Cottonwood Trees, Twink. It's that time of year around here!

already set seed, and messed our screens.

We are in Zone 5.

blech. we get it so bad it looks like it's snowing.

luckily we don't have many near where we live. at the club, there are time you have have to turn on your wipers when driving by.

we call them trash trees.

Yeah they're really bad here too. They plug up the pool filters something fierce. If I don't keep on it they'd probably burn the motor up.

Just getting started here cuz we had such a late spring, so wet. It took me a couple of years to figure out what that sweet smell was. I used to think it was the Russian Olive trees too till I finally asked. It's the Cottonwood trees.

It'll be snowing cotton around here in the next week.

We are in Zone 5 too, but at 3500' so the elevation does make a difference.

The cottonwoods! Of course!

That would explain why the fragrance is stronger at my Dad's place. He is surrounded by them. I haven't hardly seen any cotton yet, but *inhales deeply* the aroma is close to intoxicating.

Thanks, Cheryl! You are my green-thumbed hero!



Trash trees? Maybe so, but Utah is such a desert that we'll take any volunteer foliage we can get!


Now I can't help but wonder why cottonwoods smell so great in the spring, but smell so funky when you burn the wood.

I'm looking for a flowering bush/shrub that will do well in full sun and does not need much pruning/shaping. The people that lived here before have lots of those evergreen hedges/bushes that you constantly have to prune/flattop so they stay in their perfect square shape. I can't do that kind of maintenance. What else would work and be attractive? Just to put on either side of a birdbath next to my shed.

How tall/wide would you prefer? Some get bigger than others.

For evergreens - nonflowering - that don't have to be pruned, go with arborvitae. Not needing pruning is good, but I also love them because they have soft, touchable greens. Not pokey. They keep a pretty, natural shape and come in many profiles - globe, carpet, pyramid are some I'm familiar with.

They can (DO, lol) out grow spaces and eventually may need to be removed, but that generally takes many years and is well worth the not needing all those clippings over their lifetimes. And when they do need to be chopped down, it's not that hard - we took out four this year.

For blooming shrubs, most need some kind of prune but not like those square shrubs you're talking about. Gosh I hate that square shrub thing.

Potentilla. It comes in several different colors - yellow, reddish, tangerine, white. It needs no pruning, drought tolerant, has a nice shape, nice flower, and you can prune it once a year if you want to keep it from getting too "woody." It handles full sun very well as well as partial sun, partial shade.


http://www.monrovia.com/learn/plant_...arch_term_add=

Here's Monrovia's website page on Potentiila for information about the plant. It's very versatile! And it's usually very cheap! If you go for the yellow, Goldfinger is the best one!

Thank you so much Brain! My neighbors are all over 65 and they all have those perfect square shrubs! I swear, I'm in the Land of Makebelieve and I'm gonna see Mr. McFeely walking up our street delivering our mail! LOL

Awesome Cheryl! Thank You! I never even heard of those!