Thanks for the video. I live in Falcon, and the utility of some of these trees is more important than appearance. I planted Gambal Oak and Rocky Mountain Junipers as drought tolertant wind blocks. My backyard neighbor's aspen is dying from a black fungus, but it already sent several 6' shoots in my yard before I realized what they were.
Mrs. Front Range Gardener thinks that Scrub Oak are unattractive all Winter, and are a fire hazard in the Summer. Note that there are none in our landscape!
According to entomologyst Doug Tallamy, the gambel oak is a top host of caterpillars. which are the exclusive diet of most bird babies: no caterpillars=no birds!
I love gambel oaks! They offer so many wonderful benefits to our native wildlife. I don't plan one planting one bc of the way they form thickets but if a bluejay or squirrel were to 'plant' one in my yard I don't think I could bear to get rid of it 😄
With this summer’s cold wet weather (at least in my yard!) those Douglas Fir have finally found their home. Here’s hoping it turns unfavorable for them again next year!
My neighbor planted aspens when our homes were brand new. The trees died within a few years, but we got lots of volunteers. We let several grow tall and for the last 7-8 years they have been beautiful. We are seeing some branches die back now and the worst part is that our lawn is chock full of aspen knots because they get whacked with every mow. It’s really awful.
I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas with one of the biggest cottonwoods on the block in our front yard. It was hit by lightning when I was a kid. Surprisingly, it didn’t kill the tree. As a kid, I loved all the leaves and cotton that floated in the air. As an adult messy trees have me thinking otherwise.😅
I live on 5 acres in castle rock and would say 75% of the property is shrub oak and I love it. Provides shade to the hiking paths I have built and shelter for many animals.
Please do make a Gambel Oak apology video. I agree it’s probably not great for suburban landscapes. But I believe our state butterfly depends on it. And it provides important food and shelter for lots of other wildlife. I always worry that after wildfires (e.g., the Quarry Fire in my Deer Creek Canyon neighborhood) people will go on a rampage of eradicating this native tree. We do have to manage it close to our homes in the WUI, but it still belongs in foothills habitat.
I had a fire go through my property and the Rocky Mountain junipers were badly burned but mostly survived UNLIKE the other 700 trees I had planted from the forest service seedling program.
I have a scrub oak in my south facing front yard. It's been there for about 10 years and it's about 20 feet tall and bushy. It sits on a section where the driveway meets the sidewalk and is always hot in the summer. Mulch around it and never has had a lot of off shoots. Dark green leaves all summer. Resilient to heat and early and late snow. Great tree/bush. In wilder areas I've seen them grow in thickets that are attractive from a distance but a mess to deal with. I've found the fall color to be hit or miss depending on the weather. I like the Junipers look as well, but I've seen a lot of split trunks and broken branches from snow. Then they grow in all sorts of directions.
The oaks on my property provide food for the squirrels and turkeys. Doe hide their fawns in the thickets. They provide a great privacy screen. I love the oaks. Otherwise than that, I completely agree with your list.
As a former landscaper I agree with you. It always depends on the placement. All trees are good, when planted in the right environment. A Catalpa planted in the middle of a half acre opening is a wonderful thing. Planted within 50 feet of a structure, nope.
Next door neighbor planted aspens along their back yard fence - all the way! and some in their front yard. Hoo boy in 10 years... learned that at my old digs years ago.
I like how you think! My top 5 from worst-worst to just worst: 1 Gamble Oak, 2 Gamble Oak, 3 Gamble Oak, 4 Cotton Wood, 5 Rocky Mountain Juniper :) I also can't stand how invasive the Gamble Oaks are. Good luck trying to remove one - or the whole thicket!!!
Our house came with 9 aspens, in a neighborhood where they are not allowed. Don’t know how previous owners got that done. One snapped in wind already. One hardly leafed out this year. One infested with ants. Should we just cut them all down? What is a good tree to take their place? Shoots are popping up from the healthiest ones. I love the look and wondering if I should keep a few. Thank you!
😂😂😂”Let us know in the comments below if you think Mrs. Front Range Gardener should make her OWN list.” You have a follower for life. Thanks for making me laugh while confirming we need to pull up our Aspens.
That looks to be a cultivar of our native aspens. I would expect it to have the same problems. Although non-native, birch is a better behaved plant. Thanks for watching.
The objective of landscape gardening is to make your property look good. This is in contrast to gardening to grow food. You can landscape garden on any size lot. My lot is about a quarter acre.
Aspens are water hogs. I hate seeing them in dry area landscapes, like Santa Fe. You need to do a video on nice oaks people can grow in warmer areas. Oaks are equipped for a drying and warming climate.
Never seen any videos before, the whole time I watched this I'm saying to my self if Aspen is not the number 1 this guy is dumb... He is definitely not...
