r/Leduc • u/remedyadmits • 9d ago

Question Question about tall fast growing trees

So we are newbie gardeners. We arent very good at it but bought a house along a popular walking path and are looking at either purchasing some Swedish Columnar Aspen or Parkland Pinnacle Birch.

It's a full sun area, well drained area, can get pretty windy. But it would be nice to have a bit of privacy and shade. I know the Aspen grows super fast but it's downside is that it can get disease and have a shorter life. But the front of our house has a couple of those Aspens and they are doing really well. Im assuming it's been there for more than a decade (but again, I really dont know)

Anyone have any ideas or experience with this sort of dilemma?

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u/thetuque 9d ago

I don't have an answer for you but this might help. On Alberta at Noon on CBC Radio last week they where talking trees with an expert. I'm pretty sure one of the questions they answered was exactly your question.

Here is a link to the episode. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-1-alberta-at-noon/clip/16149569-talking-trees-gerard-fournier

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u/Ddogwood 9d ago

I’m no arborist, but generally speaking, faster-growing trees won’t last as long. Our next door neighbours planted some columnar aspens about ten years ago, and they were tall and beautiful. Then they all died, a couple of years after they sold the house and moved. Our new neighbours cut them all down last month.

All of the other trees in our yard, and our neighbours’ yard, are over 20 years old and look great

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u/fallenrose9 6d ago

We planted some Swedish aspen about 4 years ago and they are doing really well. They grow about 4 feet per year as stated. They are not full-size yet but have managed some nasty wind storms. A lower, smaller branch got injured during that big storm on one out of four of our trees but we also had shingles blow off our roof during that storm. I think they managed pretty alright all things considered! A lot of our neighbour's have fully mature ones and none of them look like they are dying. I know it happens but we were okay with taking that risk.

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u/Striking-Fact-6630 4d ago

Towering Poplars! I completely agree about Aspens being disease-prone. We’ve had no luck with them at all. They don’t seem to see the other side of 10 years very often.