TREES SOUTHERN UTAH Our Living Legacy Guide to Trees PUBLISHED BY City of St. George This booklet is meant to assist newcomers and old in cooperation with timers in how to Select, Plant, and Care for trees. City of St. George Some of Southern Utah’s best tree people and oth- Shade Tree and ers have worked hard to gather this information. This book contains many trees that you will enjoy, all of Beautification Board which can be found at your local nurseries. Please be Keena Tanner sure to Plan Before You Plant! Understand the trees Star Nursery you select so you plant the right tree in the right place. Lynne Scott CONTENTS Parks and Facilities Manager Tree Selection Guide ............................................. 4 Trees and the Earth ............................................... 6 Douglas Wulfenstein The Urban Heat Island Effect ............................... 7 City Forester Tree Facts .............................................................. 7 Board Members Plan Your Landscaping .......................................... 8 Robert Whatcott Selecting Trees at the Nursery .............................. 10 City Council Rep. Building Your Soil ............................................... 11 Mark Hodges Planting a New Tree ..............................................12 Board President Topping Hurts Trees ............................................ 13 Steve Nelson Pruning and Fertilizing ........................................ 14 Carol Hortin Large Trees ........................................................... 16 Kristine Twiggs Guide to Selecting an Arborist ............................. 19 John Sorenson Medium Trees ...................................................... 19 John Costanza Memorial Trees..................................................... 22 Keena Tanner Flowering Trees .................................................... 23 Susan Sorensen Secretary Conifers................................................................ 27 Rick Hefelbower More Tree Facts.................................................... 29 Ex-officio Broadleaf Evergreens............................................. 30 Palm Trees ............................................................ 31 GRAPHIC DESIGN Palm Tree Planting and Care ................................ 32 Tina Cecala Growing Fruit ...................................................... 33 DataMax Tree Watering Guidelines ......................................34 How Much Water Does Your Lawn Need?............36 Photographer Average Monthly Temperatures ............................ 40 Brett Jorgenson Planting and Frost Information ............................ 40 Books, Tree Care, and Web Sites ......................... 41 Dated Photographs Provided by noted Resource Groups and Agencies..............................42 donors How You Can Help...............................................43 3 Individual tree descriptions are TTRREEEE SSEELLEECCTTIIOONN GGUUIIDDEE located on page # listed below. Scientific Name Common Name Page # Codes Catalpa speciosa Western Catalpa 16 V L Eucalyptus microtheca Blue Ghost 16 T Eucalyptus polyanthemos Silver Dollar Gum 16 T Fraxinus oxycarpa ‘Raywood’ Raywood Ash 16 M P Fraxinus velutina Arizona Ash 16 M I S Fraxinus velutina ‘Glabra’ Modesto Ash 16 M I E E Fraxinus velutina ‘Rio Grande’ Fan-Tex Ash 17 R M T Morus alba Fruitless Mulberry 17 E V G Pistacia chinensis Chinese Pistache 17 R V L A L Platanus acerifolia London Plane Sycamore 17 V L Populus candicans Cottonless Cottonwood 18 V P Populus fremontii Western Cottonwood 18 V P Salix babylonica Weeping Willow 18 V P L I Salix matsudana ‘Navajo’ Navajo Globe Willow 18 V P L I Sophora japonica Japanese Pagoda 18 V L Ulmus parvifolia Lace Bark Elm 19 M Betula pendula European White Birch 19 V P I Fraxinus greggii Littleleaf Ash 20 M DT Gleditsia triacanthos ‘Shademaster’ Shademaster Locust 20 V L Gleditsia triacanthos ‘Sunburst’ Sunburst Locust 20 V L S E Koelreuteria bipinnata Chinese Flame 20 M L E R Melia azedarach ‘Umbraculiformis’ Texas Umbrella 21 T M L M Prosopis alba Argentine Mesquite 21 T DT U I Prosopis chilensis Chilean Mesquite 21 T DT D E Prosopis glandulosa Texas Honey Mesquite 21 M M DT Prosopis glandulosa torreyana Western Honey Mesquite 21 M DT Prosopis pubescens Screwbean Mesquite 21 M DT Prosopis velutina Arizona Velvet Mesquite 21 T DT Quercus buckleyi Red Rock Oak 22 V Albizia julibrissin Silk Tree 23 V L Caesalpinia gilliesii Yellow Bird-of-Paradise 23 M DT G Cercis canadensis Eastern Redbud 23 N V P I R Cercis mexicana Mexican Redbud 23 V E W Chilopsis linearis Desert Willow 24 M DT L O L Chitalpa tashkentensis Chitalpa 24 M DT F Cotinus coggygria Purple Smoke Tree 24 V Lagerstroemia indica Crape Myrtle 24 M 4 V Very Hardy M ModerateT Tender DT Drought Tolerant P PestsL