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Neonicotinoid Use in Ornamental Landscape and Effects on Honeybees

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Neonicotinoids are chemical products that are effective in systemic control of insect pests in plants.  Systemic application of insecticide has multiple advantages over other methods, such as topical applications.  When applied systemically, neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant, and persist for a longer period of time, so that insect pests subsequently feeding on plant parts ingest the chemical and die. 

Because of this mode of action, there has been concern about neonicotinoids persisting long enough to be found in plant products such as nectar or pollen, where they could be ingested by foraging bees.

✅Wafer Ash

Wafer Ash Leaves, Image Courtesy of Benutzer Diskussion:Georg Slickers

General Info

  • Latin Name - Ptelea trifoliata

  • Native Range - Ontario and New York to Florida, west to Minnesota and parts of Colorado and Arizona

  • Growth Rate - Medium

  • Mature Height - 15 – 20’

  • Mature Spread - 15 – 20’

Arborist Thoughts

  • A great native plant that can perform well in full sun to full shade, Wafer Ash is easy to grow, adaptable, and should be considered for the small landscape or as a street tree in areas with low hanging utilities.

  • No significant pest or disease problems

  • Host to Giant Swallowtail butterfly

  • Fruit of wafer ash has been used as a substitute for Hops and is sometimes referred to as Hoptree.

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🚫Tree of Heaven

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>>>DO NOT PLANT OR ALLOW TO GROW ON YOUR PROPERTY<<<

General Info

  • Latin Name: Ailanthus altissima

  • Native Range: China

  • Growth Rate: Fast

  • Mature Height: 40 – 60’

  • Mature Spread: 25 – 40’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Introduced from China in the late 1700s as a shade tree and horticultural specimen, this tree now threatens to overwhelm our native areas and landscapes.

  • Its ease of establishment, prolific seed production, rapid growth, absence of significant disease/pests and ability to out compete other plants with allelopathy (producing toxic compounds to poison its competition) has made it possible for Tree-of-Heaven to invade natural areas and suppress the growth of native trees.

  • Tree of Heaven is considered an invasive species and should be ruthlessly eliminated.

  • DO NOT PLANT OR ALLOW TO GROW ON YOUR PROPERTY

✅Serbian Spruce

Needles

General Info

  • Latin Name - Picea omorika
  • Native Range - Southeastern Europe
  • Growth Rate - Slow to Medium
  • Mature Height - 50–60’
  • Mature Spread - 20–25’

Arborist Thoughts

  • One of the most adaptable spruces and one of the most graceful and beautiful evergreen trees in general.
  • An excellent evergreen tree for urban areas because of its narrower growth habit, unlike Norway spruce and White pine that can become quite wide and unruly at maturity.
  • Less susceptible to insect infestation and needle cast diseases than other spruce.
  • Should be considered as an alternative to using White spruce or Blue spruce in the landscape.

 

✅Persimmon

General Info

  • Latin Name - Diospyros virginiana
  • Native Range - Connecticut to Florida, west to Kansas and Texas
  • Growth Rate - Medium
  • Mature Height - 35–60’
  • Mature Spread - 30–35’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Persimmon is a great native tree that can perform well in the toughest sites.  It is drought tolerant and will thrive in soils with low fertility and areas with restricted root zones.
  • Produces a large edible berry that ripens late September through October (although flavor is best after the first hard frost).
  • Good tree for reliable yellow to red Fall color.
  • Could be used as a specimen tree, street tree or in the edible landscape.

 

✅Persian Parrotia

General Info

  • Latin Name - Parrotia persica
  • Native Range - Iran
  • Growth Rate - Medium
  • Mature Height - 25–40’
  • Mature Spread - 15–30’

Arborist Thoughts

  • One of the best specimen trees available, interesting bark, attractive foliage, interesting flowers, showy fall color and excellent disease/pest resistance make this a tree a must have for all landscapes.
  • Parrotia is often grown as a multi-stemmed large shrub but single stem more traditional tree form cultivated varieties like ‘Vanessa’ and ‘Red Bull’ are becoming readily available and would make a great street tree.

 

✅Pawpaw

General Info

  • Latin Name - Asimina triloba

  • Native Range - New York to Florida, west to Nebraska and Texas

  • Growth Rate - Medium

  • Mature Height - 15–30’

  • Mature Spread - 15–20’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Our largest native edible fruit tree in North America, Pawpaw is easy to grow (in full sun to shade), adaptable to most soil types and has no significant disease or pest problems.

