Talking Trees with Davey Tree
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Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Fragrant Trees: The Good and the Not-So-Good
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Kyle Mack, district manager of Davey's Arborguard, a Davey company, Atlanta office, talks about different trees with strong smells, both good and bad, and breaks down what makes each one stand out.
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Welcome to the Deby Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oester. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees Podcast, we know trees are the answer. I'm joined today by Kyle Mack. He's a district manager for ArborGuard, a Davy company in Augusta, Georgia. And today I'm excited. It's all about fragrant trees. And before we came in, Kyle said fragrant trees, both good and bad. I didn't think of that, Kyle. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00I'm doing well, Doug. It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_01So again, before we came on, I told him about how bad our winter was up here. How was your winter in Georgia?
Georgia's winter
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, it was it was a little chillier, uh, a little colder than than usual. I think we had some some cold snaps that um, you know, and it may not be over yet. You know, in the southeast, we're prone to getting that that late spring freeze. Uh so hopefully that doesn't damage too many of our flowering trees out there.
SPEAKER_01You're breaking my heart. I was under 12 inches of snow up here just a few weeks ago. Uh so when we're talk thinking
Finding the right spot to plant
SPEAKER_01about uh fragrant trees, of course we always have to say we have to find the right spot for it. So when we do discuss these different varieties, you need to make sure that uh you know where it's gonna go and where it's gonna be happy, right?
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, tree selection and and tree location is is key. Um you know, fortunately, a lot of our our flowering trees for the most part are on the smaller size uh versus a lot of your your hardwoods and pines that get you know huge canopies um you know for for shade coverage. So, you know, that there's benefits uh to every tree. Um and a lot of us are looking for trees that provide some visual aesthetics, some flowers and blooms, and and potentially might smell nice as well. Um and like you said, you know, there's some good ones out there, and there's also some bad ones out there.
SPEAKER_01Um I can't wait to hear about this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we can we can dive right in if you want. Um yeah, let's start with good or bad. Let's let's go ahead and get the bad out of the way, right? Um fortunately, I feel like there's less bad smelling trees out there. Um there's more good ones, uh, which is nice
Bad Smelling Trees
SPEAKER_00to know. Um, you know, I'm I'm here in the southeast in Georgia, and
Bradford pear
SPEAKER_00the the number one bad tree that kind of stands out uh to most people um is the Bradford pear, right? The Bradford pear was heavily utilized as a landscape tree back in the 70s and 80s. Um, you know, the the the downside uh in addition to the the fragrance um you know is the structure of Bradford pears. Uh they have a tendency to have a lot of limb failure. Um they're they're very dense wood, but um they they fail quite often. Um but they do put out a beautiful white bloom in spring. Uh it's actually going on right now. And you know, the the fortunate thing is it doesn't last very long because it's one of the stinkiest smelling trees that you can probably have in your landscape. Um, so the blooms only last a couple weeks. Um, but you know, it's pretty, but people sell say that it it can smell like rotten fish, you know. So um it's not the most pleasant to smell.
SPEAKER_01Let's stop and and talk Bradford Pear a little bit. Sure. Are they still getting planted down there? Are people still planting them? Uh, because they still are planting them up here, even though arborists can't stand them and they do fail with that wheat crotch.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. Not so much down here in the southeast. Um, people are, you know, staying away from planting new ones for the most part. There actually are a few municipalities around Atlanta that are um putting it on the undesirable list. Um, so when you're trying to get a planting approval through a city municipality, they may say um, you know, it it that's not one that's gonna be allowed. So it's getting better.
SPEAKER_01Good, good. All right, what's next on your
Gingko
SPEAKER_01list?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the next one, um, you know, again, another beautiful tree, particularly in the fall, uh, because of its uh change in leaf color is the ginkgo. Um, ginkgos have a beautiful fall yellow color, but it's it's been said, you know, when when the fruit uh after it fruits and it's it's shedding its leaves for the fall and the winter, and the fruit and the leaves hit the ground, if they get crushed, um they can say that it smells like rotten butter or even vomit, you know. So uh the ginkgo is one that I think I'd put on the stinky list. Um, even though it's actually one of my favorite trees out there. I I love the look of a ginkgo tree, um, as long as you can tolerate that kind of that false smell um if the the leaves and the fruit get crushed.
SPEAKER_01Remind me on the ginkgo. Which one has the fruit, which male or female?
SPEAKER_00So it's the female uh that that has the fruit. Um and and that's the one, you know, you need to have both for them to really cross-pollinate. Um, but it's the female. If you have one close by, a male that's close by, then it can pollinate that female, and the female is going to generate some fruit.
SPEAKER_01And the idea is you try to only plant the males, is that right?
SPEAKER_00Or no, yeah. If you can, yeah, yeah. Um, and you know, sometimes I think uh it's a little harder to verify from a nursery which one that you might be getting. Um you know, it's it's one of those that I think um if you have it close by, you you're gonna get some cross pollination eventually.
