Does anyone have any recommendations for fast growing evergreen tree that is hardy for 100 Mile House area - hot summer/cold winter. Need some screening for privacy from neighbours and highway. Don't want pine though because of beetle in area. Thanks.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Would a eucalyptus of some sort work. Sounds like our weather here. There are many that don't grow in to giants and also have flowers. Most gums are fast growing and donot need massive amounts of water. Liz
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Gee, and I am looking for shade trees in Merritt. I will have to follow this thread too. Around here, almost all screen trees are a cedar hedge type. We have some that have grown to around 4-5 meters tall in 10 years. But we also lost most of ours to a weevil that hit a bunch of cedars here around 6 years ago. I can not think of other confer trees that would work as a sound/sight barrier that would also grow well.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Thinking some more, our paper birch has grown very well, it is now over the top of our 2 story house. But as it loses its leaves in the winter, it would not make a good year round screen but could be used as a fill in till your conifers get to the size you need.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Wonder if Sequoiadendron giganteum or some kind of Spruce would work there.
Someone mentioned poplars also........ Thanks for the reply - what's the non-latin name for the tree you mentioned?
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Giant Sequoia, Sierra redwood, giant redwood. Maybe not hardy enough for 100 Mile House cold winters, apparently hardy to about -30 C ?
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. caesia) Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) Norway Spruce (Picea abies) Definitely not Eucalyptus!!
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Douglas fir is going through it own beetle problem in the interior right now. Those taking the drive on the Coquihalla Highway, from the toll booth to Kamloops saw first hand this issue as the majority of dead trees (up till this year) were Doug fir. So if there is a concern about the pine beetle, then I would stay away from these as well. On the other hand, Pl might be a good suggestion as by the time they are of a size the Mountain pine beetle would like, the beetle population should be at endemic levels rather than the current epidemic as the population should crash in the next 5 years or so due ot lack of food (most of the Pl will be dead).
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Wondering how cold it gets in 100 Mile [-40- C} in recent winters and what conifers are surviving the pine beetle, is the spruce budworm active or been through there ? Have seen the Kamloops area and eastward, makes a person wonder how far across Canada the pine beetle will get. Understand they are surviving winters in Alberta also and northern US states.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Maybe a gamble if the beetle has a tendency to change it's species preference depending on a food source, if understood correctly. What would stop the beetle populations from building up again other than cold temperatures at the right time if there is a sustainable food source? Maybe I misunderstand the situation and beetles life cycle and changing food sources.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Guess I should come clean here. I am in forestry, I do environmental audits of forestry companies, primarily in BC and Alberta. I have also done a fair bit of beetle surveys (probes) of both the Mountain pine beetle and spruce bark beetle as well as salvage logging of attacked Pl in the Merritt area. To date, at least around here, there is no firm evidence that the beetle will move in vast numbers to non pine species. West of Prince George, the beetle is essential gone as the pine of suitable age has all been attacked and killed, again no real evidence of the beast attacking (successfully anyway) other species. However the species composition of the forests there are much different than in the south but the forests of the 100 Mile area are much more like the PG forests (heavy into solid pine, with less mixed stands. In the Merritt area we have a nice mix of pine, Doug fir, spruce and balsam) I have seen fairly successful attacks as far east in AB as Grand Prairie and Drayton Valley. The foresters there are under the impression that the beetle will continue moving east thorough the pine stands of the northern prairie provinces, into Ontario. They will stop when they run out of pine. Not a pretty thought for our eastern neighbors.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area The catalogue of the Manitoba nursery to which Daniel referred you on your thread, Trainman, might be of use here too. Here's a link directly to one of the pages in the evergreen section: http://www.jeffriesnurseries.com/p40.htm and the catalogue home page is at http://www.jeffriesnurseries.com/ As a Zone 8 gardener, I'm afraid I have little else to offer! By PI you mean Pine, I take it? By the way, Annette, anytime you're not certain of the "translation" of a plant name, Googling it will probably net you some clarification, and probably photos and a whole raft of information as well.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Sorry, us forestry types can get rather carried away with acronyms. Yes, Pl is the "shorthand" for Lodgepole pine. Fd is Douglas fir, Cy yellow cedar, Sx spruce, etc. And that web site is a good source for info, just take some wading through.
Re: Fash Growing Tree - 100 Mile House area Trainman, Thought maybe a forestry association, thanks for your insight. In regards to ''the population should crash in 5 years or so'' it seems hard to predict what nature will do anymore, hope you're right, and this isn't the start of a long term cycle. Was interesting to see areas east of Kamloops, towards Armstrong, that were not devastated by the beetle. Are any of the badly affected areas being replanted with other conifer species , particularly beside watercourses ?
Annette, I am a landscape architect originally from Winnipeg now working in New Brunswick...my hobby is growing things and two trees that I have used and been impressed with are the European and Japanese Larch/Tamarack. Larix decidua, Larix kaempferi. I have three in my yard from the local research station. They are supposedly hybrids of the above two and show the habit of either or both...one definitely shows a weeping habit the other more "upright". All are fast...mine have been in the ground 5-6 years now and the tallest is approaching 30', this from a 3-4' seedling. The beauty of larch is that they can make an excellent hedge if pruned to desired size but are also significantly twiggy that even in winter screening is pretty good. They definitely have at least three season appeal....not sure what if any caveat would apply to larch in BC but now you know one of my favourites. Take care. Brian
Annette, I did a lot of internet research on fast-growing trees a couple of years ago and kept being led to the thuja giant as an excellent barrier and fast grower. Everything I read said they grow really fast, are cold and heat tolerant, and don't require a lot of anything. I planted 43 seedlings on my property on the hot southeastern border of Georgia and learned that they do require water a few days a week, they don't like sandy soil, and the deer that cross my property really enjoy their taste. I had to put wire caging around the 30 or so that were eaten down to almost nothing. After 20 months they are still no higher than my knee, but that doesn't mean they won't do very well in your part of the country. It has rained here a good bit in the past 2 weeks after a near drought and I can already see a good bit of new growth. Another excellent tree I found at that same time was Leland Cypress. I planted the 3 foot trees within 2 months of the thuja giants and they are now over my head and I'm 5' 6".
Leyland Cypress. Not a good tree in the long term, very liable to canker diseases in the southern US. Don't be surprised if it suddenly turns brown and dead in a few years.
