Tree World

Got a busy week ahead setting up for the Chelsea Flower Show.  The delayed spring will allow us to use different flowering shrubs and trees. I hope the garden designers and their show gardens, have some flexibility in their plant choices (think the RHS will not allow this). Going to spot the flowers not in bloom and leaves not out.

Might have an office sweep stake on it!

We fully appreciate the background of two years of below average rainfall, when considering all the rain we in the South East are having at present.

The defecit however is so huge it will take weeks of this rain to re-charge the aquifers and soil.

I suggest that  as soon as the rain stops, the water companies bring in another type of hose pipe ban, as by our reckoning it took only 72 hours from the date of the  hose pipe ban for it to start raining and it hasn't stopped yet!

Please use this time to order leaky/porous pipe irrigation and to find mulch, it is only April, there  are many months ahead when it could be both drier and hotter.

At last the first signs of Spring are around.   Buds are beginning to swell. This and the first leaves are triggered by chemicals within the tree caused by longer daylight and warmer temperature.

These are not per se  signs of good health of the tree (although it certainly not a bad one!)

Trees will need moisture to support the new leaves. We have had a very dry Feburary in the South (27% of the norm).  Last year was dry in the same area.   Newly trans/planted trees  may require an earlier than usual start to watering and higher quantities (please see earlier blog about water logging!).

It would be prudent to mulch to a depth of 75mm, with the area around the trunk kept clear, to a width as wide as you  can manage. Tree Mulch or Bark Mulch can be utilised.

Newly trans/planted trees will need aftercare until established, which may take years. Established is when the tree has created a root system that can support it.

Waterlogging, especially when prolonged will kill most trees/shrubs, by starving the roots of air, it kills by drowning trees!

Some trees are specially adapted to cope with this, such as Willows, Poplars, Alders and Swamp Cypresses. For most it will be fatal.

If you have existing trees, it is only changes in the environment that will cause waterlogging, i.e. blocked ditches / drainage, new sources of water / prolonged wet weather, with no drainage.  We are particularly vulnerable due to the very dry year last year to pans being created in soils, these are layers through which the flow  of moisture is restricted. This could alter the nature of  your land.  Otherwise nature will have sorted out which trees are suited to your land.

Newly planted trees are especially vulnerable.  They are often planted where there are no trees. It could be that there are very good reasons why there are not trees in an area, i.e. waterlogged  ground. An expert will help you select trees that suit your location.

Waterlogged ground can be visible through sitting surface water (not when only for a few hours after heavy rain, which drains slowly, when the water persists) or it can be just below the surface.  If you dig a shallow pit and it quickly fills up with water or you push a cane into the soft soil a short way and it smells of rotting vegetation, it can indicate you have a very high water table.

What can you do about this?

Find out if waterlogging is a problem, by observing and testing.

Plant suitable species for the conditions.

Drain the area

Plant the specimens slightly raised out of the ground, so that some of the roots can breathe.

Call an expert for advice!

At this dark time of year, cannot help but look forward to the gradual increase  in daylight, which will stimulate  plant growth and lead to Spring.

Winter has a stark beauty, but I prefer the new life aurora of Spring, which is preceded by a slow tease of longer days.

At least, to date this winter has not been as cold as last year. I can only speculate as to the impact this will have on pests that will over winter,  just hope the creatures that feed on them have also had a good winter.

If you have newly planted trees, check their guys  / stakes before adverse winter weather strikes, which combined with wet ground can cause trees to by windblown.

Your container shrubs and trees will still need watering during winter, albeit at much lower levels.   Likewise evergreen trees use more water than deciduous trees in winter, as they retain their  foliage, if we have a dry winter they may require watering.

Should we have snow, the weight of snow on branches can cause them to bend and even break.  Whilst it is still fluffly the snow should be gently dislodged (whilst standing upwind). If the snow has turned to ice it is better to leave it in situ.

As for protecting non native plants, the varieties from wamer climates will have to be protected.

If there any any woodchips available, now is a good time to place around specimens / top up existing, remembering to keep the area around the trunk clear.

We are fast approaching the best time to plant trees and shrubs. If they are planted as soon as summer has passed, they will have the longest period  before it gets hot and dry next summer.

They will have the greatest opportunity to extend their root systems. The bigger the root system, the more ability they will have to obtain moisture and nutrients.  The wider (and deeper) the root system the greater the ability to withstand stress and avoid drought.

Newly planted specimens will still require watering for the first few years and there are other things you can do to help them:

1) Use Mycorrhizal Fungi http://www.plantworksuk.co.uk/rootgrowhome.php

2) Mulch, to a depth of 75mm with the area around the trunk kept clear. This will retain moisture, suppress weed growth and increase Mycorrhizal activity by 15 times over grass....

There are plenty of other actions you can take and hints on detecting if you specimens are under stress  on our Twitter feed  @yourtalkingtree

As tree planters, we hope for cool, wet summers.  Newly planted trees, ( a group which includes trees upto 3-5 years after planting) do not need the stress of prolonged dry periods especially combined with hot  weather.

Trees when faced with stress may drop some / all leaves, produce epicormic growth (new growth from trunks or at the bases of branches). They may reduce their canopy size by the dying back of branches.  The tree could have smaller leaves or a less dense canopy. It would be normal for increased fruit production, as the tree tries to ensure its reproduction at a time of perhaps terminal decline.

These manifestations of stress, all reduce the energy available for the tree to grow.

Visualise a self reinforcing upward spiral of vitality, this is a tree.  Damage by stress may reduce the speed or angle of sprial, if repeated or a single serious epsiode of stress, this will lead to a self reinforcing downward spiral of vitality.

This could be dieback which destroys the visual amenity of the tree. It maybe reduce canopy density / leaf size, which leads to reduce energy coming into the tree.

This is why we like cool wet summers! If we have hot dry summers, please water your trees to avoid stress.

The Flower Show has been a fantastic week for us.  Our Swan Necked Trees received huge interest with many realising the possibilities they offered.

We were delighted to assist visitors with their problems inparticular screening and we now have the possibility of providing innovative screening solutions.

Keith and Robert would like to thank all who took the time to chat with us and are amused at the distances some people are taking our log rings.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is very nearly upon us. The gardens are looking fabulous and our stand is taking shape.

We are lauching a new style of tree to the U.K. called the Swan Neck Tree, this swooping trunk creates a trunk free shaded area, perfect for enteraining under.

Our stand  has moved to the opposite side of Ranelagh North, we are now on MR/1, please come and see us, if you are lucky enough to have tickets.