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Able Tree
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Washington State
Leyland Cypress Trees:
- Grows up to 3-4 ft. per year!
- Drought tolerant
- Feathery soft texture
Leylands are the most popular privacy tree in the U.S.A
They grow very fast and thicken to create a solid wall.
Its feathery texture is soft to the touch.
Stays green all year-round, giving you complete privacy.
Birch Tree:
Both species of birch are fast-growing pioneer trees which readily colonise open ground. Silver birch is the faster growing of the two, and also the taller, reaching a height of up to 30 metres, whereas downy birch seldom exceeds 21 metres. As pioneer species, they are short-lived, with typical lifespans being between 60 and 90 years old, although some individuals can live up to 150 years. The trees are slender, with their trunks not normally exceeding a diameter of 40 cm. at breast height.
Birches are deciduous, and before their new leaves appear in spring the twigs and buds exhibit a characteristic reddish-purple colour, which is especially apparent after rain. The new leaves emerge in April and are bright green at first, with the colour darkening to a duller green after a week or two. The colour changes to yellow or brown in autumn, with the colours becoming more intense after sharp frosts. Silver birch leaves tend to turn a brighter yellow than those of downy birch, which are usually dull or brownish. The leaves are dropped at the end of October or early November, although this can be earlier, and the appearance of the new leaves in spring later, at higher elevations, where the climate is harsher.
Maple Tree:
| Identifying Characteristics of Sugar, Black, Red and Silver Maple. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Leaf | Bark | Twig | Fruit |
| Sugar Maple | 3-5 inches wide; 5lobed (rarely 3-lobed); bright green upper surface and a paler green lower surface; leaf margin without fine teeth (compare with red and silver maple). | Young trees up to 4-8 inches with smooth gray bark. Older trees developing furrows and ultimately long, irregular, thick vertical plates that appear to peal from the trunk in a vertical direction. | A somewhat shiny, brownish, slender, relatively smooth twig with 1/4-3/8 inch long sharply pointed terminal bud. | Horseshoe-shaped double-winged fruit with parallel or slightly divergent wings. Winged seed approximately 1" long. Fruits mature in fall. |
| Black Maple | Similar to sugar maple but usually 3-lobed (sometimes five); often appears to be drooping; often with a thicker leaf and lear stem (petiole) than sugar maple; usually with two winglike or leaflike growths at the base of the petiole (stipules). | Similar to sugar maple but usually darker and more deeply grooved or furrowed. | Similar to sugar maple but twig surface with small warty growths (lenticels, which are not raised much above the bark surface in sugar maple) and often more hairy buds. | Similar to sugar maple with, perhaps, a slightly larger seed. |
| Red Maple | 2-6 inches wide; 3lobed (occasionally weakly 5-lobed); sharply V-shaped sinuses; small sharp teeth along
margin. Mature leaves have a whitish appearing |
Young trees up to 4-8 inches with a smooth light gray bark, developing into gray or black ridges and ultimately narrow scaly plates. | Slender, shiny, usually reddish in color; terminal buds 1/8-1/4 inch long, blunt, red; odorless if bark bruised or scraped. | V-shaped, double-winged fruit about 1/2-1 inch long. Fruit matures in spring. |
| Silver Maple | 5-7 inches wide; deeply clefted; 5-lobed with the sides of the terminal lobe diverging toward the tip; light green upper surface and a silvery white underside; leaf margin with fine teeth (but not the inner edges of the sinuses). | Silvery gray on young trees breaking into long thin scaly plates that give the trunks of older trees a very shaggy appearance. Considerable red is seen in bark pattern as scales develop. | Similar to red maple but bruised or scraped bark has a very fetid or foul odor. | V-shaped, double-winged fruit 11/2 to 2 inches long, with widely divergent wings. One of two seeds present is often poorly developed or aborted. Fruit matures in spring. |
Fruit Trees:
Apple Tree:
It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 3 to 12 metres (9.8 to 39 ft) tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternating arranged simple ovals 5 to 12 cm long and 3–6 centimetres (1.2–2.4 in) broad on a 2 to 5 centimetres (0.79 to 2.0 in) petiole with an acute tip, serrated margin and a slightly downy underside. Blossoms are produced in spring simultaneously with the budding of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five pettaled, and 2.5 to 3.5 centimetres (0.98 to 1.4 in) in diameter. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5 to 9 centimetres (2.0 to 3.5 in) diameter. The center of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five-point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds.