  • Interesting purple flowers in Spring give way to edible greenish yellow fruits in late Summer. Flavor is similar to banana/pear/mango.

  • Great tree for edible landscaping or naturalizing in low areas or edge of woods. Has been used successfully as a street tree in some Columbus neighborhoods.

  • Host to Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

✅White Shield Osage Orange

General Info

  • Latin Name - Maclura pomifera ‘White Shield’
  • Native Range - Arkansas to Oklahoma and Texas
  • Growth Rate - Fast
  • Mature Height - 30–40’
  • Mature Spread - 30–40’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Named after the White Shield creek in Oklahoma near where the original tree was discovered, this cultivated variety of Osage Orange is both thornless and fruitless. 
  • Dark green glossy foliage looks as good at the end of the growing season as it did when leaves first emerged in Spring.  No real fall color or noticeable flowers
  • Not the best tree for ornamental appeal but is fast growing in youth, tough, and adaptable to most sites.
  • Excellent tree for a street tree or use in institutional or unmanaged sites being both drought tolerant and pest/disease resistant

✅Overcup Oak

General Info

  • Latin Name - Quercus lyrata
  • Native Range - New Jersey to Florida, west to Missouri and Texas
  • Growth Rate - Medium, Fast in youth
  • Mature Height - 40–60’
  • Mature Spread - 40–60’

Arborist Thoughts

  • An excellent oak for use in challenging sites.  Overcup oak is a bottomlands species in its native habitat and adapts well to poor quality soils, poorly drained sites and restricted root zones.
  • Overcup oak transplants well and is faster growing than most other oaks in the white oak group.
  • Great specimen tree or a street tree for areas where overhead utilities are not an issue.

✅Lacebark Pine

General Info

  • Latin Name - Pinus bungeana
  • Native Range - China
  • Growth Rate - Slow
  • Mature Height - 30–50’
  • Mature Spread - 20–30

Arborist Thoughts

  • The Lacebark Pine is one of the most beautiful and interesting pines because of its attractive exfoliating bark at maturity.  The bark is initially green but will begin to flake off revealing, brown, white and silver areas once stems reach 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter.
  • Hardy and adaptable to high pH soils and makes an excellent specimen tree when planted in a location where the bark is visible
  • Could also be used for screening as an alternative to other commonly used evergreens

 

✅Ginkgo

General Info

  • Latin Name - Ginkgo biloba
  • Native Range - Eastern China
  • Growth Rate - Slow to Medium
  • Mature Height - 50–80’
  • Mature Spread - 30–50’

Arborist Thoughts

  • An excellent and incredibly hardy shade tree that has stood the test of time – Ginkgo goes as far back as the dinosaurs (270 million years ago).
  • Ginkgo has no known disease problems or insect predation and can grow well in a wide range of soil types and urban conditions including confined spaces.
  • Ginkgo has unique, fan shaped leaves and stunning Golden-yellow Autumn color making it one of the most distinct and beautiful of all trees during the Fall season.
  • Ginkgo trees can be male or female and the fruit of the female tree is considered messy and smells unpleasant.   Several male cultivated varieties of Ginkgo are available such as ‘Saratoga,’ ‘Princeton Sentry,’ and ‘Autumn Gold.’ 

 

✅Kousa Dogwood

General Info

  • Latin Name - Cornus kousa
  • Native Range - Japan, Korea, China
  • Growth Rate - Slow to Medium
  • Mature Height - 20–30’
  • Mature Spread: 20–30’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Kousa dogwood is a great ornamental tree for multi-seasonal interest.  Beautiful white flowers (technically bracts in late Spring, attractive exfoliating bark, showy red fruit edible fruit and reliable red Fall color in the foliage.

  • Kousa dogwood is more sun tolerant, heat tolerant, and drought tolerant than our native dogwood and  less susceptible to fungal diseases like anthracnose and powdery mildew.

✅Korean Evodia

General Info

  • Latin Name - Evodia daniellii
  • Native Range - Northern China, Korea
  • Growth Rate - Medium to Fast
  • Mature Height - 25–35’
  • Mature Spread - 25–35’

Arborist Thoughts

  • This small to medium-sized tree could make a great front yard specimen in a smaller landscape or be used well as a street tree where growing height is limited.

  • Korean evodia flowers late June – early August with attractive white flowers that provide quite a show when few other woody plants are in flower.  White flowers lead to attractive shiny red and black fruit.  Also, a great source of nectar for honeybees and other pollinators.

