Can you tell me what kind of trees these are?
March 19, 2016 6:56 PM Subscribe
We have these trees in our back yard in Oakland. Do you know what they are?
I hate them. God, how I hate them.
They're tall, close to 50', with slender trunks whose entire length will sway in the wind. The bark is shallowly ridged, uniform in color, and doesn't peel. The canopy is sparse, with light green leaves. The first half of the trunk has no branches. The leaves turn yellow in autumn and fall off completely, leaving the branches bare in the winter and requiring me to spend a lot of time clearing the dead leaves off the deck so they don't sit there and rot during winter rain.
All of this would be well and good, except that in the spring these trees bloom. Not pretty flowers, no, but huge clusters of green disc-like seed pods. The squirrels go crazy for them and eat a lot of them, which is the only time I think kind thoughts towards the thieving, garden-ruining squirrels.
What the squirrels don't eat turns yellow-brown, shrivels a bit, and falls off over the course of a few weeks, burying our deck in drifts of dime-sized papery discs that are impossible to remove once they get wet. They stick like papier-mâché and nothing but a putty knife and a lot of swearing will scrape them away.
In addition to identifying these trees, I really want someone to tell me that they're non-native (or even better, non-native *and* invasive!) so I don't feel guilty about getting someone to cut them down. Because I hate them so very much.
I hate them. God, how I hate them.
They're tall, close to 50', with slender trunks whose entire length will sway in the wind. The bark is shallowly ridged, uniform in color, and doesn't peel. The canopy is sparse, with light green leaves. The first half of the trunk has no branches. The leaves turn yellow in autumn and fall off completely, leaving the branches bare in the winter and requiring me to spend a lot of time clearing the dead leaves off the deck so they don't sit there and rot during winter rain.
All of this would be well and good, except that in the spring these trees bloom. Not pretty flowers, no, but huge clusters of green disc-like seed pods. The squirrels go crazy for them and eat a lot of them, which is the only time I think kind thoughts towards the thieving, garden-ruining squirrels.
What the squirrels don't eat turns yellow-brown, shrivels a bit, and falls off over the course of a few weeks, burying our deck in drifts of dime-sized papery discs that are impossible to remove once they get wet. They stick like papier-mâché and nothing but a putty knife and a lot of swearing will scrape them away.
In addition to identifying these trees, I really want someone to tell me that they're non-native (or even better, non-native *and* invasive!) so I don't feel guilty about getting someone to cut them down. Because I hate them so very much.
I might know what they are - Siberian Elm?
We have six or seven of them along our fence line, owned by the City of Toronto. They do everything you say they do, having their tree sex all over our car and their buds bring all the squirrels to our yard.
They are non-native to the ravine we live on in Toronto. "Ours" are sickly and invasive, and send long slender branches to lean on our roof during ice storms, and let squirrels scamper there, leaving us fearing for our attic and wiring.
The city is coming in the next week to remove them, for the health of the ravine and for some planned improvements. We um...LOVE the shade and privacy they give us, and how those frisky little squirrels play and play in them, and are um...SAD about their coming down. So the city will have to replace them, hopefully, with something fast-growing, native, and not full of hateful seeds and their seedy fuckery.
posted by peagood at 7:28 PM on March 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
We have six or seven of them along our fence line, owned by the City of Toronto. They do everything you say they do, having their tree sex all over our car and their buds bring all the squirrels to our yard.
They are non-native to the ravine we live on in Toronto. "Ours" are sickly and invasive, and send long slender branches to lean on our roof during ice storms, and let squirrels scamper there, leaving us fearing for our attic and wiring.
The city is coming in the next week to remove them, for the health of the ravine and for some planned improvements. We um...LOVE the shade and privacy they give us, and how those frisky little squirrels play and play in them, and are um...SAD about their coming down. So the city will have to replace them, hopefully, with something fast-growing, native, and not full of hateful seeds and their seedy fuckery.
posted by peagood at 7:28 PM on March 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yes, some kind of elm. Not native, they do naturalize here. Don't feel bad about pulling them out. :)
posted by oneirodynia at 7:57 PM on March 19, 2016
posted by oneirodynia at 7:57 PM on March 19, 2016
Elm.
Since they are not dead, they are non-native. Chop chop chop.
posted by djinn dandy at 7:59 PM on March 19, 2016
Since they are not dead, they are non-native. Chop chop chop.
posted by djinn dandy at 7:59 PM on March 19, 2016
In addition to identifying these trees, I really want someone to tell me that they're non-native (or even better, non-native *and* invasive!) so I don't feel guilty about getting someone to cut them down
Don't be a plant hoarder. They don't bring you joy, they're not old growth. Screw it. Cut them down and plant something you like.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:23 PM on March 20, 2016
Don't be a plant hoarder. They don't bring you joy, they're not old growth. Screw it. Cut them down and plant something you like.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:23 PM on March 20, 2016
pretty sure there's an app for that (tree ID i mean), if not several.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 2:48 PM on March 20, 2016
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 2:48 PM on March 20, 2016
Siberian elm. Non-native, invasive. I have one in the front that I would remove if it wasn't the only shade out there.
posted by caryatid at 3:36 PM on March 24, 2016
posted by caryatid at 3:36 PM on March 24, 2016
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posted by cecic at 7:16 PM on March 19, 2016