What are good trees for coastal Mid-Atlantic and New England?

[FarCenter]

The recent storm has damaged a lot of homes, cars, and utilities. Much of the damage is due to old trees being uprooted and due to limbs breaking off. In many cases, the downed trees are hollow or rotted.

Part of the problem is environmental commissions or shade tree commissions that are against the prudent trimming and removal of old and damaged trees.

However, it seems that some species are a lot better suited to standing up to wind and/or freezing rain or snow. These seem to be species that:
- don't grow too tall,
- have deep tap roots to stabilize the tree, even when the soil is wet,
- don't hollow out or rot as badly with age,
- bend, rather than break, even in cold weather,

Some of the more native trees, such as holly, Virginia cedar and scrub oak seem to fare pretty well. Pin oaks are good but get too tall. Beech and sycamore seem to hold up well.

However, there are too many Norway maples, silver maples, white pines, and other species that are short lived and break easily.

Does anyone know of a reference that addresses which species are the best for ice and windstorm resistance?

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Try arborday.org

http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/advancedsearch.cfm

[FarCenter]

4. They mainly deal with cultivation and aesthetics

I couldn't find any way to search on practical parameters like resistance to uprooting, wind breakage or ice loading breakage.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Sorry it didn't help. I saw it included height and spread, which is our big concern here ...

got to keep them clear of the power lines.

[Lyric]

2. Poplars, locust trees, cottonwoods...

I live in West Virginia and those trees all grow well and thrive here. I've never seen one killed by an ice storm, either.

[annabanana]

3. It's hard to find "deep tap root" trees for coastal locations...

I live on what is, essentially, a sand bar with about 12-18 inches of topsoil on it. A deep tap root would hit and & salt water.

The trees that are more apt to thrive are those that spread their roots out wide.

[damyank913]

5. I'm in VA,on the coast, and Japanese Maples and Crepe Myrtles do well .

They both get about 20-30 feet high and round. They also give you great color.

[Vinca]

6. We've lost pine trees and hemlock trees to heavy, wet snow this year,

but the Norway maples and sugar maples have held up just fine. (Southwest New Hampshire.)

[SPedigrees]

7. In northern New England, maples and apple/crabapple trees

do very well and do not break easily. Flowering crabapples are particularly lovely in spring, and like other apple trees, they are fairly small trees and less likely to fall victim to storms.

White pines, spruce, quaking aspens do equally well, but are soft woods, so more vulnerable to high winds. White birch trees thrive here but will break at the drop of a hat. (Will also regenerate, however.)

Close to the coast, it's probably a different story.

[zipplewrath]

8. Oak

Oak trees, of a local variety, might work well. The best unfortunately for you would be the very slow growing kind.

[Umbral]

10. The Larch. nt

[pipoman]

12. you beat me to it...

[Mugu]

11. Ginkgo. n/t

[pipoman]

13. I don't know how they would grow there

but I like osage orange and black locust out here on the plains. They are unbelievably hearty, and wicked effective as shelter belts if done correctly. We are on a 10+ year effort to build a traditional hedge row with osage orange, "Horse high, bull strong and hog tight" as they say...

[marions ghost]

14. depends

if you are in a city or suburban location. And if you are right on the coast or more inland. Consult
a state university near you that has a strong horticulture dept, or a local botanical garden with an arboretum.

You are onto it by identifying those that fare badly and looking for the stronger ones. Never use Leyland Cypress, Bradford Pears, or white pine.

It's not true that "hardwoods fare better"--it just depends on the situation. If the roots of the hardwoods aren't able to grow enough, they can get tall but can easily topple. Oaks and Maples are still good choices, in the right locations. Oaks and beeches were the mainstays of the native mid-Atlantic forests.

If the trees do bend or break, you want to look for "good comeback" --they repair themselves well. Scale the trees correctly for your situation. Smaller ones if the space is limited, larger ones further from the house if you have more room.

If you are mid-Atlantic on the coast (where I come from), try some

Quercus coccinea (Scarlet Oak)
Quercus phellos (Willow Oak)
Nyssa sylvatica (Black gum, Black tupelo, Sourgum)
Cladrastis kentukea (American Yellowwood)
Chionanthus retusus (Chinese Fringe Tree)
Chionanthus virginicus (White Fringe Tree)
Styrax japonicus (Japanese Snowbell)
Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula' (Weeping Katsura)
Amelanchier various (Serviceberry)
Styrax obassia (Fragrant Snowbell)
Stewartia pseudocamellia (Japanese Stewartia)

-------------------------

Yes, Beeches and Sycamores are good (the Sycamores shed balls & bark tho & require a moist location). you might try the Gingko--very strong, and katsura. And tulip poplars (more southern).

The magnolia grandiflora (or the smaller Little Gem)--if you are anywhere below the Mason-Dixon, is very rugged and withstands all sorts of wind, drought & pestilence. Small flowering trees--dogwoods, redbud, crabapple, star and saucer deciduous magnolia, service berry, fringe tree, crepe myrtle, chaste tree, witch hazel, japanese apricot (prunus mume). Here's a good reference for Prunus Mume, from the excellent NC State University Arboretum (great for help with the mid-Atlantic species):

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/1995wi_midwinter.html

For conifers: Cedars & junipers--several sp out there incl. Japanese cedar (cryptomeria japonica--several good ones, evergreen), Deodar Cedar. Bald Cypress & Dawn Redwood (metasequoia) are deciduous conifers. Further north the Larch is also a deciduous conifer. For uplands & Piedmont there's the evergreen Hemlock. These are all very rugged trees. I still like Virginia pines.

Here's something about the effects of global warming on mid-Atlantic vegitation:

http://www.climatehotmap.org/impacts/midatlantic.html