The majority of the video is good...with one glaring exception that I can, personally, attest to: The MALE cottonwood trees are the ones that send out that awful cottony mess! The FEMALE cottonwood trees create these long, very sticky, flowers that are sorta like very soft & stringy pinecones. In fact: the reason why so many people have been experiencing worsening allergies is because there was a campaign to plant a majority of male trees, of all types, for this very reason! FEMALE trees, generally, have some sort of sticky sap or flowers designed to catch the wind blown pollen from male trees. This sticky "mess" was considered undesirable and the male trees were planted as an alternative...because they were considerably "cleaner". (Source: proudly owned a female cottonwood for over a decade, until it contracted that cottonwood disease that has killed off so very many of them in the front range.)
Thanks for the video. I live in Falcon, and the utility of some of these trees is more important than appearance. I planted Gambal Oak and Rocky Mountain Junipers as drought tolertant wind blocks. My backyard neighbor's aspen is dying from a black fungus, but it already sent several 6' shoots in my yard before I realized what they were.
Good luck with those Aspen shoots. Thanks for watching.
Mrs. Front Range Gardener thinks that Scrub Oak are unattractive all Winter, and are a fire hazard in the Summer. Note that there are none in our landscape!
According to entomologyst Doug Tallamy, the gambel oak is a top host of caterpillars. which are the exclusive diet of most bird babies: no caterpillars=no birds!
I agree that the gambel oak is an important part of the natural ecosystem. I just think they make poor landscape trees. Thanks for watching.
@@FrontRangeGardener...because your landscaping is much more important than the natural ecosystem...typical boomer trash.
I love gambel oaks! They offer so many wonderful benefits to our native wildlife. I don't plan one planting one bc of the way they form thickets but if a bluejay or squirrel were to 'plant' one in my yard I don't think I could bear to get rid of it 😄
Maybe I was a bit harsh on the Gambel Oak. I still think it's a poor choice for the landscape. Thanks for watching.
I've seen some stands of Gambel Oak that look really nice even/especially without leaves.
My favorite look is when a trail goes through a stand of Gambel Oak. Thanks for watching.
With this summer’s cold wet weather (at least in my yard!) those Douglas Fir have finally found their home. Here’s hoping it turns unfavorable for them again next year!
It's been great weather for the garden!
My neighbor planted aspens when our homes were brand new. The trees died within a few years, but we got lots of volunteers. We let several grow tall and for the last 7-8 years they have been beautiful. We are seeing some branches die back now and the worst part is that our lawn is chock full of aspen knots because they get whacked with every mow. It’s really awful.
I cut down my last two aspens this year. The shoots are still coming up in my lawn.
Aspens are the bane of my landscape along with bindweed.
I managed to rid my yard of bindweed, but it took two years to completely eradicate it.
I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas with one of the biggest cottonwoods on the block in our front yard. It was hit by lightning when I was a kid. Surprisingly, it didn’t kill the tree. As a kid, I loved all the leaves and cotton that floated in the air. As an adult messy trees have me thinking otherwise.😅
It's different when you're the one cleaning up. Thanks for watching.
I live on 5 acres in castle rock and would say 75% of the property is shrub oak and I love it. Provides shade to the hiking paths I have built and shelter for many animals.
Five acres is the right size to enjoy Gambel Oak. I may have been a bit harsh on them. Should I make an apology video?
Please do make a Gambel Oak apology video. I agree it’s probably not great for suburban landscapes. But I believe our state butterfly depends on it. And it provides important food and shelter for lots of other wildlife. I always worry that after wildfires (e.g., the Quarry Fire in my Deer Creek Canyon neighborhood) people will go on a rampage of eradicating this native tree. We do have to manage it close to our homes in the WUI, but it still belongs in foothills habitat.
I had a fire go through my property and the Rocky Mountain junipers were badly burned but mostly survived UNLIKE the other 700 trees I had planted from the forest service seedling program.
Those Junipers are tougher than I thought.
I have a scrub oak in my south facing front yard. It's been there for about 10 years and it's about 20 feet tall and bushy. It sits on a section where the driveway meets the sidewalk and is always hot in the summer. Mulch around it and never has had a lot of off shoots. Dark green leaves all summer. Resilient to heat and early and late snow. Great tree/bush. In wilder areas I've seen them grow in thickets that are attractive from a distance but a mess to deal with. I've found the fall color to be hit or miss depending on the weather.
I like the Junipers look as well, but I've seen a lot of split trunks and broken branches from snow. Then they grow in all sorts of directions.
Great points. Thanks for watching.
Although gamble oak isn’t the prettiest it definitely plays a vital role in the ecosystem and helps mitigate human encroachment
The oaks on my property provide food for the squirrels and turkeys. Doe hide their fawns in the thickets. They provide a great privacy screen. I love the oaks. Otherwise than that, I completely agree with your list.