Pear Tree:
In a wild state the Pear is but a small tree, sometimes a mere shrub, more often twenty feet high than forty ; but its rough bark, its upright growth and pyramidal shape, with pendulous boughs, give it a grace that does not belong to the more straggling Apple-tree, though the rosy blossoms of the latter may be more attractive than the wan bloom of its congener. The branches of the Wild Pear, like those of the Wild Plum, are generally spinous, and they spring from the main stem in an ascending manner at an angle of less than forty-five degrees, after wards curving outwards and downwards. The leaves are scattered alternately along the young shoots, but crowded together in bunches or "fascicles" on the old wood. Country-bred folk learn to distinguish at a glance the leaves of the Pear from those of the Apple. The leaves of the Pear are generally on a longer and more slender stalk than those of the Apple, and are consequently more pendulous. Speaking only of our wild forms, they, are also slightly smaller, not exceeding one and a half inches in length. They are sometimes heart-shaped at the base, and vary in general outline from "ovate," i.e. broadest near the base, through "oblong," i.e. with approximately parallel sides and broadest across the center, to "obovate," i.e. broadest near the point. On young trees the leaves are often lobed, as in the allied Service-trees, and in all cases they are at first pubescent, at least on the under surface. They vary, however, in different soils, especially on the Continent, where those of several of the mountain forms are as white on their under surfaces as those of the White Beam (P. Aria), and the form is sufficiently variable to acquire such names as "Willow-leaved" and "Sage-leaved" for some of the varieties. The leaves are always acutely pointed, though the apex varies from an abrupt point ("cuspidate") to a long and tapering one ("acuminate").
By about the middle of April the Pear-trees of suburban orchards ought, in favorable seasons, to spread over the landscape the snowy sheet of their full bloom. The flowers, however, continue for some time, lasting generally until about the middle of the following month, thus preceding the warmer-tinted Apple-blossom by about a fortnight. In this month the young foliage has made rapid strides, so that, though the flowers of the Pear are as "precocious" in their first appearance on the bare branches as those of the Blackthorn, the white mass of bloom is soon relieved by a delicate background of tender green. The flowers are grouped in flat-topped, or "corymbose" clusters, and each one of the bunch is an inch or an inch and a half across-the same size, that is, as those of the Apple, from which they are technically distinguished, not by their color, but by having their styles distinct to the base instead of being united below. This union, of course, takes place later, when the so-called "calyx-tube" binds together the five carpels into a single Pear.
Peach Tree:
The leaves are lanceolate, 7–15 cm long (3-6 in), 2–3 cm broad, pinnately veined. The flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves; they are solitary or paired, 2.5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five petals. The fruit is a drupe, with a single large seed encased in what appears to be wood, but isn't (called the "stone" or "pit"), yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a skin that is either velvety (peaches) or smooth (nectarines) in different cultivars. The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars, but is fairly firm in some commercial cultivars, especially when green. The seed is red-brown, oval shaped and approximately 1.3-2 cm long. Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes). The tree is small, and up to 15 ft tall.
Plum Tree:
Fan trained plum trees grow to an eventual height of around 2 m (7 ft). Although the shortest of all the forms, they will grow to a width of around 3 m and are really only a practical proposition when grown against a wall (not north-facing).
Bush trained plum trees are free-standing and are taller than the pyramid form - around 4m when mature. They do have one advantage over the pyramid form however, the branches and foliage is held around 1 m (3 ft) high from the ground - this makes mowing around the tree much easier. The downside is that some of the fruit will be too high to pick without the use of a ladder.
