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why so many fastigiate trees?
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Posted by
hairmetal4ever Z7 MD (
My Page) on
Mon, Aug 6, 12 at 15:50
| Am I the only one that generally dislikes fastigiate trees of species not normally so narrow?
I don't mean trees that are typically columnar or narrowly pyramidial, I mean like the many columnar maples, oaks, etc out there.
I understand why they exist, but it seems that all the cultivars I see anymore are fastigiate/columnar. Am I the only one that dislikes them? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| People are living in smaller spaces. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I hate them too. I have Thuja "green giant" and think they're ugly, but planted them for screening sort of for lack of imagination. I am not going to remove them though, they'll serve their purpose eventually. I don't like the look of them but they will be background to desired plants. I like wide spreading large imposing trees, which is why I have oaks, London plane and a Beech. Maybe if I had to live in a small yard I would have to adjust to something else. Or not even bother with a tree. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| You should go to Tuscany (or Umbria, or Lazio). That could change your views on fastigiate trees. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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- Posted by whaas 5a SE WI (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 8, 12 at 10:52
| I used to dislike them as well and now prefer them in many applications. Nothing beats a shade tree where you need it but I don't want my yard shallowed whole by them as I like to grow conifers for winter interest. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| They work well as punctuation - I love to use fastigate beeches that way, for example, as they are still lovely in winter with their beautiful bark. Sometimes an upright form is exactly what the design calls for. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| very good point, fastigiate deciduous plants typically look terrible in winter - beeches would be terrific, I would say! |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| The beeches are expensive but so well-behaved (at least here if sited correctly) and slow growing and good all year that what they cost up front I feel like they save in the long run. 'Red Obelisk' is particularly delightful, and contrasts so well with green foliage when in leaf. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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- Posted by whaas 5a SE WI (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 8, 12 at 13:53
| I like the Oaks in winter as well. You have to be patient for them to put on substatial branching though. They look funny when young and some aren't pruned properly so they do look terrible even at an older age. Here are four nice choices...
Regal Prince (more commen but still nice)
Kindred Spirit (I believe is just a sister seedling of Regal Prince)
Chimney Fire (a bit more narrow and great yellow/rusty fall color)
Birthday Candle (great red fall color, holds leaves)
Crimson Spire (great red fall color, drops leaves) |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I'm not a big fan if you're looking for a specimen tree. I do think they can work for a specific task, however. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I liked the term punctuation. That's how I feel about them. They can make a statement and be very dramatic in certain situations, but as a general rule I don't like them in the landscape where other choices are options. Yes, I have several, including a beech. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I hate columnars too, they look artificial, unnatural. Aspen "erecta" is quite common around here, but I wouldn't ever plant one. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| This was an interesting post as it did get me thinking about fastigate trees and how I felt about them. I think that part of the reason that many people object to them is that they are often not sited very well. Sprinkling them all over randomly is not a good method, and placing them where a broader shape is called for just makes them look artificial as noted above. I think that from a design standpoint they are just harder to use. When I have used them, they have been added to a design that is mostly already built. As a specimen in the right place, which is generally around other trees and shrubs, not plunked in the middle of a lawn, or as a formal line (such as the Cupressus sempervirens in the Mediterranean) they can be wonderful, but as I now drive around and look at examples, many are mistakes. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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I would further expand on this. I don't think this has to do with the shape of the tree. I don't think as many people have trouble with narrow pyramidal trees (e.g., serbian spruce, young lebanon cedar, cupressus sempervirens) as they do with the fastigiate trees. I think it really is, in most cases, about the branching then about the crown shape.
Upward branches can look absolutely wonderful and natural (see, for example, zelkova carpinifolia). But it is true that the so called fastigiate, if left to their own devices (e.g. without corrective pruning), more often than not look just like what they are... mutants. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I happen to love them. I used to have a pretty good collection of fastigiate cultivars. including some rarer ones. I have thought a garden with many fastigiate trees planted closely together could create an interesting illusion. In some places the same ones get overused (i.e. Carpinus betulus cvs. and Acer rubrum cvs.), but there some very nice forms that aren't used enough (i.e. Liriodendron tulipifera 'Arnold' or Alnus glutinosa 'Fastigiata'). I don't have many here in Florida and probably will get the fastigiate Liquidamber ('Slender Silhouette') eventually. It is all a matter of opinion, I suppose. When it comes to landscape trends, the slim cultivars will always have utility in urban environments. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I also love them. Actually I'm surprised by the number of people who dislike them! Overused or not I wouldn't mind a couple upright hornbeams and I even like lombardy poplars. Maybe it's the villa with the italian cypress look that does it for me, I don't know. I don't like the urban look though. I feel like when they are used as a space saver in a tight spot it just makes everything look cramped. But give me a canal and line it with some poplars and give me a couple years to enjoy it before they die off and I'll be quite happy.... until I have to get rid of all the dead stumps and suckers I guess. I did rip out my fastigiate quercus roburs. The mildew wasn't something I wanted to deal with every year. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| I like them too and find them very useful. One of the best privacy screening trees for a narrow space that isn't an arborvitae is Carpinus betulus 'Frans Fontaine' - very graceful upward sweeping branches and a very dense twig pattern make it nearly as effective for screening out of leaf as it is in. Easy to find, virtually problem-free and with lovely golden fall color. FWIW, few of my design clients have had any objections to a fastigiate deciduous tree when they will adamantly put their foot down with regards to the omnipresent arborvitae. As with all plant choices, it is just a matter of taste. They wouldn't develop and sell fastigiate trees if there was not a significant market for them. |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| Have you been following certain queries posted this summer regarding property rights and pruning of the neighbor's tree? or the neighbor deciding to prune theirs? |
RE: why so many fastigiate trees?
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| They wouldn't develop and sell fastigiate trees if there was not a significant market for them...... generally agree with that premise, and it is probably true for fastigiate trees, as they are less likely to be found in box stores than in independent nurseries and to the trade for landscape operations. However, the day has arrived where box stores drive demand through their buyer's selections. Their clientele will pick through what is available and are sometimes oblivious there is anything else. |
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