  • Korean evodia has no significant disease or insect problems and is adaptable to most soil types and soil pH.

 

 

✅Japanese Zelkova

Japanese Zelkova Leaves

General Info

  • Latin Name - Zelkova serrata
  • Native Range - Japan, Korea, Taiwan
  • Growth Rate - Medium, Fast in youth
  • Mature Height - 50–80’
  • Mature Spread - 40–50’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Another great urban tolerant tree that deserves more consideration in the landscape or as a street tree.

  • Japanese zelkova has an upright vase shaped habit, attractive exfoliating bark at maturity and stunning apricot to red fall color.

  • Would make a great alternative to Red maple for folks seeing a tree with reliable Fall color. 

 

✅Dawn Redwood

General Info

  • Latin Name - Metasequoia glyptostroboides
  • Native Range - Central China
  • Growth Rate - Fast
  • Mature Height - 70–100’
  • Mature Spread - 5–30’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Thought to be extinct until discovered in China in the 1940s, Dawn Redwood is a great tree for a site that can handle some height.

  • Very fast growing, no serious disease or insect problems and can survive in a wide range of soil types and climates.

  • Dawn redwood is deciduous conifer so needles do fall of in the Fall but not before turning a nice coppery orange color.

  • A great tree to consider for folks looking to establish shade or a large screen in a short amount of time. 

✅Concolor Fir

Concolor Fir Needles

General Info

  • Latin Name - Abies concolor
  • Native Range - Colorado to Southern California and parts of New Mexico
  • Growth Rate - Slow to Medium
  • Mature Height - 30–50’
  • Mature Spread - 15–30’

Arborist Thoughts

  • This magnificent evergreen deserves more use in the Midwest landscape. 

  • Needles have a beautiful silvery blue color and citrusy fragrance.

  • Concolor Fir is drought tolerant, urban tolerant/adaptable, has little insect or pest problems and is a narrower tree than other large evergreens making it better suited for smaller landscape sites.

  • Would make an excellent alternative to Blue Spruce in the landscape.

✅Chinkapin Oak

General Info

  • Latin Name - Quercus muehlenbergii
  • Native Range - Maine to Virginia, west to Minnesota, Nebraska and parts of Texas
  • Growth Rate - Medium
  • Mature Height - 50–60’
  • Mature Spread - 50–60’

Arborist Thoughts

  • Strong drought tolerant Ohio native with clean lustrous dark green foliage and nice pyramidal habit.

  • Important tree for wildlife producing sweet and nutritious acorns.   Good tree for wildlife habitat also.

  • More adaptable to high pH soils and urban landscapes than oaks in the Red oak group (pin oak, Northern Red oak, Shingle oak, etc).

  • Great long-lived specimen for an area that can accommodate a larger tree.

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🚫Callery Pear

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Callery Pear Shape

>>DO NOT PLANT<<

General Info

  • Latin Name - Pyrus calleryana
  • Native Range - China and Korea
  • Growth Rate - Fast
  • Mature Height - 40–60’
  • Mature Spread - 25–40’ 

Arborist Thoughts

  • Cherished for its white flowering show in the Spring but dreaded for its poor structure, weak stem attachment and susceptibility to fireblight (a lethal bacterial disease) and lecanium scale (a challenging insect pest to manage).

  • This tree has reached epidemic proportions through over planting and by the high volume of escaped seedlings along highways, abandoned fields and unmanaged areas. 

  • Ohio added Callery pear to the Invasive species list in 2016.

  • One of the most likely tree species to fail under wind or ice load.

  • DO NOT PLANT

✅Black Tupelo

General Info

  • Latin Name - Nyssa sylvatica
  • Native Range - Ontario, Maine, Michigan to Florida and parts of Texas
  • Growth Rate - Slow to Medium
  • Mature Height - 40–60’
  • Mature Spread - 25–35’

Arborist Thoughts

  • One of our most beautiful native trees, Black Tupelo (sometimes called Black Gum) can be used as a landscape specimen tree or street tree and is one of the best and most reliable trees for attractive red Fall color.

  • Also, a good tree for wildlife producing a small bluish fruit edible to birds and mammals.  Several cultivated varieties have been introduced for superior Fall color, ie ‘Red Rage,’ ‘Wildfire,’ ‘Miss Scarlet.’Excellent choice for an area where a medium sized tree is sought

  • No significant disease or insect problems.