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These trees have been popping up around the outskirts of our yard. The seem to grow only at the edge of the woods. Anyone know what it is and whether I should get rid of it or welcome it?
As a general rule, get rid of ANY understory or volunteer plants on the edge of woods near a house. I'm utterly fascinated to see just how quickly nature reclaims at any opportunity. I have a couple of exposed fence lines that I did not Round-up underneath for a couple of years, and I have no livestock to munch them clear. Those lines would now take a week or more to clear. Nearer my home, privet and raspberries continually attempt to encroach, and only regular cutting keeps them from forming solid barriers.
A solid barrier of plants at the edge of woods is simply not safe. You never know what or who might be on the other side and not friendly.
You should welcome your Catalpa tree! They have enormous drifts of orchid-like flowers followed by those groovy beans. It's a native tree (unless you're posting from Turkey or somewhere) and that means they support dozens or hundreds of native insects & birds, improving biodiversity (unlike Harry's invasive raspberries and privet, which are foreign weeds) and the health of wildlife in your yard.
As far as Harry's post above, I wouldn't worry too much about the danger posed by a volunteer tree. Unless it is about to knock over a fence or something, the worst it's going to do is shade your yard and attract pollinators. It will soon be much too tall and offer too few low-hanging branches to hide any serial killers. And the larvae of the Catalpa Sphinx Moth give the tree its nickname, "fish bait tree." They are great for catching fish with and there are usually plenty to spare.
The woods are a pretty solid barrier already. Brush, vines, tall weeds etc pretty much make it impenetrable, both visually and physically. We are not so much worried about security, as Whether these are some sort of prolific invasive species that would wipe out trees, etc. Or is it some cool plant we should be happy to have appear from nowhere?
The only thing lurking in our woods are deer, foxes, raccoons coyotes
Looks like that is what they are, wonder how they came to be popping up all over, probably birds dropping seeds. Apparently it is a desirable flowering tree and they look great when big, so I think I will clear around them and let them grow.
Thanks.
Now I have to figure out why the cottonwood trees are shedding leaves like mad. Out yard is completely covered and I have to use the mower to mulch them so they do not kill the grass. Online answer only say drought can cause this, but this is not a drought year, besides many of them are constantly watered by the backwash discharge from our pool. However the ones dropping leaves are all over the place, on the side where they get pool water, in the back where they do not, and to a lesser extent in the front.
I guess I do not care a lot, they are kind of weeds anyway, but they have choked out many other trees. If they die, we may be left with a field next to our house instead of woods. Maybe they will be replaced with Catalpa Trees, that would likely be an improvement. Cottonwoods are horribly messy, soft, and not well formed trees.
They are also kind of stupid. There is one we had a cable around for the dog. The tree grew around the cable and eventually completely swallowed the cable inside. Ats the tree go bigger, the cable apparently made it weak and it just died and fell over. I wish I would have cut it down a long time ago, not it is big and will take a day to chop up. Cottonwood makes lousy firewood. I suppose I can toss the pieces out int he woods and let them rot into fertilizer.
You should welcome your Catalpa tree! They have enormous drifts of orchid-like flowers followed by those groovy beans. It's a native tree (unless you're posting from Turkey or somewhere) and that means they support dozens or hundreds of native insects & birds, improving biodiversity (unlike Harry's invasive raspberries and privet, which are foreign weeds) and the health of wildlife in your yard.
As far as Harry's post above, I wouldn't worry too much about the danger posed by a volunteer tree. Unless it is about to knock over a fence or something, the worst it's going to do is shade your yard and attract pollinators. It will soon be much too tall and offer too few low-hanging branches to hide any serial killers. And the larvae of the Catalpa Sphinx Moth give the tree its nickname, "fish bait tree." They are great for catching fish with and there are usually plenty to spare.
I love catalpas.
OP, that said, consider carefully what your management of them should be.
Obviously, they seed freely where you are. Be clear about where you want them, and be diligent with keeping them out of the areas where you don't want them.
They want to be BIG. They are copious shedders of large leaves that will clog your gutters and make a slippery mess of your paved patio and driveway.
If you have the room to accommodate them, lucky you!
OP, that said, consider carefully what your management of them should be.
Obviously, they seed freely where you are. Be clear about where you want them, and be diligent with keeping them out of the areas where you don't want them.
They want to be BIG. They are copious shedders of large leaves that will clog your gutters and make a slippery mess of your paved patio and driveway.
If you have the room to accommodate them, lucky you!
Agree. We have one in our backyard (rental) and I hate it. If I had a massive yard and or wooded area like the OP that would be fine but in our yard it is an annoyance. It's killed some small ornamental tree's underneath it because it's branches have this drooping tendency and it's like the tree is searching out lowly volunteers to rest it's weight on. I am constantly having to trim it up on the bottom just so we can mow without hitting our heads on the branches. It drops leaves constantly and those bean things seem to attract a weird beetle.
But, I do like the fact that it provides a benefit for the bee's.
We have lots of them around here (southern catalpa), they grow into large trees.
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