POLLARDING TREES

I'm quite familiar and I see it as a wand from man to tame trees, not foster trees.

I did a series of photos at my in laws place', stumpville, with pollarded mulberries, a bad choice for that mobile home tract right there in Hemet (dammit) to begin with.



Much of the year, they dealt with chicken sticks outside their
coach.

Apparently I've sinned in former life, as my now immediate neighbor has a rampant mulberry tree.


In the meantime, according to me, those trees were wrong there.

I don't like Pollarded trees, they just look stumpy and bad most of the time. And I don't think they'd live as long.

Cycloptichorn

I was going to jabber away a bit and then I found this:

http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/01/pollarding.html

I think he does a good job of going over the advantages.

Im having trouble following your point on pollarding. No good?, site dependent? ruins a view? bad for tree?

Pawlonias are really fast growing and I was told that pollarding helps this species really get full with large leaf masses of huge leaves.
I dont know Im just trying to see what you all think and if anyone has done it.

Hmm, I may need to gather a diatribe in my loins.

On pollarding, generally, I'm out of my league - happily. I hate pollarding. Hate, hate, hate. But, hey, that's me.

HMMMM, I agree with others, its not very pretty a display. I have a maple that was apparently pollarded ( is this word even a verb?).
I can see why European hedge rows wind up looking like they do, (too much friggin pollarding goin on).

Well, for Pawlonias that may not be a bad thing if it allows the tree more years of life. Maybe Ill try it when I get the seedlings transplanted out into the paddock area

I hate it too. It might MIGHT look good in bloom, but it looks like crap for the rest of the year.

I went, the year I passed my national boards, to an ASLA meeting, and signed up for a tour of Berkeley. Some of what I remember is chicken sticks.


To just say my own view, please, please, research, and put an appropriate plant in a right place.

After looking at some Google images I would not pollard this type of tree. It's meant to be a stately shade tree. Pollarding is fine if you want to create a bush like effect, but it this case I think it will make the tree look like it got hit by lightening and re-sprouted. Too sloppy.

Me, I'm over it. I don't think pollarding is fine.

signed, ms. picky

The problem with Pawlonias is that they grow like weeds. They can grow 15 ft the first year and be 30 ft tall within 4. They are a wood that is like balsa, except its got a hollow center that gets teenier as the tree puts on some caliper. I want the pawlonia to become more elongated and straight, which is what happens if they are grown in little groves where they can keep from sprawling. I think the pollarding may actually be bad for a straight trunk. It appears that a pollarded tree is like a swamp maple eh?

OK , thank you ladies, I yield to your collective knowledge on treescaping. .
IS pollard a verb? thats gonna drive me nuts

I could say 'yes' re a stately tree, the only Pawlonia I remember. But that would not be dealing with that I am no fan of pollarding. I'm more a fan of picking the right tree for the right place.

It's a noun and a transitive verb (I looked in up in Websters).

were up to our telephone poles in Pawlonia. They can be invasive around here, because they seem to get re-seeded by birds in areas of disturbed land. They , like Allianthus are collectively called "ghetto bushes" in and around the railroad tracks leading into the big cities like Philly to DC.

However, in a grove, they are really nice. In spring they get these pendulous purple flower masses and then followed by masses of huge elephant ear leaves. I like the looks of a small Pawlonia grove (There is one grove in Philly's FAirmont park, and its next to a teeny grove of the rare Franklinia tree),
Course, this is all spoiled by a smallish grove of Ginko trees (of both sexes). Talk about stench.

It would not have been my pick, but I wasn't asked.

A noun and a verb. SO I can pollard? He, she or it pollards??

You dont like PAwlonia? THey do look like weeds until they are maybe 25 ft high (two or three years , tops)

They are invasive in your zone. I like to see people increase populations of local native trees, especially if they are good for insects and birds. I would rather see more basswood or yellowwood planted. I think a flowering yellowwood is as beautiful as a pawlonia:




I'm off to bed or I would debate more trees. Maybe tomorrow.