Thanks for watching!
As a former landscaper I agree with you. It always depends on the placement. All trees are good, when planted in the right environment. A Catalpa planted in the middle of a half acre opening is a wonderful thing. Planted within 50 feet of a structure, nope.
Next door neighbor planted aspens along their back yard fence - all the way! and some in their front yard. Hoo boy in 10 years... learned that at my old digs years ago.
Going to regret that
Mrs. Front Range Gardener, I’m with you on the Gambel Oak! What would your list look like?
I like how you think! My top 5 from worst-worst to just worst: 1 Gamble Oak, 2 Gamble Oak, 3 Gamble Oak, 4 Cotton Wood, 5 Rocky Mountain Juniper :) I also can't stand how invasive the Gamble Oaks are. Good luck trying to remove one - or the whole thicket!!!
@@lisaberlin708 hahahah oh Lordy hahahah
Our house came with 9 aspens, in a neighborhood where they are not allowed. Don’t know how previous owners got that done. One snapped in wind already. One hardly leafed out this year. One infested with ants. Should we just cut them all down? What is a good tree to take their place? Shoots are popping up from the healthiest ones. I love the look and wondering if I should keep a few. Thank you!
If you like the look of aspens, there are birch varieties that are better behaved. There are lots of great conifers that thrive here too.
Great list!
Thanks for watching!
😂😂😂”Let us know in the comments below if you think Mrs. Front Range Gardener should make her OWN list.” You have a follower for life. Thanks for making me laugh while confirming we need to pull up our Aspens.
Thanks for watching!
Gambel Oak is a massive food producer for wildlife
That is very true. Thanks for watching.
I laughed out loud at the Mrs. Colorado Gardner list callout so let’s see hers
Mrs. Front Range Gardener's list is: Gambel Oak, Gambel Oak, Gambel Oak and Gambel Oak.
It’s funny that you seem to have named all of the trees that I see growing around Peyton!😂
Ha! Thanks for watching.
It is against the law to plant cottonwoods in Fort Collins unless they are cottonless.
Sounds like a great law. Thanks for watching.
Hate is definitely a strong word. Not sure how you could hate any of these species. Everything has pluses and minuses.
Aphids LOVE aspen. If you want your cars to have a beautiful red coating of (impossible to remove) aphid poop, just plant an aspen in your yard.😧
My last Aspen is being cut down right now!
How are Swedish Columnar Aspens? I had my yard redone and they planted four, two on each side of my yard about 5-6 ft apart.
That looks to be a cultivar of our native aspens. I would expect it to have the same problems. Although non-native, birch is a better behaved plant. Thanks for watching.
Is landscape gardening gardening for small yards , like less than quarter acre? Or big lots like an acre? Or park like settings of 5 acres or more?
The objective of landscape gardening is to make your property look good. This is in contrast to gardening to grow food. You can landscape garden on any size lot. My lot is about a quarter acre.
Take all the fallen leaves you think are a problem and make compost.
by the way, aspens send up shoots vigorously - kind of hard when mowing
Wow, do they ever. I'm getting rid of my last aspens this weekend!
Aspens are water hogs. I hate seeing them in dry area landscapes, like Santa Fe. You need to do a video on nice oaks people can grow in warmer areas. Oaks are equipped for a drying and warming climate.
That's an excellent point about water requirements. I should have had six reasons to dislike aspens.
The juniper trees have grown on me over the years
They look great in the right landscape. Thanks for watching.
Never seen any videos before, the whole time I watched this I'm saying to my self if Aspen is not the number 1 this guy is dumb... He is definitely not...
Thanks for watching!
Insufferable.
The invasive species is ... look in a mirror.
True, I am not a native.
Oh my heavens, I dont know where to begin. Please don't listen to this to this guy, so much bad misinformation with a serious lack of context. 😵😵😵
You can begin with examples. My context is landscape gardening. Thanks for watching.
The majority of the video is good...with one glaring exception that I can, personally, attest to:
The MALE cottonwood trees are the ones that send out that awful cottony mess!
The FEMALE cottonwood trees create these long, very sticky, flowers that are sorta like very soft & stringy pinecones.
In fact: the reason why so many people have been experiencing worsening allergies is because there was a campaign to plant a majority of male trees, of all types, for this very reason! FEMALE trees, generally, have some sort of sticky sap or flowers designed to catch the wind blown pollen from male trees. This sticky "mess" was considered undesirable and the male trees were planted as an alternative...because they were considerably "cleaner".
(Source: proudly owned a female cottonwood for over a decade, until it contracted that cottonwood disease that has killed off so very many of them in the front range.)
Thanks for the correction.