Trees

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose….” We’re all familiar with this popular holiday song, but have you ever wondered how to roast chestnuts? Or exactly what a chestnut tree looks like? Why don't we see them growing in our neighborhoods?

Browning and death of branch tips is quite common in older, well-established pine plantings. Austrian pine is the most severely affected, but this type of damage can also be found in Ponderosa, Scotch and Mugo pine.

The culprit is a fungal disease called Diplodia tip blight, (syn. Sphaeropsis tip blight). Infection kills current-year shoots and eventually may kill whole branches. This disease becomes increasingly common and destructive as trees age, although young trees can be affected.

Occasionally, we receive calls from homeowners who have been told by a tree company that their trees need treatment for a list of insect problems. Homeowners should carefully consider any unsolicited recommendations, particularly if minor pests and/or leaf spots are cited as the problems. And keep in mind that most reputable tree companies have enough work to keep them busy without going door to door.

Summer 2022 was hot! The Lincoln area had 66 days of 90+ F days from May through September 30. And this was often coupled with very windy conditions! In unwatered portions of the landscape many gardeners saw lawns turning brown, soil pulled away from driveway and sidewalk edges, and possibly even scorch symptoms in trees. These are all good indications when our our landscapes are dry. For a current look at Lincoln drought status, visit U.S. Drought Monitor.

Looking out your window in January, the predominant colors you’ll see are shades of brown, gray, and, if we have snow, white. Evergreen trees and shrubs provide some relief, but the view is still pretty neutral. An excellent way to brighten the dead of winter is to plant trees and shrubs that possess colorful fruit or bark, or plants with interesting shapes. Take a look at your winter landscape now, and decide if spring planting this year should include plants for winter interest.

It’s difficult to imagine, as we sweat our way through early August, but in just 8 weeks we’ll be talking about early frosts. Fall is a great time to get many landscape tasks accomplished, so here’s a quick rundown of some common landscape projects listed in order of attack.

Supplies:

• Different sizes and shapes of tree leaves (maple, oak, hackberry, mulberry, ginkgo)
• colored paper
• crayons

Directions:

1. Put a leaf upside down on the table.

2. Place a piece of paper over the leaf.

3. While holding the paper and leaf in place, use the side of a crayon to rub across the leaf.

4. Make sure that you color over the entire leaf. Rubbing firmly all over the leaf will show the veins and the outline of the leaf

Whether for fruit production, habitat or beauty, serviceberry is an excellent addition to any landscape.  You might know these plants by other names such as Juneberry, named for the month when fruits ripen, sarviceberry, and shadbush referring to the plants bloom time "when the shad (river herring) run".

Now that trees have dropped their leaves, and fall leaf coloration is done, one of my favorite sights for late fall and winter is a crabapple tree loaded with fruit. Maybe it’s just that the leaves are gone and the fruits are easier to see, but it seems to me that some crabapples develop deeper, more intense coloration after a few light frosts. My favorites are trees covered with hundreds of small, colorful fruits.

Cherries have been a favored fruit for centuries, eaten by people since before recorded history. Sweet cherries, Prunus avium, are native throughout most of Europe, western Asia and parts of northern Africa. Naturally, they have been used extensively in holiday cooking through the years.

All pine trees have needles, but all needled evergreens aren't pine trees any more than all dogs are dachshunds. Telling pines, firs and spruces apart isn't any harder than distinguishing beagles, Bassett hounds or bloodhounds -- you just need to know how each one is distinctively different from the others.

Step One: Look at the needles. Are they arranged singling on the branch or in groups?

When the soil around your home or getaway cabin is less than ideal, you can fight it by planting trees and shrubs that aren't well adapted to the site or select plants that do well in the conditions your landscape provides. Although many locations in Nebraska have clay soil, sandy soil is also very common especially along the Platte River and across the Sandhills.