Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Thursday - February 12, 2009
From: Woodbridge, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Trees
Title: Fast-growing "climbing" tree.
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
I live in Northern Virginia. My children would love for me to plant a "climbing" tree - short trunk, nice spread of limbs. Can you recommend a tree that could grow to meet this requirement in about the next 10 years (before they outgrow tree climbing)?ANSWER:
We're not sure we can, in good conscience, give you a recommendation based on the requirements you've set. A tree that would grow to climbing size in 10 years would have to be a very fast-growing species. Such trees are invariably weak-limbed and brittle-branched. While we know that kids often suffer broken bones, we make it a policy to avoid giving advice which will result in such breaks. Also, tree-climbing is not really good for trees, especially young ones. We hope you understand why we're going to defer on this one.
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