One Gardener’s Trash is Another Gardener’s Treasure

The May/June 2008 Garden Gate magazine, issue 81, contained an article by Associate Editor Jim Childs, called “Woody Weeds, 9 pests you need to identify and get rid of now!” It was an interesting and informative article – but it doesn’t apply here in eastern Colorado.

Having few naturally occurring trees in eastern Colorado, I was struck by the fact that three of these “weeds” – Siberian Elm, Eastern Red Cedar, and Tatarian Honeysuckle – were on the local conservation district’s list of seedling trees and shrubs recommended by and available from the Forest Service. The Colorado State Forest Service, in cooperation with Colorado State University, produces and distributes seedling trees and shrubs for sale through the conservation districts, such as the Double El Conservation District office in Simla, Colorado, for conservation planting programs and for local agricultural use. I’ve noticed, though, that fewer varieties are available in 2022 than were available twenty years ago. I began planting windbreaks in 1996.

Double El serves portions of eastern El Paso and Elbert (thus the “Double El”) counties in eastern Colorado. El Paso County contains Colorado Springs, and extends about an hour’s drive east of there. Elbert County wraps around the northeast corner of El Paso County, primarily extending to the north, and gets a bit more precipitation. Colorado Springs lies at the foot of the Front Range, at the base of Pike’s Peak. The Front Range stands like a wall between the Rocky Mountains and the shortgrass prairie that makes up the eastern half of Colorado.

In a good year on the prairie, the native blue grama grass seedheads, bobbing above its leaves, may approach knee height. Buffalo grass, the other primary native short grass, may reach ankle height. With a semi-arid climate, very low organic content in the soil, nothing to obstruct the winds, and no shelter from the sun, this portion of the country is very harsh for woody plants.

A few cottonwoods or willows grow wild along the rare, isolated stream beds. (Most “stream” locations displayed on maps are dry washes that must have run at one time, but now never accumulate so much as a puddle.) Other than these cottonwoods and some sage, woody plants here are exceedingly rare. Soil types range from sand, to sandy loam, to a mix of sand and clay that resembles road base or adobe. And soil can change from one type to another within feet. The pH hovers around 7.0.

The conservation districts plant “living snow fences” to block the wind-driven snow from roads and highways. Windbreaks and shelterbelts are often planted by ranchers to provide protection to their homesteads and fields. The wind doesn’t blow here all the time, but when it does, 40 miles per hour is common. Winter blizzards may blow with sustained winds in the 60s – 70s, with gusts in the 80s. A few years back, a January blizzard had gusts clocked at 98 mph, and a ‘bombogenesis’ blizzard with winds exceeding 100 mph flattened a pot-grow facility. In recent years, I’ve seen 25 mph summer breezes at 90+ degrees Fahrenheit desiccate a row of hundreds of seedlings within a week. Even watered in the morning, a tender seedling can be dried crisp by the end of the day.

This is the environment in which many of us live, work, and garden, and we need plants that are tough! In my experience, the one deciduous tree that can be counted on to grow in this environment is Ulmus pumila, the Siberian Elm. Without it, many a farmstead yard would have little to no shade. So, here, this tree is to be treasured for its resilience to the harsh elements. The second “woody weed” tree, the Eastern Red Cedar, we’ll talk about later. These can be seen and appreciated in Kansas windbreaks.

The third item from the “woody weeds” list used to be sold by the Forest Service, but has not been available in recent years – the Tatarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica). I purchased mine at a height of about 18 inches from a nursery, planting ten of them in a heavy clay/adobe soil along the south side of my garage. A friend and I used a post-hole digger and an iron bar to chisel out the holes. A decade later, they’ve reached the eaves of the garage. They are tough plants, blooming beautifully before anything else in early spring (I can’t keep forsythia alive here), withstanding frosts and Spring snows, as well as early Autumn snowstorms and freezes. The pale pink and white blooms are lovely, lifting spirits as the weather tentatively warms. One or two renegade bushes bloom in a white and pale yellow rather than the pink. I planted an additional eight honeysuckle in a more open area with more amenable soil, and a few of these are still growing, as well; however, I’d not recommend planting them out in the open wind.

