Weeping Trees: Fun for Small Sites

Weeping trees are small and work well around a patio, or as an accent plant, as low screening, or under power lines. And there are lots of varieties to choose from at your local garden center.

Produced by the Department of Communications. For more information, visit our website at: http://www.kansasgreenyards.org

Transcript:
Weeping Trees - Fun for Small Sites

There are weeping forms of many varieties of trees. For instance, on crabapples, we can have crabapples that are upright. We can have crabapples that are rounded, we can have spreading, or the weeping forms. This one is Red Jade. Look at the beautiful, red berries in the fall. This plant in the spring has clusters of white hanging down. So, let this one weep down. It’s a beautiful plant. Now, let’s take a look at some others.

Our first weeping crabapple was Red Jade. This is Louisa. It’s covered with pink in the spring and has branches flowing down. They later turn into orangish-yellow berries in the fall. It makes a very nice, wonderful statement.

Now, when you see the cinnamon bark, you might think “river birch.” But, weeping river birch? Absolutely! Summer Cascade has been on the market for a few years. Some of these weeping plants are actually a groundcover, naturally. So, you’ll need a stake beside them, and stake it higher and higher. It will grow as tall as you have it staked, and the branches will flow down. The height is determined by how high you’re going to stake it to get it established. Once the trunk is established, and firmed up, you can take the stake out.

Imagine a weeping redbud. This one is called Travellor. It’s a weeping form of Oklahoma redbud, so it’s only for the southern part of Kansas. It has glossy leaves, and has much darker flowers than the traditional redbud in a weeping form. It’s a small tree and has been on the market for just a few years.

One of the most familiar trees is the weeping mulberry. This one is called Chapperell. They’re adapted statewide, and we’ll see them all over. The problem people have with these is that they’ll often plant them way too close to the house. They can spread to twenty-five feet wide.

Another interesting tree is the weeping Bald cypress. Cascade Falls is the variety. We think of bald cypress as a huge, tall and spreading tree that’s very formal. But, this one is a weeper. Like the weeping river birch, it will grow as tall as it’s trained. So, it could be trained up to fifteen or twenty feet. But, we’re going to keep this one at six feet and let it come on down. It’s very nice for small areas.

This feature story prepared with Bob Neier, retired Kansas State University Research and Extension Horticulture Agent, Sedgwick County. For more information, visit your local extension office, or visit our website.