant names..

i suggested such .. said in my head with a whisper and an echo ...

the link in an incredible tree ... if you have the space... not really hosta friendly at all ... i dont know if it gumballs ... as mine isnt old enough ...

the crushed leaves remind me of turpentine ,.. playing under my dads work bench when i was a kid ... mind you.. not abusing anything... just the smell of woodworking ....

thx for the homage.. i didnt know you were a poet .. lol .... [might still be wondering about that... lol]

ken

ps: monk the tv detective.. or monk the anne perry character??? or some other monk??caedfail???

I'm pretty sure it was Rasputin.

Steve

Ah, Steve always comes up with the greatest of all.
But I think he referred to Monk as in Adrian Monk, the TV detective, my favorite much missed except for reruns. Don't know of the Anne Perry Monk, Caedfail is a good guess too.
Never thought of those. Your exposure is far greater than mine.

I love Babka's expression, "fallen off the edge."
Perfect. I smile as I see rolling of eyes as the term is applied.

Our native hardwood tree is called the sweetgum and it drops...THROWS spike covered balls down on my hosta, tearing the leaves. Just as bad as pecans, only the squirrels don't bury them in pots like they do the nuts.

I would recommend a great tree, the ginkgo biloba, get the male tree, because they say the female has an unpleasant scent in the springtime. It is very slow growing, great street tree also because the roots go down and no messing with the pavement nor house foundations and I guess that means no messing with hosta either. I have two, both small, won't get shade from them in my lifetime.

I like to think that when you plant a tree, you are growing for the future. That was true until I sold my little MoccasinLanding cottage and the guy who bought it (he bought every house on the street) bulldozed every plant, every tree. I was so shocked.

Thelonius...Monk

Thank you Mocc, the Ginkgo is a gracefull tree and is something out of the ordinary and does have good autumn colour.

When I bought my 2 acre property there was only one native tree on it, I got planting and five years later I stopped counting when I passed 300 and I'm still planting, they are still fairly small but some have really shot up. I know that I am not going to see them as mature specimens but I can enjoy the wildlife they attract, the bird population has increased hugely.

There is a Greek proverb I like that says,

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in"

(I am only 38 lol)

Denis

Mountainyman- Not to sound too motherly on the Mothers Day, but my kids are older than you. Oh dear. You will live to see a lot of shade for your hard work, kiddo. ;-)

If you plant those liquidambers you'll be sitting in the shade getting pelted. They were planted as street trees here in the mid to late 50's for their color. Now there is a move to remove them, but since there are so many here, only a certain percentage will be allowed to be cut down, and not all on one street at once. I go for speedy 2 mile walks every morning and have a couple times twisted my ankle on those HORRIBLE spikey balls. When my kids were little they constantly got flat tires on their bikes from those spikes. Surely you can find something else for Fall color. Out here we do Chinese Pistachios which turn red/orange/yellow to rival the hardwoods back East.

I've never seen a Liquidamber (except a young one) that doesn't have those balls. I just looked that up and sure enough they are Monoecious (yes, that is a new word for me too!).

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: All them trees got balls

Well Happy Mothers Day Babka! yes some of the faster growing ones I will be able to shelter from the rain under in my lifetime lol. but some are sooooo slow like the Irish Oak and Yew. The season of growth is quite short too being this far north and the weather and poor wet soil and and........lol.

I didn't realise that the "balls" were such a menace or so sharp as to puncture a bicycle, Its possible that my friends tree isn't old enough to fruit. I will do some further research into other trees with good colour, but it is difficult to find the information on certain trees regarding roots for hostas so posts like Mocc's above is invaluable.

Thanks

Denis

Denis, I'm glad it is helpful to you.

I was wondering about the plane trees, which were so often planted in Paris and London. I wanted to see what their range included, so I looked it up and discovered that like many other types of trees, modern civilization is not being kind to them.

See the link below about the fungus which WWII US troops brought to France, especially in the Canal du Midi area where the trees so very old are now being felled. Thought you might like to read up on that, in case you consider planting a disease free tree without that fungus. So far it hasn't killed the ones in London at least. The picture included in the link below gives a good scale of the tree size, because they DWARF the man and child on the path.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plane trees in France

Bollocks!

Don B.

I know, Don. I never heard of that fungus problem. I wonder if they caught athlete's foot from GIs in hedge rows? But, not up to me to suppose.

Mocc, This is the first I'm hearing about the planes, that is so sad, trees are in real trouble everywhere.

The European Ash is virtually wiped out on continental europe by a fungus and is seriously affecting the UK and now has spread to Ireland. this fungus is spread by wind borne spores and also cheap imported saplings from europe. It seems there is little hope of stopping it and a search is underway to try and find a resistant tree to repopulate the continent.

Sudden Oak Death which is affecting your western states badly is also here in europe and has also been spread by the nursery trade and is affecting Oak, Larch, Beech,Sweet Chestnut and Horse Chestnut, the host plants for this disease are Rhododendrons,Pieris and Viburnum amongst others.
We have seen the disappearance of the elm trees during the 80's and it seem likely that many others may go too. I never got to see a healthy Elm. It is very depressing and I know you guys have many problems affecting trees over there too. All this at a time when we need more trees more than ever.

Don, I agree with your sentiments, good to know that word is in use over there too :)

Denis