SPEAKER_01So but it's the ginkgo is a tough tree, and as you said, it really is a beautiful fall tree.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, it is. It's one of my favorites. Um you know, the structure of it, um, if you prune it as it's young and and as it's developing and maturing, um, you really can have a beautiful tree. And actually, just down the road from where I live, there's one of the largest ginkgos um in my area. And it's just absolutely gorgeous during the fall. The third
Ailanthus
SPEAKER_00one that I have on the stinky list um is the the alianthus, the the tree of heaven. And they call it that because of you know how quickly it grows. Um it's it's gonna get up to that sunlight pretty rapidly. Um it's also the males um that when when they flower, um people sell it say it can smell like um rancid peanut butter or you know, just have a musty smell uh to them. Um again, you know, most of these flowering trees that are on the stinky list still are beautiful trees, um, you know, when they are flowering. Uh and I feel like the Eleanthus is one of those. It's uh when it blooms, it's it's a beautiful bloom. Um as long as you can kind of handle that that musty smell.
SPEAKER_01You know, I have one growing, uh a bunch of them growing in my little forest, and they're really super tall.
SPEAKER_00I never smell the the flowers, so uh lucky because I don't want I think that's it's kind of um you know a personal thing when it comes to the scent. You know, some some are gonna smell it more than others, it just depends on how how prone you are to that. Um, you know, I don't particularly smell the alianthus either. Um you know, so it's just kind of one of those personal things, I think. Right. The other one
White spruce
SPEAKER_00that I've got on here too is actually uh a spruce tree, an evergreen spruce. It's a white spruce. Um you know, they when you when you crush the needles of it, uh they say it can be reminiscent of a skunk smell, a skunky type smell. So um, you know, again, it's uh it's a beautiful tree uh when it's at maturity, and it's really just when the the needles are getting crushed uh or broken that you kind of get that pungent, skunky odor from them. Uh and then
Chinese chestnut
SPEAKER_00uh Chinese chestnut. It's again one of those pretty rapidly seeding trees. Uh they just kind of sprout up a lot like the alianthus out there. Um, you know, but it uh can also have a foul type odor to it.
SPEAKER_01All right, Kyle. We've talked about all the stinky trees. Now I want to hear about all the sweet fragrance that we enjoy when these trees are
Good Smelling Trees
SPEAKER_01doing their thing.
SPEAKER_00Sure, yeah. And being in the southeast, I would say the
Southern magnolia
SPEAKER_00number one tree that most people would consider the best smelling tree out there would be your southern magnolia, magnolia graniflora. Uh again, it's got a beautiful white bloom, um, sweet honey scent to it, uh, and it just proliferates around the southeast when they're in bloom. Um, so I think that would probably be number one on people's minds. Um thing about magnolias, they are kind of a messy tree. You know, they're constantly dropping leaves all year long. The you know, leaves aren't uh easily cleaned up, they can kind of make a mess. You know, the trick with magnolias, uh grandifloras, is give them enough room, right? It is a large tree. Um, it needs to have the space, it needs to have a large planting bed underneath it. Um, but if you can give it all those things, then you know it's a great tree for the landscape.
SPEAKER_01Kyle, uh for you, that's like a normal tree and an amazing tree for the south. We can barely grow them up here. There's only a few, and no one knows why they grow up here. There's like one here and one there. And uh we we treasure them up here. Uh, and I'm I know you treasure them down there too, but uh for us, we're we're just we're barely able to grow them. There are some kind of new hardy varieties now that they're coming out with that we're excited about here. We want to grow that tree so bad up in the north.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's um the I I'm not sure the exact zones. I believe it's something six to nine, seven to nine is where it does the best. Um, but like you said, I mean, there's there's other cultivars out there. Um, and some of the deciduous magnolias or saucer magnolias, maybe you can grow some of those um up where you're at. But you know, they have slightly a uh lesser time frame of bloom. It's kind of like the Bradford pear where they they really only stick around for a few weeks. Um, but those can also have a really nice scent when you get into the deciduous magnolias as well.
SPEAKER_01We can grow all those other magnolias, but we want to grow the southern magnolia because we can't grow it here. That's that's yeah, that's like trying to grow a fig tree. Same idea. It's because we can't grow it that we want to grow it.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, I know. It's um it's one of those things, Mother Nature. Um,
Cherry
SPEAKER_00the other one, though, that you guys might be able to grow, I'm not sure how cherry trees do up for you guys. Um, you know, I lived out in LA uh and they were, you know, of course, you can grow almost anything out in LA, but um, the cherries out there were just you know loaded with blooms, full of fragrance. Um, you got the Kwanzan cherry that has kind of like an almond-y type scent to it. Um the okami is one that has like just a really nice light floral scent. Uh, and even the Yoshino, they actually say that that's supposedly the strongest um smelling of all three of those. Um, but I think any of your cherries,
Crabapple
SPEAKER_00uh, and then you can even get into crab apple trees. I personally don't notice much of the fragrance from a crab apple. Um, you know, it's it's there's there is a blight that kind of hits crab apples as well, uh, that kind of makes it difficult to grow them very well uh down here. But you know, the crab apple is one that people say has a nice fragrance to it.
