Trees, trees, trees.

[Canadian Visitor]

Not sure where you got this information - we had two at our old house and had nests in them all the time. Some squirrels and raccoons would even eat the fruit. The corollary to it not playing host to insects is that it's impervious to nearly every type of insect or disease. I think there is one type of fungus it's susceptible to, but it's pretty rare, even in it's native habitat. This is a byproduct of it's longevity - it's considered a living fossil, having not evolved significantly over the course of several million years.

It's relatively slow-growing, sturdy, and can live a LONG time. The only real downside is the relatively smelly fruit the females drop. Overall a great landscape tree to add to a city's mix.

I can't find the original study this morning, but a U of T Phd student named Eric Davies did a study a few years ago of native and non-native trees in Toronto. I found this in a media source....

Intrigued, he expanded his studies to songbirds, another vital component of every ecosystem. This time he went to Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which supports a great diversity of mature native and non-native trees well spaced apart. Eric positioned knowledgeable birders with stop watches at the four corners of chosen trees to record birds coming and going. Birds would fly into non-native ones willingly enough, but leave after four or five seconds. In native trees of the same genus, however, they entered and stayed, on average, 25 times longer. Obviously, native trees had what they needed and wanted -- something to eat.

In that study [[I will try to source the original somewhere) Ginko finished last for support native birds/insects, or at least that's my recollection.

Which is indeed why landscape architects love it. It doesn't get harassed by much. [[for now)

[Lowell]

What are the thoughts on catalpas? Lovely flowers, huge shade leaves. There is an urban prairie stretch of Lawton north of the Boulevard where catalpas reign. One also magically sprouted down behind my house about five years ago and I am happily training it to shade my chair.

From my wild catalpa.

[Dan Wesson]

My favorite trees in Detroit are all the fruit trees we would find on the lower east side. Apple, Plum, Pear, My all time favorite was the giant Mulberry tree in a yard of an abandoned house. Spent a few afternoons every summer in that tree.
Then there were the Chestnut trees with their spikey covered chestnuts. The Indian Cigar tree was cool too.
The helicopter seeds from the Maples.

Plus those trees that grew along alley fences and yards that would start out as saplings with straight "stems" that you could snap off and peel the leaves, that if you left alone would grow like a weed and be as high as the telephone poles in a coupla seasons. What they were I don't know but they were everywhere.

I'd like to think all them fruit trees had something to do with the early strip farms along the river. Some went 3 miles inland and where like 250 ft wide.

[preserve]

I feel so guilty for having to remove hundreds of little Maple trees all over my yard, but, next Spring, I'll have to do the same too. I'm sure there
are hundreds more in my eaves and am waiting for the man to clean out the gutters now. More guilt.

[Gistok]

I've always loved the Catalpa trees, a friend has a 100 ft. tree in his neighbors yard. But I had no idea how beautiful the flowers were close up. Looks a lot like Orchids!

Along Lakeshore Dr. in Grosse Pointe Farms and Shores there are a few enormous Chestnut trees. Their white flowers are an amazing sight.

[Dan Wesson]

I mentioned above above about a particular and very robust city dwelling tree...

Plus those trees that grew along alley fences and yards that would start out as saplings with straight "stems" that you could snap off and peel the leaves, that if you left alone would grow like a weed and be as high as the telephone poles in a coupla seasons. What they were I don't know but they were everywhere.

So I decide to research the webs to find out what it is.

Lo and behold...

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...840#post108840

https://www.google.com/search?q=Aila...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[bust]

Please don't plant an Ailanthus. Not only do they grow like weeds, they spread like weeds, crowding out better slower-growing varieties. And because they grow so fast their wood is soft and they become dangers to people and property during high wind. It may be the one tree Detroit has far too many of already.

Regarding oaks, after so many elms lining the street where I lived were cut down the oaks were among the last big trees still standing.

Like others have said, I suggest they are among the many better choices.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Yes, it is essentially a weed tree! For sure 'Cursed of the orchard' as referenced in the link.

Very foul foliage [[hence the name stink tree), can clog sewers, and spread to grow anywhere there's oxygen! We're always trying to fight the onslaught while they are yet saplings.

[Dumpling]

Somewhere on DetroitYes or in the archive is a thread on where to
find descendants of the "Twelve Apostles" pear trees that were planted
by the French settlers in early Detroit.

Here's a little bit on those.

http://thelastlordofparadise.blogspo...pear-tree.html

What prompted this note was I've just started reading a paperback
titled, "Michigan Apples History & Tradition" by Sharon Kegerreis.

The particular copy I have has yellowing edge covers so it sat
on a shelf with other books for a long time. The top pic shows
ladies from the mid 20th century. It was published in 2015
though!

https://www.amazon.com/Michigan-Appl...s=books&sr=1-1

[[According to a note in the book, it was taken at the 1953 Apple
Smorgasbord in or near Alpine Township.)

The book has a glossary of apple related terms in back.

INCLUDING Pomme Caille.

"Mystery apple, possibly Bourassa, which is a crossbreed of
a French variety and likely a crab apple native to Montreal."

[Dumpling]

page 18.

"The most significant growth, though, was in Detroit. In 1782,
just before the end of the Revolutionary War, the settlement had
13,770 acres under cultivation and was undeniably a sight to see.

In the 1790s, Isaac Weld Jr. noted:


The country abounds with peach, apple, and cherry orchards
the richest I ever beheld; in many of them the trees, loaded
with large apples of various dyes, appeared bent down in to
the very water. The have many different forts of excellent
apples...there is one far superior to all the rest, and which
is held in great estimation, called the pomme caille. I do not
recollect to have seen it in any other part of the world, though
doubtless it is not peculiar to this neighborhood. It is of an
extraordinary large size, and deep red colour; not confined
merely to the skin, but extending to the very core of the apple;
if the skin is taken off delicately, the fruit appears nearly as
red as when entire."