Lovely trees
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLY Flowering pear trees on Anne's Way

In 1914, Joyce Kilmer wrote an ode called "Trees."
"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest against the Earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear a nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; who intimately lives in rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."

Planting trees in your yard has many benefits beyond their aesthetic beauty and grace. Shade trees can keep a home five degrees cooler in summer and lose their leaves in the winter when you want sun to stream into the house. Evergreens planted on the north side of a house will reduce heating bills because they block

the wind and also provide a visual and noise barrier if a home is near a road or bike path.

Trees help the environment because they remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen. They provide a shady place to sit outside, protected from the sun's harmful rays, and they increase a property's value.

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Sycamore tree

"They are a lot nicer than fences and hedges," said Eric Schurm, owner of Nantucket Trees, who stressed that native trees are the best choice for Nantucket's climate and soil.

"We are one of the top 40 places in the United States for bird watching. So many come through here on migration. Nantucket trees provide sustenance for them, and native plants don't need irrigation," he said.

Schurm and Jim Cook, an arborist with Bartlett Tree Experts, named the trees they recommend in the categories of shade trees, flowering trees, fruitbearing trees and evergreens, as well as offered some cautions about potential diseases and problems that can affect certain species.

Schurm, Cook and John Davey, owner of Instant Shade, discussed what is entailed in tree moving if a homeowner wants a mature variety well on its way to a maximum height.

In the group of shade trees, Schurm prefers the native pin oak, which can grow to 70 to 80-feet high in town where there is more protection from harsh wind and salt air. Schurm recommends planting shade trees on the east and west sides of a house for sun blockage. He also likes the native choke cherry that may reach 50 feet, has small white flowers in summer and then produces cherries in autumn that birds like to eat.

Sycamore is another shade tree that has been successful on Nantucket and can grow to 60 feet. Swamp maple is a native that may reach 50 feet and has leaves that change color in the fall.

Schurm said he has a friend who was able to make maple syrup from a swamp maple here.

Norway maple also does well on the island, but Schurm said sugar maples do not react well to salt spray.

Cook said English oak does well on the island and if properly maintained, linden is an additional consideration along with elms. Elms cannot be pruned in the summer or they may become infected with Dutch elm disease carried by a beetle attracted to the pruning.

Cook likes the red maple for a shade tree, although its growth can be weather driven and it can develop tar spot, a fungus that turns the leaf margins brown.

The London plane tree is similar to a sycamore but has a darker bark.

Cook said that is the type of tree in the Grand Union parking lot and it must be treated yearly to avoid the fungus, anthracnose, which curls the leaves and causes them to die.

Ash do well here. They can reach 20 to 30 feet and have a feathery leaf.

"There's lots of fungi on Nantucket. Pretty much, there is going to be a disease for every tree, but I do like the honey locust. They can withstand the salt air and for the most part they are a hardy species," said Cook. "Other trees that do well here, but you don't see often are yellow wood, a shade tree that can grow to 25 feet, and has a smooth bark like beech and a pretty growth habit. There is one near the Civil War monument on Main Street. The golden rain tree has nice flowering and fruiting features and grows to 30 feet and as wide as it is tall. It gives you that kind of Sahara tree look."

Flowering trees, which in some instances may reach 50 feet, include the kwanzan cherry which has deep pink flowers, but only lasts about 30 years before the trunk begins to crack and fungus can set in.

Cook said cool, moist spring weather can bring on blossom blight, a fungus that was fairly serious this year. And, kwanzans can be subject to white peach scale, an insect that penetrates the bark and can kill branches.

Cleveland and Bartlett pear trees are similar in appearance and have white flowers.

Cook noted, however, that pear trees can blow over because they hold their leaves into the fall, which has a sail-effect in strong northeast winds. If a tree blows over and is uprooted, if the roots crack, the tree will not survive.

Cook added that pear trees have brittle wood called "bad branch unions," are prone to branch and stem failure and can get a bacteria called fire blight that may kill them.

The kousa dogwood is another flowering tree Schurm likes and said is very popular for its pretty white flowers. Magnolia trees have a number of different colored flowers and may reach 30 feet here. Crabapple also has varying flower colors and animals, especially deer, enjoy the fruit.

Besides the pears, Schurm said apple and mulberry trees do well, but it is not always easy to obtain storebought perfect fruit because they do need some weather protection and dislike salt spray.

There are also some purpleleafed plums on Nantucket, though Schurm said he has not seen a lot of fruit trees overall.

Evergreens are hardy and keep their color in winter. Eastern red cedar is one both Schurm and Cook recommend, and it produces berries for the birds.

"I agree with Eric when he says native red cedars," said Cook. "Those are probably the best for taking the abuse of the wind, sandy soil or salty air. They don't have to be native, but they can't be from down south because those can't take to the wind or sandy soil here."

Other evergreens to consider are Austrian pine which looks similar to Japanese pine, but is hardier and more resistant to blight, said Schurm, although Cook said Austrian pine is susceptible to the black turpentine beetle.

A popular evergreen now is Leyland cypress, Schurm said, which grows quickly at about two or three feet a year. Islanders also like Norway spruce and Colorado blue spruce.

"They are the really nice spruce trees with needles that go 360 degrees around each branch. Those are the ones that do well and are very popular," said Schurm, who noted that he avoids all the weeping tree varieties. "In the whole feng shui of houses, they bring sadness. They're not reaching for the sky."

Schurm said soil composition, such as clay, sand or dampness are conditions to consider when choosing a tree that will be successful in your location, along with the exposure factor.

"Growth tips will die back if [some] trees are exposed to a lot of wind," he said. "I see that quite a bit where people plant ornamental trees on a bluff and they don't do well there."

The fall, winter or early spring are the best seasons to move trees, said Schurm, because the process deprives trees of too much vital energy when they are putting forth leaves and "transpiring" in hot weather by taking in water through their roots that evaporates from their leaves. If a replanted tree is large it should be staked with guy wires, then watered regularly until its root system is established. Fertilizer to encourage root growth is also recommended. Further consideration should be given to the wind and light conditions the tree experienced in its prior location.

"A lot of the trees I move would be killed if I didn't move them," Schurm said, explaining that some property owners want them removed because of construction or lawn plans.

"My motto is, don't cut that tree — save it, sell it, move it."

Davey specializes in moving trees and has equipment capable of moving trees up to 40 feet tall with a 12-inch trunk diameter. He said he has been in the business since 1980 and has moved thousands of island trees in the past 15 years, including delivering hundreds of oaks to a

Pocomo site a few years ago.

"We've done it all," he said. "We do the cabling so the wind doesn't blow them over in the wintertime and all the trees are irrigated. Our biggest thing is recreation of natural habitat. I save plants and put them in a holding area and then have them cared for and available for replanting."

Cook offers a closing word of advice when it comes to choosing a tree and his comment on why trees matter.

"Get a small tree. The smaller the tree, the better it is going to do. It is going to be more vigorous and it's going to adapt better," he said. "Trees beautify our little island here." I