I have tried two of the other “woody weeds” here, with no to little success. I purchased some Box Elder (Acer negundo) and White Mulberry (Morus alba) from a nursery (the Forest Service doesn’t sell either). These are both touted as extremely hardy trees, tolerating both cold and dry conditions. One or two of the Box Elder tried to hold on, but ultimately failed. Most of the mulberry also succumbed – more to the summer winds than to winter cold. However, there is one that appears, still, to thrive in my front yard. There it has better-than-average soil, and is protected to some degree from the full force of the elements by being within ten feet of the house and a cedar fence. In this protected location, plants in general, including rugosa rose, have grown very well. That location benefits from rain runoff from the roof via a downspout. Migrating Wilson’s Warblers could be found among the rugosa rose bushes when they were thriving. This effectively demonstrates the benefit of improved soil, protection from the wind, and a little extra moisture – plants thrive here that won’t grow thirty feet downslope.

Deciduous Trees

For a tough growing situation such as this, what would I recommend where a plant will grow in the open with little tending and supplemental water? Siberian Elm or possibly Chinese Elm would be the only deciduous trees I could suggest without reservation. I’ve tried Burr (or Bur) Oak, Green Ash, Honey Locust, Black Locust, Box Elder, Common Hackberry, Russian Olive, Autumn Olive, numerous types of maple, and the only one I can recommend is Siberian Elm. American Elm may grow in a yard with some wind protection and supplemental water. I’ve also been able to grow some Green Ash and Honey Locust in the yard, where they have some protection from wind and occasionally get supplemental water from drip irrigation. Silver Maple and Norway Maple grow well in the cities, but not out here. Of the maples, only Tatarian Maple (Acer tataricum) has grown well – in my little sheltered front yard area.

Evergreen Trees

For a conifer, hands down pick the Rocky Mountain Juniper and Eastern Red Cedar. The best conifer here, though fairly slow-growing, is the Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), with the Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) a close second. The reason I place Eastern Red Cedar second is that it has more of a tendency than the Rocky Mountain Juniper to develop reduced branching and needle growth on the windward side. Where it doesn’t get the full force of the wind, it grows large and beautiful, spreading out more than the juniper into a broader tree. While the juniper branches are denser, and held closer and more upright, the cedar branches are more horizontal with more evident spacing between the ends of one branch and another.

As far as color, the juniper may have a bit of a slate or blue cast, while the cedar is darker green and may have a red or rusty cast, especially in the winter months. Some of the cedars turn a bit brown in winter, but are still healthy and return to green for the summer. I have juniper and cedar growing in both sandy and high-clay adobe areas where Ponderosa Pine won’t grow. Both juniper and cedar are more tenacious and display higher disease and pest resistance than pines. In the photo below, the two greener trees with more upright branches shown on the left are Rocky Mountain Junipers, and the darker, less dense tree to the right is an Eastern Red Cedar.

Pinon Pine – though some may be found, they don’t always grow well here. I do have one amazing pinon pine that I found recently after years of neglect, still amazingly green and looking great, though still small.

For the most part I wouldn’t bother with Blue Spruce either, unless you can provide shade, wind protection, and extra water for them for a few years while they become established. A neighbor has a large stand of them that was lovely, but they were planted decades ago when there was more rainfall, and have been drying out and dying over the past several years.

Ponderosa Pine and Austrian Pine both have their place. I’ve read that Ponderosa Pine doesn’t like heavy clay soils. The pine and the spruce seem to be more susceptible to disease and pests than the juniper and cedar, and Austrian Pine tends to succumb more readily than Ponderosa. The needles grow longer on a Ponderosa than on Austrian. Between the two, Ponderosa have done better here than the Austrian. Where pines have failed, I’ve filled in with Rocky Mountain Juniper.

Don’t even bother with high-elevation evergreens such as fir, lodgepole pine, bristlecone pine, or most spruce.

Evergreen Shrub

For an evergreen shrub, the Sea Green Juniper can’t be beat. They’re hardy, drought resistant, and can grow fairly large with a broad spread. For a smaller evergreen shrub, you can use a dwarf Pfitzer Juniper, but those are less hardy than the Sea Green variety.