Liter I Iron Scientific Name Common Name Page # Codes Prunus cerasifera ‘Krauter vesuvius’ Flowering Plum 25 V P G Pyrus calleryana ‘Aristocrat’ Aristocrat Pear 25 P I N V I R Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’ Bradford Pear 25 V P I E Pyrus calleryana ‘Cleveland Select’ Cleveland Select Flowering Pear 25 W V P I O L Robinia ambigua ‘Purple Robe’ Purple Robe Locust 25 V F Vitex agnus-castus Chaste Tree 26 M DT Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’ Blue Atlas Cedar 27 V Cedrus deodar Deodar Cedar 27 V I Cupressocyparis leylandii Leyland Cypress 27 M S R Cupressus arizonica Arizona Cypress 27 M E F I Cypressus sempervirens ‘Glauca’ Italian Cypress 28 M P N O Pinus eldarica Mondell Pine 28 M DT C Pinus halepensis Aleppo Pine 28 M Pinus pinea Stone Pine 28 M Pinus thunbergii Japanese Black Pine 29 V N Ligustrum japonicum Japanese Privet 30 E M E R G Olea europaea ‘Swan Hill’ Swan Hill Olive 30 T DT R E V Olea europaea ‘Wilson’ Wilson Olive 30 E T DT F A Prunus caroliiana ‘Compact’ Compact Carolina Cherry 30 E M L D Quercus ilex Holly Oak 30 A M DT O R Quercus virginiana Southern Live Oak 30 B M DT Brahea armata Mexican Blue Fan Palm 31 T Butia capitata Pindo Palm 31 T Chamaerops humilis Mediterranean Fan Palm 31 M S M Phoenix canariensis Canary Island Date Palm 31 T L A Phoenix dactylifera Date Palm 31 T P Trachycarpus fortunei Windmill Palm 31 M Washingtonia filifera California Fan Palm 31 T Washingtonia robusta Mexican Fan Palm 31 T Legend for Tree Codes Trees are NOT recommended to be WARNING: Drought tolerant; may be watered less often than planted under power lines! DT most plants once established. Great for desert or Very cold hardy in all areas of southern Utah xeriscape plantings. V including Cedar City P Prone to insect and/or disease pests. Moderately cold hardy in St. George and sur- M rounding area L Will drop some litter such as seedpods or fruit. Tender; hardy most years in St. George, except Sensitive to iron chlorosis. Will likely need iron T for coldest winters. Usually hardy in Mesquite, NV. I supplements (chelates) to keep healthy. 5 TTrreeeess aanndd tthhee EEaarrtthh • Trees are the longest living organ- • By cooling the air around them, the isms on earth. shade from trees helps cool the • Trees have been called “nature’s air earth’s temperature. In deserts, conditioners,” and “the lungs of leaves absorb moisture from the the earth.” dew and frost of the cool nights • Trees keep our air supply fresh and and release it to cool the air during renew it by absorbing carbon diox- warm days. ide and producing oxygen. Two • Trees improve water quality by mature trees can provide enough slowing and filtering rain water as oxygen for a family of four. One well as protecting aquifiers and tree produces nearly 260 pounds of watersheds. The tree roots stabilize oxygen each year. In one year, a sin- the soil and prevent erosion. gle tree can absorb as much carbon • Trees provide food and shelter for as is produced by a car driven wildlife. 26,000 miles. If every American • Trees cut down noise pollution by family planted just one tree, more acting as sound barriers. than 1 billion pounds (500,000 • Trees enhance the aesthetics of our tons) of “pollutants” would be environment. Their grandeur, removed from the atmosphere tenacity, and beauty are probably every year. the most enjoyable aspects of trees. • Tree bark and fruit have many med- icinal properties which are still being discovered. • There are about 60 to Beauty 200 million spaces along Wind Block our nation’s city streets where trees could be Cooling (through planted. This translates evaporation) to the potential to Fruits & absorb 33 million more Oxygen Fibers tons of carbon dioxide every year, and a savings Bird of $4 billion in energy Sanctuary Wildlife Shade costs! Soil Habitat Improvement (through fallen leaves) Soil Erosion Improvement Protection (through nitro- gen fixation) 6 TThhee UUrrbbaann HHeeaatt IIssllaanndd EEffffeecctt We all know St. George is hot, but temperatures in some of the more developed areas of town can often soar ten degrees above the “official” temperature. Large volumes of con- crete and asphalt are the villains, absorbing heat all day and radiating it all night, keeping overall tempera- Shade Tunnel tures higher by far than they would be on the open desert. Anyone who has lived a while here has experienced the heightened temperatures that come Tree Facts with development (most often enjoyed while stuck in clouds of • The average tree in a metropoli- exhaust at a gridlocked traffic light). tan area survives only about 8 years! • A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon stor- age for about 10 years. • It has been shown that workers who view trees on their commute are more productive and experi- Heat Island