Few gardeners test woody plants as severely as Todd Faller of Faller Landscape & Nursery in York. Faller wants to know how hardy different tree species are, particularly conifers which often struggle in planted landscapes. Faller said, “I’ve planted about 500 trees I might want to use in landscape designs, especially those belonging to the conifer group, in a 7.5 acre pasture of native grasses and left them be. Plant and walk away is my motto. If the tree has to be babied, then it tells me a lot about its character, its longevity, its will to survive here in the Great Plains.”
Faller will talk about some of the results of his “trial by pasture” in this presentation. He said Canaan and balsam fir have done “surprisingly well… I lose more Canaan fir in the landscape than in a forgotten pasture, apparently due to watering issues.”
Anyone wishing to listen in can take part online at: connect.unl.edu/brownbag. The presentations are also available afterwards at arboretum.unl.edu/brown-bags. This is part of a brown-bag series on “all things green” sponsored by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, UNL Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, UNL Garden Friends and Friends of Maxwell Arboretum.