Tree of the Week: Arborvitae
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Arborvitae (“tree of life”, unusual for having a Latin common name) refers to a number of trees in the Thuja genus. In St. Louis this […]
Tree of the Week: Pond cypress
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Pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Bald cypress is a magnificent tree, both aesthetically and ecologically, but it has a couple faults that cause people some hesitation […]
Tree of the Week: Winterberry holly
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Fall color has finally departed, and the few leaves that remain clinging to the trees are for the most part withered and pale, and so […]
Tree of the Week: Sweetgum
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The redheaded stepchild of the urban forest, Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is, based on my experience fielding complaints from the public, the most hated tree in our region. Even ecologically destructive […]
Tree of the Week: Common Witch Hazel
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager It’s not unusual to see spring flowering woody plants push out a few blooms in late summer or even further into fall – crabapples, cherries […]
Tree of the Week: Red Maple
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Acer rubrum, Red Maple, has become a very fashionable tree to dislike in the arboricultural world, because it has been so criminally over-planted. Like dwarf […]
Tree of the Week: Sugar Maple
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Acer saccharum, Sugar Maple, along with the Giant Sequoia, the White Oak and the White Pine, is one of the great arboreal icons of North […]
Tree of the Week: Bald Cypress
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By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, always seems to look best in groves. Stepping into one of these groupings in the late fall or winter, when the […]
Tree of the Week: Post Oak
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Quercus stellata, post oak, does not enjoy the prestige of its close relatives White Oak and Bur Oak. Its growth rate is glacial, even by the slow standards of its […]
Tree of the Week: Sourwood
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By Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Oxydendrum arboreum, sourwood, is native to the American south, its range only approaching Missouri’s southeast border, but is often treated as a “near native.” There […]