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Pyramid trained plum trees are free-standing and will grow to an eventual height of 2.5 m (8 ft). These are a good form for a smallish garden - their spread will be about 1.6 m (5 ft). This form of tree has branches radiating out in random directions from a straight central trunk |
| Half Standard trained plum trees are again free- standing and will grow to a height of around 6 m (20 ft). This is a largish tree and only suitable for medium to large gardens. It will produce a mass of plums each year, most of them needing a ladder to harvest. |
Standard plum trees reach a height of around 8 m (28 ft) at maturity - on your own head be it if you plant one of these in anything but a large garden. They will produce enough fruit to feed your entire neighbourhood and you will definitely need a decent sized ladder to pick most of the fruit.
Cherry Tree:
The cherry tree is deciduous and can grow up to 20m. It has a reddish brown trunk with its bark breaking into horizontal stripes. Leaves appearing flowers, oblong or ovate, with a toothed margin, acuminuate and pubescent in the angles of the nerves. Flowers till 3 cm wide, gathered in bundles of 2-6 at the end of the long stems. Fruits in drupe, red.
Evergreen Tree:
- Most evergreens prefer full sun; some will tolerate partial shade.
- In selecting evergreens, consider space, soil and site conditions, and weather factors.
- Evergreens have different water preferences. Group drought-tolerant types separately from those that require more water.
- All evergreens benefit from mulches. All need sufficient water to become established after transplanting. This varies with species, soil conditions, weather and site conditions.
- Most evergreens benefit from supplemental water during dry, warm or windy periods from November to March.
Narrowleaf evergreen (conifer) trees give a landscape year-round interest, color and texture. Conifer trees are versatile and can be used as specimens, hedges, privacy screens, backdrops for smaller flowering plants, or as a windbreak planted on the north and west to deflect or intercept winter winds. (See fact sheet 7.225, Landscaping for Energy Conservation.)
"Evergreen" refers to trees that normally retain most of their foliage (needles) through the winter. Such trees, however, do not retain all of their needles indefinitely. For example, ponderosa pine drops needles each year that are three to five years old. These older needles are the innermost ones toward the main trunk. Younger needles, further out on the branch, are retained until they are three to five years old. This annual browning and drop of innermost, older needles can cause concern, but it is a natural process. Other evergreens may have needle lifespans of two to 17 years, depending on the species.
Alder Tree:
Alder is the third Tree of the Celtic lunar year, considered a Fire Moon since Fearn is the very Battle-Witch of all woods, the one hottest in the fight, receiving this reputation in the epic poem "The Battle of the Trees." In this poem, Alder fought on the front line, showing courage and enthusiasm.
Alder grows in wet soils in humid, cool temperate regions. It is a native of Europe, North America and Asia, locally naturalized in South eastern Canada and North Eastern United States, common to wet places over the northern hemisphere.
Alder is a member of the Birch family, considered a cousin to both Birch (Beith) and Hazel (Coll), having flowers and seeds born in catkins in the same manner. Usually found near streams - as is the case with Willow (Saille) it does not thrive well on dry ground. Commonly, the wood has been used for pumps, troughs, sluices and for bridge building. It resists water, the timber fending of decay indefinitely underwater. Its beams were used in the underwater construction of the Celtic lake dwellings found in present-day Switzerland. Although a poor fuel Tree, as the likes of Willow, Poplar and Chestnut, it yields the best charcoal, continuing the image as a Fire Tree.
Madrona:
Madrona (Arbutus Menziesii, Pursh.)-Evergreen shrub or tree 40 to 100 feet high, with smooth, reddish brown bark, and smooth red branches. Wood heavy, hard, strong, reddish brown, close grained. Leaves alternate, persistent, entire, rounded or heart shaped at base, oval or oblong, 3 to 4 inches long, smooth, shining above, glaucous beneath.
Flowers white, in erect panicles, 5 to 6 inches long, monopetalous, ovate, 1/3 inch long, perfect. Fruit a globular, many-seeded berry, 1/2 inch long, orange red, edible. Preferred habitat, well-drained soil in situations protected from dry winds.
Serving Snohomish County , Arlington, Mukilteo, Darrington, Everett, Granite Falls, Marysville, Smokey Point, Lakewood, Camano Island, Stanwood, Tulalip, Snohomish, Warm Beach, Lake Goodwin, Lake Stevens, Mount Vernon, Mill Creek, Bothell, Lynwood, Edmonds, Monroe, Silvana
