tree landscape

6 Beautiful Trees That Also Make a Mess!

Many trees have interesting foliage and make beautiful specimens in the landscape. They also create a significant mess either through dropped blossoms or fruit, peeling or shedding bark, or insect pests. It’s important to perform sufficient research before selecting a tree.

Bradford Pear

Stately and beautiful when it’s in bloom, spent flower petals will litter the ground and the blossoms are smelly. It’s a prolific self-sower that easily overwhelms wooded areas and chokes out native species. Many states have enacted bans due to its highly invasive nature. When it crosses with a regular pear, it develops thorns that can puncture tires. The trees have weak branches.

Weeping Willow

Many people like the graceful growth habit of weeping willows, but the trees bring a lot of drama to the landscape. The roots are aggressive growers that seek out water sources – including underground water and sewer lines. The roots can destroy the lines, crack foundations and break sidewalks. Branches become weaker as the tree ages and prone to breakage. They attract a variety of insect pests that leave their own messy mark on the environment.

Mimosa

Puffy pink flowers and frilly leaves make the mimosa a charming tree. However, it’s short lived, weak wooded, has invasive roots, and is prone to multiple diseases and insects. They’re also prolific self-seeders.

Ginkgo Biloba

One of the oldest living species in the world, they make beautiful shade trees with golden fall foliage – as long as it’s a male ginkgo. The female ginkgo tree develops seeds with a distinctly unpleasant odor. The cherry-sized fruit is messy and malodorous. It’s the only descendant of a species that lived before the dinosaurs and there are six known ginkgo trees known to have survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

Red Oak

A red oak tree can live up to 300 years. They have invasive roots, shed a large number of leaves, and produce acorns that litter the ground in autumn and are capable of denting car roofs when they fall. That have a large number of pollen-bearing catkins that fall to the ground and exacerbate allergies.

Sycamore

The trees shed strips of bark and twigs, drop an enormous number of very large leaves in the autumn, and have hard, spiky seed balls that fall to the ground. The seed pods are moderately allergenic and contain a toxic agent. It has an aggressive root system able to damage sidewalks and home foundations, and can develop large surface roots that impede mowing. It’s prone to heartwood rot and the anthracnose disease that can cause massive leaf drops.

RCH Landscaping is a full-service landscape company based in Boca Raton, Florida. We design, install and maintain Commercial and Residential landscapes all around Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and The Palm Beach areas. Our team of highly skilled landscape technicians has an undisputed track record of creating and maintaining beautiful commercial and residential landscapes all over South Florida.

Contact RCH Landscaping Today for a Free Estimate

561-779-9760

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5 Low Maintenance Trees in Florida

Dozens of trees grow well in the South Florida landscape, but some require a considerable amount of maintenance and produce nuts or fruit that can be messy and sticky. The following are 5 low-maintenance trees for the Florida landscape that provide beauty and shade.

Dogwood

The dogwood tree is well-known for its spring blossoms. Highly adaptable, multiple types are available and some have variegated foliage. The Asian Kousa dogwood has a slightly different appearance than the traditional dogwood and has the advantage of being resistant to anthracnose. Kousa dogwood bloom colors are available in white, light pink and deep pink. The trees are undemanding trees, highly ornamental, and the only real “mess” they create is when they shed their leaves in the autumn.

Eastern Redbud

The tree provides a striking display of white or dark pink blooms in the spring. It’s actually a close relative of peanuts, tamarind and other types of legumes. Highly attractive to bees, birds and butterflies, it grows from 20 to 30 ft. and can be single or multi-stemmed. Breeding programs have produced varieties with leaves of yellow, lime green, purplish-red, bronze and burgundy. They’re resistant to drought once established and light pruning is all that’s needed.

Fern Pine Tree

The fern pine isn’t really a pine and is best reserved for large areas. It can grow 50 to 65 ft. tall with a trunk of 2 to 3 ft. in diameter if left alone. Professionals know how to prune it to a modest 20 to 30 ft. and it can also be espaliered. It’s a native of Eastern Africa with long, narrow leaves that can be 4 inches long when the tree is mature. Blooms are inconspicuous and the berry-like fruits are fleshy and contain a single seed. A moderately fast grower, it can live up to 150 years.

Sweetbay Magnolia

Unlike the Southern Magnolia, Sweetbay Magnolia won’t litter the lawn with spent bloom petals or seed pods. It will shed a few leaves throughout the season and it’s resistant to a variety of insect pests and diseases. The tree has highly fragrant white blooms and the glossy leaves have a frosted appearance on the underside. The seeds provide a food source for a wide variety of birds.

Shady Lady Black Olive

Desirable for shade and beauty, it can have an awkward appearance when young that’s remedied with light pruning. It features yellowish-beige flowers in the spring that many say gives the tree the appearance of being frosted with brown sugar. It’s salt-tolerant and can grow to 30 ft. The Shady Lady variety is the newest and most improved cultivar of the species, but it’s not actually related to olive trees and doesn’t produce olives.

RCH Landscaping is a full-service landscape company based in Boca Raton, Florida. We design, install and maintain Commercial and Residential landscapes all around Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and The Palm Beach areas. Our team of highly skilled landscape technicians has an undisputed track record of creating and maintaining beautiful commercial and residential landscapes all over South Florida.

Contact RCH Landscaping Today for a Free Estimate

561-779-9760

Read more
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