SPEAKER_01We have the same problem with crab apples up here. Do you? Yeah, it's uh apples scab, it's it's apples scab, and every year they seem to defoliate. Uh but we love the spring blossoms. I've never caught the fragrance off them, really, but again, it's it's a like you said, it's a personal thing. Some people, I'm sure, really love that fragrance.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um a lot of
Linden
SPEAKER_00these are you know early spring bloomers. One that's a little bit later in spring or even into the summer that people say has a nice fragrance to it is the Linden tree. Um you know, that's gotta again, it's a larger tree. I think when it's blooming, it's kind of hard to, you know, really get that fragrance because a lot of the blooms are going to be a little higher up. But you know, when it it gets those um kind of droopy uh blooms off of the petiole, and you know, it's a big pollinator tree, uh helps with bringing in hummingbirds and and bees and butterflies and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01So I gotta share my uh Linden story with you. Whenever that tree comes up, I had a friend that was a gardener at uh an amusement park here in Pittsburgh, and they had a big stand of Lindens, and she said that it was so fragrant that she couldn't stand working underneath those trees because it was so strong. So uh be careful what you wish for, Kyle.
SPEAKER_00That's right. Yeah, I mean, there's you know, to to each his own, right? There's goods and bads with everything. Um, but yeah, I mean it's um you know, if you have one and it's it's something that you uh are prone to, I guess it can it can be a little overpowering, you know. Um, you know, another one
Citrus
SPEAKER_00that can get overpowering as well is I mean, all your citrus trees. I mean, but they they smell beautiful. I love the smell of citrus. Your oranges and lemon trees and and those types of uh citrus flowering trees are I think great for the landscape. Now depends on your zone again. You know, it's it's hard to grow uh a lot of citrus down where I live. If you're out west, it's it's a little easier. Um but yeah, that that's a good one. Um the
Plumeria
SPEAKER_00other one that I think out west uh or coastal areas is your plumeria tree. Um if you have a plumeria, they uh just are beautiful in general. They have a uh star, a white star flower, uh, but just smell unbelievable. It's just a sweet, um pleasant smell. I've always loved having plumerias around. One that's
Golden chain
SPEAKER_00kind of on the the short-lived uh list as far as the the flower and the bloom is uh its common name is the golden chain tree. Um it has a really beautiful yellow cluster of blooms that hangs down from the canopy. Um again, more of a sweet, fragrant, uh honey type smell, but um, you know, short-lived, only probably a a week or two at the most. But that that's one. And one that
Black locust
SPEAKER_00kind of has a little rosy scent is the the black locust. Um that's a tree that grows pretty well down here in the south. And you know, again, it's kind of got um people say it smells a lot like vanilla. Um, so that that tree uh can be you know quite pleasing um to the scent, and you know, gets a cluster of white flowers as well. Um, you know, again, medium-sized tree, not huge. Um really
Jeffrey pine
SPEAKER_00the last one I was gonna mention was one that I actually um came across during some travels out west. Uh it it grows in higher elevations, about 5,000 feet or higher. Uh it's an evergreen, it's actually a pine tree, uh, and it's the the Jeffrey pine. Um cool thing about that pine is it's the bark that smells, it's not the flower. Uh so the bark itself, if you go and you smell it, it smells like a caramel or um, you know, honey, caramel-y type smell. It was very interesting. It was cool to experience. So I would say that would
Tea olive and gardenia
SPEAKER_00probably be, you know, outside of uh some of your your other more shrubby type material, you know, I mean, you've got Osmanthus, the tea olive, which down here in the south is extremely fragrant. Um you know, and just a lot of your other more shrub type, you know, plants, gardenias and your roses and those types of things, um, that just can make a really nice balanced landscape when you incorporate these with you know larger hardwoods for your shade covering, your medium-sized trees that are flowering and blooming, like we discussed, and then incorporating some of these other lower shrub and ground cover type things. You can have just a beautiful fragrant garden.
SPEAKER_01Well, Kyle, that's great stuff and lots of information. Uh, that's more trees than I thought we'd talk about. And I uh uh up here, I'm enjoying the the fragrance of my daffodils.
SPEAKER_00So that's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much. Thanks so much for your time. It was great to talk to you again, and we'll catch you next time, all right?
SPEAKER_00All right, Doug. Thank you very much. Appreciate you having me.
SPEAKER_01Tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees Podcast from the Davy Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster, and as always, I want you to subscribe to the podcast so you'll never miss a show. And what should we be covering? Let us know. There's two ways to do it. Send an email to podcasts at Davey.com. That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S at D A V E Y.com. You can also click the link at the end of our show notes to text us a fan mail message. Your ideas could be on a future show, and we'd love to hear from you. As always, we'd like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast. Trees are the answer.