Ready for a foliage Friday update? I hope so! Here is your friendly plant post, where I talk about a plant I love and hopefully convince you to either plant it or just be more knowledgeable about it.
Plant: Black gum or Tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica
Why: This is one of the prettiest trees in the fall, in my opinion. It is a BRIGHT red color and I think it is just wonderful! My parents have a tree in their yard that (in my opinion) needs to be removed and I would love to replace it with this tree. It can be a little hard to grow from a large transplant, but I think it is totally worth it in the end. There are a lot of yellows in our neighborhood, and we need some more reds!
Landscape uses: The black gum is more common in southern United States, but is hardy to zone 4. (North of my area.) They can be a little difficult to grow from transplant, but I think that may be more of a reputation that the actual truth. If you stick to a smaller transplant in balled and burlapped form, it does better. It has a pyramid shape, which is nice for a tree lawn or street tree. In the summer it has a nice, dark green foliage color. It gets to be 30-50 feet tall in its maturity and offers excellent shade for summer. :) It's a little on the slow growing side, so patience is a must! It can have some rust or leaf spot problems, but both are pretty easy to control.
Other uses: From what I have learned about this tree and researched about it, I have not been able to find any other uses besides a landscape tree for shape and excellent fall color.
Fun facts: Fall foliage can range from yellow to orange to red to almost purple. Talk about a party in your front yard during fall! Sorry that the fun facts are also lacking a little bit!
Information and pictures from: http://www.hort.net, http://www.hort.uconn.edu
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