I'm on a 5 acre lot in the Fraser Valley (Zone6) and would like to plant an allee of trees along my 200+ ft. driveway. The trees would be in full sun and would have to live with east-west crosswinds. I'm looking for something with a graceful vase shape and preferably more than one season of interest (flowers are not essential). While I understand the concerns of a monoculture, I am pretty committed to an allee as a design feature. So far I've considered Cornus kousa 'Milky Way', Zelkovia, and Fraxinus excelsior 'Raywood'. Any other suggestions, or thoughts about these? Thanks for your help!
The dogwood must be kept moist and will grow out over the lane, with main branches at a low height. The zelkova is your best bet. Read about pruning and training of this to be sure you end up with a high canopy of branches overhead. The ash is prone to forking and breakage.
Thanks Ron - very helpful - I was a little doubtful about the dogwoods myself, and don't have any experience with the ash - although they are a lovely tree (sigh!)
Can't speak for the north, but if the Raywood Ash is anything up there like here, I'd stay far away from it. If a group of 3, different story. That's one of the worst trees here for leaning over and breakage. Great leaf color, but notorious for dissintegration. Zelkova is nice. Attractive leaves and decent wood strength. Okay, it's not vase shape, but are you familiar with Black Tupelo? Could take a special order. Currently my favorite tree next to purple Beech. I'm fond of beech for form, and if the top leader is removed young while just 1/2" in diameter, a pseudo vase shape can be achieved. I'm not sure how they perform in your zone. Easy to research though. I like dogwoods, but the Kousa is not my favorite. Still like it though. Decent tree.
