Foster Holly is a cultivar of Ilex x attenuata and is an evergreen shrub or small tree that has a fine texture, and a dense, slender, conical, or pyramidal shape. It is slow growing and may reach up to 20 to 30 ft tall and 10 to 15 feet wide. An abundance of small, pea-sized orangish-red-to-red berries ripen in the fall and persist through the winter.
This rugged female Holly needs a pollenizer for fruit. However, with or without fruit, it is excellent hedge material and a perfect candidate for formal gardens. Its dense habit takes oval or pyramidal forms. If left unsheared it makes an ideal screen for planting strips between driveways, where it can take reflected heat and reduces glare.
‘China Boy’ Blue Holly is a living fence when planted 4 ft apart due to its dense nature. The kelly-green foliage is spiky, which discourages animals from munching on it; in fact, as the plant detects damage from deer or rabbits, it will make its’ spines sharper near the bottom of the plant to protect itself.
Erosion control: Common hackberry is included in windbreak plantings to control wind erosion. Additionally, its deep root system makes common hackberry useful for preventing soil erosion on disturbed sites. Native Americans valued common hackberry for medicinal, food, and ceremonial purposes.
The mast from winged elm is eaten by birds and animals, and the twigs and leaves are important for white-tailed deer (16). Both twigs and leaves are most succulent, nutritious, and digestible during spring and are less useful as food the rest of the year because after abscission, the leaves lose most of their quality and digestibility.
It is noted for its graceful vase shape when young, green textured foliage, and attractive honeycomb bark. It is native to Japan, Taiwan and eastern China. Zelkova has in fact been promoted in recent years as a substitute for American elm (Ulmus americana) because of its resistance to Dutch elm disease.
Chinese elm is a large ornamental deciduous shade tree in the Ulmaceae (elm) family native to China, Korea, and Japan. Chinese Elm makes a shade-resistant street or urban tree that is resistant to Dutch elm disease and air pollution. The bark is lacy, exfoliating bark in shades of brown, tan, olive, and cinnamon.
The American elm was the most popular tree to plant in the booming cities of the 19th century, so that by the 20th century many streets were lined with only elms and were shaded in summer by a cathedral-like ceiling of their branches. When Dutch elm disease (which actually originated in Asia) spread to the US in the 1950s, it was able to mow down elm after elm through their grafted root systems or with the help of a beetle.
Persimmon is native throughout Kentucky in dry woodland settings. The fruit is an important wildlife food and is edible. Persimmon wood is very hard and nearly black. It is used to make golf club heads, billiard cues and parquet flooring.
The Kentucky champion tree is in Warren County and is about 35 feet tall. Flowering dogwood is a beautiful native tree with four-season appeal. The wood of dogwood has a high resistance to sudden shock, making it a popular choice for making golf club heads and chisel handles. It is also used for mallet heads and wedges, as it can be hammered on the ends without splitting and mushrooming out.