I haven't much luck with native plantings on my property. The climate is HARSH. I plant and plant and most die. Others in the hood have similar experiences, but continue planting to get the tax right-offs. It seems that the native ecosystem knows how to reseed itself the best. We have quite a tree farm growing that is all volunteer. A local researcher at OSU presented evidence that high input tree planting actually caused the forest to grow back slower than just letting it alone! (referring to industrial forestry) The Oaks grow is copses here. Each tree seems to be connected to a common root system. Former owners cut down whole copses which are now sending up shoots from the root system. I have a tenuous theory that the rare giant Oak is actually several smaller trees which merged at the trunk. Anyway, I try to keep a hands off approach as I don't think the science is really very solid in this area of forestry. If I see a sapling, I surround it with small stones which condense moisture and help the tree through our long hot summers (an old native american trick), but I don't know if I need to plant oaks. Last year was a HUGE acorn year many of which are now sprouting. It seems like the Oaks are takin' care of business. Ironically, with fire suppression, it looks like pine trees are the greatest threat to the oak forests. I have often wondered about doing a controlled burn on the property. Here is a picture of the copses: [image]
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_oPh1A...1Y2Qx&hl=en[image]
and one of the pine tree volunteers taking over the meadow:
[image]
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_oPh1A...5NzI2&hl=en[image]
Click on image to enlarge.
