Maintaining the Allées at My Farm
I love planting allées of trees - they look so beautiful and dramatic along the carriage roads around my Bedford, New York farm.
In landscaping, an allée, or an avenue, is traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side. In most cases, the trees planted are the same species or cultivar, so as to give a uniform appearance along the full length of the allée. Over the years I’ve designed several, including my allée of pin oaks near my Equipment Barn, my linden tree allée near the stable, and my long allée of boxwood. This week, my gardeners have been doing some maintenance work on the two newest allées here at the farm - one along a carriage road leading to what I call my "Contemporary House" and another along the hay field road to the woodlands. These allées are developing so nicely - they will look majestic when mature.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Along the carriage road adjacent to my Equipment Barn, I have a mature allee of pin oaks. It is one of the first allees I planted when I purchased my farm. Pin oak, Quercus palustris, is native east of the Mississippi River and hardy in zones 4 to 8. It is a full, ovate shaped tree with a growth rate of about two feet per year making it one of the faster-growing oak trees. One of the tree’s most distinguishable traits is that its lower branches hang down, while the middle branches reach out horizontally and the upper branches grow upright. These trees are beautiful in every season.
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- Another allee is my linden allee near my peafowl and pigeon pens, close to my stable. Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape.
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- This newer linden allee runs from the old corn crib to my allée of boxwood.
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- I love these linden tree allées and have always wished they were longer, so I decided to extend the newer one all the way down to the chicken coops – I am so pleased with how well it is growing. In time, this section will be as full as the original half.
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- And, here is my long boxwood allee leading to my stable. This photo was taken in July. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. It is a very versatile plant that provides strong shape and rich green color.
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- Over the last couple of years, I planted two more allees. Hard to see here because the trees are still young, but we planted 104 pin oaks along both sides of the carriage road leading to my “Contemporary House.” In time these will be big and beautiful.
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- The leaves of the pin oak have deep indentations, making them look skinny. They have about five to seven lobes each and are about six inches long. Pin oak is known for the gorgeous fall color. These leaves are just starting to turn.
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- In the fall, they have deep red or scarlet hues. Sometimes, the foliage turns more of a yellow or bronze color in fall; however, once the fall color display is done, pin oaks often retain brown leaves, which persist on the tree through winter. The leaves on young trees like these sometimes change color earlier.
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- Here’s Brian with some stronger wooden stakes to replace the bamboo stakes we originally planted with these young trees.
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- This location is quite far from our greenhouses and Equipment Barn, so I always instruct the crew to bring all the tools they need. I give each crew member a personal bag filled with tools for working around the gardens.
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- Brian replaces all the stakes, hammering each one down sturdily next to the young tree. I stake all young trees to protect them as they develop and to make them move visible when weed whacking around them.
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- Meanwhile, Ryan prunes the trees. He prunes the lower branches and cuts just outside the branch collar to avoid damaging the trunk and compromising any wound responses. A good structure of primary branches should be established while the tree is young.
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- On this tree, Ryan finds two leader stems. There should be only a single stem. That one leader should be vigorous, well attached, and vertical. Ryan selects the best and strongest of the two and prunes out the other.
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- Here is a young pin oak well-pruned and well-staked. When maintaining young trees, hold off on pruning until the second or third year to be sure it has recovered from the stress of transplanting. In time these trees will all look very handsome. Pin oaks prefer moist, rich, well-drained acid soil and full sun.
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- Last year, we planted this allee along the carriage road through my lower hay fields. It is planted with London planes and smoke bushes. The London plane is of hybrid origin – it is the offspring of two different species, the American sycamore and the Oriental plane. In all, we planted 46 London plane trees in this allee. London planes grow in almost any soil – acidic or alkaline, loamy, sandy or clay. They accept wet or dry soil and grow best in full sun, but they also thrive in partial shade.
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- The London plane tree with maple-like leaves grows to roughly 75 to 100 feet with a spread of 60 to 75 feet.
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- We also planted 100 smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria – a deciduous shrub that’s also commonly known as royal purple smoke bush, smoke tree, and purple smoke tree. There are two potted smoke bushes between each London plane. These specimens were all purchased as small whips – slender, unbranched shoots or plants. I like to nurture them for a year or two in pots before placing them in the ground – this way they are planted as bigger, stronger specimens. Since they were planted, they have already grown quite a bit. The entire allee bed is newly weeded and raked.
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- Cotinus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. The stunning dark red-purple foliage turns scarlet in autumn and has plume-like seed clusters, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
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- Ryan secures more twine to this tree. London planes grow fast in almost any soil. They also develop massive trunks with spreading crowns, so they need lots of space to develop.
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- When securing a tree, the knots used should be very simple. I always teach every member of the crew to twist the twine into a figure eight before knotting, so the tree or vine or cane is not crushed or strangled.
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- Here is a closer look at the twine well-tied to the stake. Ryan checks all the trees in the allee to ensure they are secured. These plantings are in the middle of an open field, so it is important to make sure they are properly supported.
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- And here is a view of both sides of the London plane allee. I am excited to see it develop and flourish. This allee will be a lovely addition to my garden tours.
Martha Pins
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