Deciduous Shrubs

For shrubs, the most drought-tolerant and rodent-resistant are the Three-leaved Sumac (Rhus trilobata), also known as skunkbush, among other monikers; and New Mexican Privet (Forestiera neomexicana), which may also be known as Desert Olive, Wild Olive, or New Mexico Privet. Neither grows fast, but they are superb in this environment. The Rhus trilobata grow about 4’ high and wide (larger beside a building), and birds, particularly robins, love their red berries in summer.  I also like the Peking Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster acutifolia). They grow about waist-high here, fairly rounded, with beautiful semi-glossy dark green leaves. A row makes a lovely summertime hedge. They get dark purplish-black berries in the fall, but I don’t know what eats them besides my chickens. I’ve read that plants sold as Cotoneaster acutifolia may actually be Cotoneaster lucidus. I have purchased Cotoneaster acutifolia from the Forest Service, and Cotoneaster lucidus from a nursery, and although they look similar, the lucidus have not grown long enough for me to establish that they and acutifolia are the same.

Siberian Pea Shrub (Caragana arborescens) is touted by the Forest Service, but I’ve had mixed results with them here, and most of those that did grow were short lived. I have also had mixed results with Silver Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) – most have dried out in the summer, though several remain growing well in a semi-protected area with soil enriched from spillover from a chicken yard. In that area, new buffaloberry are spreading voluntarily along the chicken yard fence. Both the caragana and shepherdia do nicely in a yard, but not so well out in the open.

Native American Plum (Prunus Americana) and Nanking Cherry (Prunus tomentosa) can hold their own in a windbreak row and thrive in a yard. Some kind of rodent (voles?) likes to tunnel through the dirt and eat the roots off the Nanking Cherry bushes. Nanking Cherry fruit is small but delicious, and I’ve made a nice Native American Plum/Crabapple jelly. The plums can be yellow or red. Native American Plum may be designated a tree, but here they’re more of a shrub size. They have the benefit of spreading by suckering up from the roots, which is a handy survival trait. I’ve tried Sand Cherry (Prunus besseyi), but all of those disappeared within two years.

Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) is awesome – very hardy, growing year after year even when neglected. These can spread a short distance by suckering up from the roots. If livestock eat them to the ground or they dry up during a drought, they generally grow back by the following year. There are volunteer plants cropping up under evergreens and other trees where their seeds have been spread by birds, presumably passing through in the birds’ droppings. I would put Golden Currant on a must-have list for wildlife food value – birds evidently eat the currants – and for its ability to survive in a tough environment. The currants can be on the tart side, but I eat them, and they could be used to make jelly or a cobbler. I’ve tried alpine and other currants, but none thrive like the Golden Currant.

Lilacs are surprisingly drought tolerant. I even have one whose leaves come in tinged with purple before becoming green.

Both Golden Currant and various lilacs (common, Persian, and the French hybrids) do well in a yard or garden, along with chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) and several varieties of crabapple. Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) are so successful here that I nearly started a small nursery of unusual and hard-to-find lilac varieties (many having particularly dark or unusual flower color), as well as varieties of crabapples (mostly own-root) for local sale.

A Few More…

I have tried growing two more of the “woody weeds”: American Elder (Sambucus canadensis) and Wild Grape (Vitis riparia). I was curious to see if either of those would run rampant such that the hens and I would become lost in the jungle – somehow I doubted it. I was right. One tenacious elderberry plant that held on for a few years finally kicked the bucket along with the others. The wild grape didn’t make it.

I have one aspen that does well beside the house next to a downspout. Prairie Sky Cottonwood can be fairly successful. At least they can spread by suckering up from the roots, which helps them survive.

In a not-so-tree-friendly environment such as this, there is little problem with weedy spreading of unwanted trees. Rarely, a Siberian Elm is found growing voluntarily in a windbreak row or field. There is virtually no spreading of Eastern Red Cedar or Tatarian Honeysuckle. In general here, if you don’t plant and tend a tree or shrub – at a minimum keeping it mulched or cultivated – it isn’t likely to grow. In friendlier environments, such as Denver, yes, I’ve seen American Elm and varieties of juniper and cedar – along with aspens and who-knows-what-else – sprouting up unbidden in lawns and flower beds. With trees – as with much else – the old adage applies: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Paula Reinbold

© May 2022