we recently had a very large old cottonwood taken down (yay!)(have you ever lived under the only cottonwood in the neighborhood that "cottons"?) We have 5 red twig dogwoods that were around the base (tree was 6' across at the grass line, so the shrubs are about3-4 feet from the old base) Needless to say, the dogwoods were kindof smashed by the guys - I got rid of as much dirt/mulch from their bases as I could - should I just cut the damaged branches back? They took quite a beating, but I'm thinking they'll be fine. Next ? - the tree guys also dug us a new hole for replacement tree off to the side of the old cottonwood - it's currently filled with dirt/mulch from the old tree - I think we should get some topsoil to replace that fill with so the new tree will have actual dirt to sink it's roots into. We're thinking of a clump birch - I hear they're better than they used to be, and if I need to give it extra water, no problem, because it's got all those dogwoods around it which like water. To sum up, what do you think of the ideas, and would you have a better suggestion for a tree? Exposure would be sun/part sun, potential for decent wind exposure, no winter protection from buildings or hills or other trees. We'd like tall, fast growing (of course!) Last question - is it possible for neighboring cottonwoods to "switch gender" and start cottoning? Please say NO!
