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| Hi,
I'd like to plant a tree that doesn't grow real tall in a part of my beds that has fairly dry soil. I had a purple-leaf sandcherry tree in the spot that I'm referring to, but it only lasted several years. If anyone has any ideas what might grow well, please let me know. It is a very sunny area for most of the day during the growing season. If I can't come across a tree that would work, I'm sure that a butterfly bush would probably work there. Thanks,
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Fri, Sep 16, 11 at 21:34
| My butterfly bushes seem to suffer from drought before others in the flower bed they are in. My crepe myrtle is in thin dry crud soil and seems impervious to summer weather even though winter kills it almost to the ground. |
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- Posted by dan_staley 5b/SS 2b AHS 6-7 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 16, 11 at 21:51
| Define: o real tall TIA Dan |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Sep 17, 11 at 11:09
| i dont understand how your options are a tree or a shrub ... am i missing something here??? what do you want.. or better yet.. what are your expectations or needs??? and do understand .. that nothing is drought tolerant for a few years after transplant ... you must supply the requisite water ... until a plant established a root mass sufficient unto itself.. to BECOME drought tolerant ... you have to work pretty hard to kill a sandcherry .... or should i say.. just never water it ... nothing will work w/o proper aftercare .... of course.. we dont really know which one you had .... since it appears that there are a multitude of things commonly known as sand cherry ken |
Here is a link that might be useful: link
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| OK..let me try to clarify, since there seems to be some confusion. When I say I'm looking for something not real tall - I'm thinking in terms of 6-7 feet - which is what the purple-leaf sandcherry tree grew to. My soil is fairly dry (as opposed to soil that is fairly moist such as in low areas near water.) I don't know how to further define that. My area is mostly shale, and so when you dig down several inches you are often into rock. Ken - my 'expectations and needs" are basically to have something that will grow there. The sandcherry tree lasted a good number of years but little by little it started to lose some of the limbs and eventually died. Obviously it was kept watered until it was established. I'd like some sort of 'dwarf' tree, but also a woody shrub that would fill in the area would work also, which is why I mentioned the butterfly bush - which I find to be very drought tolerant. The area I want to plant in is right at the corner of the house, and so it is next to the intersection of the 2 sides of the brick wall. Growing around it are daylillies. |
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| The purple-leaf tree that I had is this one: http://treesandshrubs.about.com/od/commonshrubs/p/PurpleLeafSandC.htm Notice that it can be identified as either a tree or shrub. One thing that probably did not do it any good is that it was perenially attacked by Japanese beetles - which we tend to get alot of. The area that it was planted in is a southern exposure, and receives radiated heat from actually 3 brick walls - there is a wall slightly to the west of the bed that is part of an addition that juts off from the back of the house. In all of the southern beds, I've had to go with perennials that are all very drought-tolerant or at least those that are more conducive to xeric landscaping due to the intense radiated heat that comes off the brick and cement during summer. |
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| I find Bayer Advance sprayed on my purple-leaf sand cherries (2 of them) keeps the Japanese beetles from doing much damage. The one year I was late to the party with it, they got nailed hard. I started out to ask about Dwarf Chinkapin Oak, but that gets taller than what you're after. Almost anything called a 'tree' will, I'm afraid. Richard. |
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| Richard, Thanks for that tip. I checked out the Bayer Advance website and bookmarked it. If I do decide to put in another sand cherry, I will definitely make use of this product. I've already tried Liquid Sevin, but unless you use that at just the right time the damage can already be done. Keith |
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| Prunus x cistena are actually very drought tolerant, however they don't tend to live more than 10-15 years. Please do your self a favor and don't plant another one!lol! |
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- Posted by greenthumbzdude (My Page) on Sun, Sep 25, 11 at 21:47
| anything native to your state should be drought tolerant to some degree. |
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