For our June meeting, Dr. Larry Mellichamp will be presenting, “Choose Your Trees Like You Choose Your Pets!  How to Select the Best Trees for Your Yard”

Despite damage from storms, people seem to want to plant large and small trees in their yards and feel it adds value to their property. BUT . . . not all trees species are equal.  It is good to know what trees offer and which trees are best for certain circumstances. We homeowners should consider which trees are sturdy, long-lived, disease-free, beautiful, and most compatible with our lives; and in contrast, which can become more difficult to manage. Which self-sown seedlings should we leave and which to remove?  Which were cute as young planted saplings and which might become beasts later in the landscape. What might cost you $20 to plant today may cost $3,000 to remove in a few decades. What will their future be?

Deciding what tree to plant

How do you decide which tree to plant? Dr. Mellichamp will discuss good and “bad” trees, the process of selecting the best tree species, and point out some pitfalls of poor decisions as to species and site selection. Larry will answer your questions about trees. Think about the trees in your future.

About Larry Mellichamp

Dr. Mellichamp is a retired Professor of Botany and Horticulture and was director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Larry is a world traveler and expert on native plants of all kinds. He has received several teaching awards and written several books, including Native Plants of the Southeast…the best species for the garden (Timber Press, 2014); and Bizarre Botanicals (2010) and The Southeast Native Plant Primer (2020) both with Paula Gross. He is the 2016 recipient of the Tom Dodd, Jr. Plantsman Award of Excellence from the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference and the 2022 Flora Caroliniana Award from the N.C. Botanical Garden. He gardens at home in Charlotte where he lives with wife Audrey.