Flooding is hard on trees. But it's harder on some trees than others. Many live oaks in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast survived the flooding of Hurricane Katrina -- as they had survived many hurricanes before. Their species is adapted to the stormy, soggy conditions of the Gulf Coast.
So if your yard is in a low spot that often is soggy, or if it is in a downright flood plain, it's wise to choose trees that have evolved for those circumstances, I was told by Kris Bachtell, director of collections and grounds at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, and Kunso Kim, curator of living collections there. "Plants that grow along the streamside are adapted to periodic flooding," Kim says.
River birch can easily survive a period of standing water over its root zone, for instance, but white birch can't stand poor drainage at all.
Other trees good for flood-prone areas around here, according to Bachtell: black tupelo, silver maple, Freeman maple, red maple, bald cypress, plane tree or even pin oak if your soil is acid enough.
Green ash is a great floodplain tree, Bachtell says. But sadly, the coming of the emerald ash borer means that the days of planting ashes are over.
This post is part of The Chicago Gardener, a blog of the Chicago Tribune. See more posts about weather here and trees here.
We live in the floodplain along the Kankakee River. We have a Hackberry tree in the lower portion of our yard which incurs high water occasionally when the river overflows its banks. Our Hackberry is tall, straight, and hardy. Therefore, we are considering planting a few more in that area of our yard. Could you please provide your comments on the use of Hackberry trees?
Posted by: | Aug 29, 2007 9:54:00 AM
It so happens that we have a young hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) in the parkway in front of our building. It is a very nice tree, a native species, and I'm told it does tolerate temporary flooding. Two things, though: 1) it is susceptible to hackberry nipple gall, and our tree has it.
Posted by: Beth Botts | Aug 29, 2007 4:39:34 PM
This infestation does no serious harm and most people don't even notice. But it does make bumps all over the leaves.
2) It's a bad idea to plant all hackberries, or all of any species. That's a monoculture, and it makes the trees sitting ducks for any new disease or pest that comes along. The Dutch elm disease, for example, was able to devastate cities because a single species, American elms, had been planted in long, stately rows. The virus could effortlessly spread it from tree to tree. Foresters learned their lesson and now you see a wide variety of trees in parkways and parks.
Unfortunately, a large proportion of the trees they planted instead of elms are ashes, and now the emerald ash borer is getting ready to mow down ashes because it can fly far enough to get from ash to ash.
Moral of the story: Mix up your tree species. That way, if a pest comes along that infests one species, it won't spread so easily and you likely won't lose all your trees. Plant a mix.
A good place to start is the Morton Arboretum Tree and Shrub Selection Guide,
Beth, thanks so much for your comments. Our Hackberry does have some bumps on its leaves. We thought it was normal. You're right, there's no effect on the overall appearance and the squirrels still love the leaves. We'll take your advise and mix up our species. Thanks also for the useful links.
Posted by: | Aug 30, 2007 2:32:09 PM
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