Gardening Question From Julia:

Hi Pat! It’s 3a and i have to wake up in 3 hours for work, but i found your incredible site and have been ravenously reading through your sage advice. what a nice break from the confusing/ conflicting info elsewhere on the web.

i wanted to ask your opinion on an autumn blaze fruitless pear tree. i’m incredibly attracted to the white flowers, the green leaves, and then brilliant red leaves as it goes through the seasons, but someone recently warned me about fire blight, smelly flowers, weak structure, and survivability out here in pasadena climate zone 21. is that all true and if so, are there any other fall color changing (prefer red) options you could suggest? and if not, what are your thoughts on a fruitless plum (thundercloud or vesuvius). this is to be the single ornamental tree in the front of our cape cod style single level home so i want it to look nice year round. another option it sounds like you favor is the rhaphiolepis majestic beauty. can you help guide me to the one most suitable for us? thank you for your response and for this website! so very happy to have found it.

Answer from Pat:

I agree that choosing a tree for your front yard is an important step and worth spending care and time. However, I sincerely counsel you not to lose sleep over it.

Also, I agree with your friend that fruitless pear is not a good choice. I have thought about this for some time—that is why I did not answer right away. Please forgive the delay. So after giving this subject some thought, here is what I suggest: First: Don’t rush making this choice! Secondly take into consideration all your requirements. For example, do you want an evergreen or deciduous tree and what size? Also would you like a flowering tree and if so what color?

Also, please be aware that no tree is perfect. Another good idea is to look at trees growing near you that you admire since one of these might be just the right choice for you.

Now for what I think is your very best step: If I were you I would look on Amazon.com for a used copy of Sunset Western Garden Book and send for it. DO NOT buy the most recent edition that has the orange flower on the front. Old editions are much better and more complete. I suggest you get the one that has a pink flower on the cover, NOT the one with an orange flower on the cover. Once this book arrives look at the lists of tree choices beginning on page 79. Mark each entry that interests you and then look up each one of your choices in the encyclopedia section of the book. The page number will be given next to the name of each genus and when you look them up there will sometimes be more than one species, for example a smaller orchid tree is the Hong Kong orchid tree but the flower shape and color is different from the purple orchid tree. Often there will also be a photo or drawing. I suggest you can also look up photos online or even visit the LA Arboretum and actually see the trees growing. Carefully consider the height, width, flower and leaf color and best climate zones for each tree. I know you are going to love doing this.

To start you off, a few trees I suggest worthy of consideration are: Purple orchid tree (Bauhinia variegata), Cockspur Coral tree (Erythrina crista-galli), Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionansis retusus), and Cape chestnut (Calodendrum capense).