Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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.
rate this answer
Friday - October 28, 2005
From: Troy, OH
Region: Midwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Late leafing and early leaf-drop of Ohio buckeye tree
Answered by: Joe Marcus and Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
We recently bought a house which has an ohio buckeye tree in the back yard. It stands about 40 feet from a large creek in Troy, Ohio. The tree is about 30 feet tall. A strip of the bark is missing. The tree didn't have any leaves until very late last spring and dropped it's leaves earlier than any other tree in the area. Is that normal? How can we tell if the tree is healthy and what we can do to help it other than put a fertilizer stake in the ground near the drip line.ANSWER:
Early leaf-drop is the signature of the Aesculus genus, including Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra). Most, if not all species in the genus do this, sometimes as early as mid summer! However, they normally leaf out fairly early. It sounds as if your tree may have been lightning struck, thus the missing strip of bark. That could have caused a delay in leaf development as well. Perhaps you should have an arborist look at your tree to give you some on-the-spot advice.More Trees Questions
Want to identify caterpillar that is stripping prickly ash in Flatonia, Tx.
April 05, 2011 - What is the 5/16ths long 1/8th inch long pale opaque green caterpillar that strips prickly ash? It has tiny black dots down its spine and along each side. It has stripped two large trees?
Will th...
view the full question and answer
Drought Resistant Privacy Screen for North Side of Austin Texas House
July 10, 2016 - We live in the densely populated Mueller development, where there's barely 3 feet from our home to the 6 foot high privacy fence between us and the house next door. Since the houses are 2 stories, we ...
view the full question and answer
Summer flowering small trees for NY
April 20, 2011 - Request recommendations about trees for terrace. Would like flowers or color in summer; not spring. (Some of my trees are twenty five feet high.) Full sun, some wind, large containers. Please recomme...
view the full question and answer
Plants under an oak tree from Corpus Christi TX
June 30, 2012 - My project: To grow white turk's cap under an old oak tree
I first planted St. Augustine sod this spring because we had many oak suckers around the tree. We mixed new soil and compost, and laid the ...
view the full question and answer
Is Esperanza a deciduous or an evergreen plant?
March 08, 2009 - I've read that Esperanza/Tecoma Stans is an evergreen. I planted one last year that seemed very healthy, but it dropped its leaves in late fall and looks (at least) dormant now. Will it come back o...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |