A fine log house in Todd County, KY

Walnut shingles and tongue-in-groove floors

Many early log houses in Kentucky were built quickly and roughly. They were small structures with dirt floors and leaky roofs. They sheltered a pioneer family from wild animals, hostile Indians, and the worst of the weather. Perhaps when the fields were cleared, the barns and the fences were built, and a few harvests had been made, a larger, better house might be built.

This log house, built in Todd County sometime before 1809, was exceptionally well-made:

There were a few cabins which were quite pretentious and one of these had the first shingle roof in the county. It belonged to Adams, who sold out to Kennedy in 1809, and is thus described by the latter: "Adams was a thrifty, industrious man, and said to my father, 'I gad, I thought I would build the best and finest house in all the country.' It was constructed of large, hewed white oak logs, twenty-four feet long by eighteen feet wide, covered with black walnut shingles rounded at the butt end, and every one put on with walnut pegs, bored through shingles and lath with a brace and bit. It was a good roof, and lasted about thirty years.

"Then the lower and upper floors were laid with poplar plank, sawed by hand with a whip-saw, nicely dressed, tongued and grooved, and put down with pegs. Three windows two feet square, with nice shutters, but not a pane of glass, nor a nail in all the house, save in the three doors. For these a few nails were made by a blacksmith, his brother, Andy Adams. The chimneys were of stone, the first in the country, and contained at least 150 loads of rock. The fire-places were six feet wide, with wooden mantel-pieces."  -- History of Todd County, Ky., published by F. A. Battey Publishing Co. Chicago, 1884.

Source: Kentucky: A History of the State by William Henry Perrin, J. H. Battle, and G. C. Kniffin (p. 209). Published in 1888 by F. A. Battey and Company, Louisville and Chicago.

Todd County, KY,  is just east of Christian County where I live. The Todd/Christian county line is only a few miles from my home. I am familiar with the terrain of Todd County, and I suspect that this house may have been built in "North Todd", as we say here. White oak, black walnut, and tulip poplar were chosen because they were some of the most decay-resistant woods available.

A log house built in 1793, near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Kitchen (at rear) with dogtrot added later. Photographed in 1940.  Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS KY,84-HARBU.V,2-

The tree-hugger goes to the zoo

Native trees observed at the Nashville Zoo

When I was at the Nashville (TN) zoo last weekend, I enjoyed seeing the trees almost as much as I enjoyed the animals. The zoo is being developed on Grassmere, a historic 200-acre farm that was south of Nashville until the city grew around it. We visit every two or three years, and every time we go, new exhibits have been opened and more animals added.

How the zoo came to Grassmere

Elise and Margaret Croft were the last private owners of Grassmere. The two elderly sisters lost their main income when their family's sugar plantations in Cuba were nationalized by Castro in 1960. The city of Nashville had surrounded their farm by that time, and the property taxes were too expensive for them to pay. They could have sold the farm to developers, but they felt it would be a desecration of the land and a betrayal of the wild animals who lived there.

In 1964, the Croft sisters reached an agreement with the Children's Museum of Nashville that the Children's Museum would pay the taxes and help with the maintenance of the large old house. The Croft sisters would be able to live on the farm for the rest of their lives, and the museum would inherit the property when they died. They were lovers of nature, so they stipulated that the land could be used only as a nature study center.

Margaret Croft passed away in 1974. Custody of the land was assumed by the Children's Museum of Nashville in 1985, following the death of Elise, and in 1997, the Nashville Zoo took over the property.

Bamboo forest in the native woods

A visit to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere has always been like a walk in the woods. I don't know when the property was last farmed seriously, but it was a long time ago -- decades, maybe even most of a century. Wherever I look around the zoo, I see woods. Some of the property has been cleared for animal enclosures, facilities for people, etc., but otherwise, it appears that the trees have taken over. Many of the trees are tall, mature specimens, suggesting that they've been growing for quite a while.

There's a new part of the zoo called the "Bamboo Trail", and the name is appropriate. Tall stands of bamboo grow thickly along the paths and the animals who are kept in that area are natives of bamboo forests. It's interesting to experience bamboo as a forest. (Photo at right: looking straight up from a park bench along the Bamboo Trail.)

Still, as a native tree enthusiast, I'm concerned about this "bamboo garden displaying a wide variety of bamboo found around the world," as the Nashville Zoo website describes it.

Bamboo is renown for being invasive; some species are more invasive than others. I hope the landscapers have some foolproof system of barriers to keep it all contained. If not, mature trees in adjoining areas are going to have fierce competition for resources, and the understory won't stand a chance.

My concerns are not unfounded. Look closely at the photo of the Alligator Cove sign and you will see many young bamboo shoots. This sign is in a wooded area that adjoins the Bamboo Trail. I hope they are clipping the invasive shoots like these to give to the animals!

Native trees at Grassmere

Around the main visitor's center, a dozen or more Magnolia grandifolia have been planted. They are young trees, but they're growing nicely. They are 30 to 40 feet tall now. It's late summer, so their fruit is beginning to form. I think Nashville is a little north of the true native range of Southern magnolia, but they can be grown there (and even farther north) successfully.

Elsewhere in the zoo, there are big beautiful hackberries (lots and lots of hackberries), beeches, hickories, cottonwoods, tulip poplars, maples, black walnuts (photo at left), oaks and redcedars. (I am just mentioning some of the most common tall trees I saw.)

I realize that the zoo is going to clear some wooded areas as exhibits are developed. I understand that the animals need winter quarters and roads to bring in food for them. I know that the visitors must have parking lots for their cars.  I even realize that some visitors are going to consider the native trees "run-of-the-mill" compared with the bamboo forest.

However, I hope the zoo developers will conserve, protect, and propagate the beautiful native trees of Grassmere wherever they can. I am positive that the trees were part of what Elise and Margaret Croft hoped to permanently protect on their farm. It would be impossible to live there and not love the trees.

- - - - - - - - - -

One last thing that I want to mention -- and this is probably true of all zoos -- I read in a Nashville Zoo press release that the zoo needs unwanted vegetation such as tree trimmings, especially in the winter.

Species particularly mentioned as desirable are hackberry, elm, redbud, sweetgum, hickory, willow and -- bamboo. The vegetation is given to the animals for "physical and mental stimulation". The zoo calls it "browse."

Because of what the animals can eat and what they like, some tree clippings are are not suitable. The zoo will NOT accept oak, sycamore, tulip poplar, cherry, maple, walnut, locust, or any evergreen tree.

Front lawn of the Grassmere home

Weeping willows damaged by ice

Weak wooded trees with a weak structure

I've written previously in this blog about how I love weeping willow trees and how I planted two of them for sentimental reasons, even though I knew better. (See "Weeping willow, a weak-wooded tree" and "One tree not to plant"

I planted them about a dozen years ago. They grew fast, and they were beautiful for a few years. However, they've created a problem in nearly every episode of extreme weather we've experienced.

The devastating ice storm that hit Kentucky a few days ago was particularly hard on my weeping willows. I expect that we will cut them down and spray any sprouts with Roundup. I've had the experience of owning weeping willows now, and it wasn't nearly as pleasant as I thought it would be. I don't want to repeat it.

The tree in front of them -- the undamaged one -- is a black walnut that was planted at about the same time.

More photos of the ice damage to our trees

Tall trees that resist wind and ice damage

23 tall-growing native trees that resist wind and ice damage

Updated, 3/6/10.

All of these trees can reach 75-100 feet in height or more when mature. All are native trees of North America with moderate to good resistance to damage by wind and ice.

Trees marked with an asterisk below should be considered moderately resistant. A general rule to remember is that strong evergreens are not as resistant to wind and ice damage as strong deciduous trees. Because of their foliage, they tend to catch more winter wind, snow, and ice. (That's why evergreen trees are often planted in windbreaks.)

1. Acer nigrum -- Black maple
2. Acer saccharum -- Sugar maple*
3. Carya cordiformis -- Bitternut hickory
4. Carya glabra -- Pignut hickory
5. Carya illinoensis -- Pecan
6. Carya ovata -- Shagbark hickory
7. Carya tomentosa -- Mockernut hickory
8. Fagus grandifolia -- American beech
9. Gymnocladus dioicus -- Kentucky coffeetree
10. Juglans nigra -- Eastern black walnut
11. Liquidambar styraciflua -- American Sweetgum
12. Magnolia acuminata -- Cucumbertree magnolia
13. Picea pungens -- Colorado spruce
14. Pinus ponderosa -- Ponderosa pine*
15. Pinus resinosa -- Red pine*
16. Platanus occidentalis -- Sycamore, American planetree*
17. Quercus alba -- White oak
18. Quercus bicolor -- Swamp white oak
19. Quercus borealis -- Northern red oak
20. Quercus macrocarpa -- Bur oak*
21. Quercus velutina -- Black oak
22. Taxodium distichum -- Common baldcypress
23. Tsuga canadensis -- Canada hemlock*

Remember -- if the weather is bad enough, any tree can lose branches, snap its trunk, or even lose its grip and fall over. You should use good judgment about keeping your home safe. It's not wise to have big trees next to your house, no matter what kind of trees they are. 

For a (usually) safe distance between house and tree, allow half of the mature tree's spread (half of the diameter of its crown). If the mature tree will have a spread of 70 feet, it should be planted at least 35 feet from any buildings. This does mean that many suburban properties are too small for large trees.

If you want a guarantee that you will never have to cope with fallen branches or storm-damaged trees, simply remove all trees from your property. That should eliminate the problem.

Sources for the above list include:

Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America: A Planting Design Manual for Environmental Designers by Gary L. Hightshoe, published in 1988 by Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Ice Storm Damage to Urban Trees, an article in the appendix of Storms Over the Urban Forest, a publication of the USDA Forest Service. (This article's table, "Ice storm susceptibility of tree species commonly planted in urban areas" is reprinted in many reputable articles about ice damage susceptibility on the internet.)

Trees For Nebraska Ice Storm Recovery and Susceptibility of Trees to Ice Storm Damage in the Great Plains, published by the Nebraska Statewide Arboreum

Grafted black walnuts vs. seedlings

Is the high price of a grafted black walnut tree worth it?

The two main reasons that people buy grafted black walnut trees are 1) bigger nuts, and 2) easier-to-crack nuts.

About 14 or 15 years ago, we decided to plant some black walnut trees. We bought a couple of grafted trees from a nursery catalog, and they arrived in good shape and we planted them.

That same spring, someone advertised in the newspaper that they had black walnut seedlings to give away to anyone who wanted to transplant them. Supposedly, the mother tree had thin-shelled nuts, so the seedlings were expected to continue this trait.

My husband went dug up several of those seedlings and planted them in the part of our yard that we call "the meadow" because it has to be mowed all the time. His idea is that if we get enough trees there, the grass will quit growing.

From all that planting, we have four black walnut trees today. Two of them are the grafted trees, and two are the seedlings from the newspaper. All of the trees are well over 20 feet tall, and a couple of them are probably close to 30 feet tall.

One of the grafted trees died back so far early in its life that we were afraid it had completely lost its graft and had nothing left but rootstock. It produced the large walnut in the photo below, so apparently it didn't die back as far as we thought. This is the first year it has had walnuts. The other grafted tree has not yet borne nuts, though it is getting fairly big.



The seedlings have borne walnuts for several years now, and each year, they bear a few more nuts. Their nuts are, true to promise, fairly easy to crack (for black walnuts.) They're as easy to crack as the nuts from the grafted tree, but they're much smaller. One of their nuts is pictured at right in the photo above.

I don't know the answer to my question: "Is the high price of a grafted tree worth it?" It probably depends on the tree that you're getting seed from. I have one observation on the topic. If you're going to harvest and use the walnuts, you can crack out a cup of nut meats faster from big walnuts than from small ones.

How to grow a black walnut tree from seed

Black Walnut leaves and nuts
Wikimedia Commons image

Black walnut trees are easy to start from seed. In a favorable site, they often reach 80 to 100 feet in height and their crowns may spread an equal distance.

Choose the planting site carefully

Black walnuts secrete juglone, a chemical that is toxic to many plants. Locate your planting at least 60 feet from any sensitive plants or garden areas.

Black walnut trees will do very well in a moist bottom area that is well drained, or on a moist hillside or upland site. They will tolerate occasional dry spells, and they accept any soil pH from moderately acidic to moderately alkaline.

If you are planting walnuts as garden trees, space the plantings about 60-70 feet apart so their crowns can develop a majestic spread as they mature. However, if you're planting black walnuts for their valuable wood, plant them about 30 feet apart so their trunks will grow long and straight.

Planting the seeds

Gather the nuts as they fall from a tree in your area, and remove the husks. Place half a dozen nuts several inches apart in a cluster, four or five inches deep. If you have squirrels, lay a piece of hardware cloth over the planting spot and pin it to the ground with v-shaped wires. Lay a mulch of straw or leaves over the hardware cloth to reduce the freeze/thaw cycles. Mark the site so you can find it again.

After fall planting and a session of damp, cold weather, the walnut seeds will germinate in the spring. Remove the mulch and hardware cloth from the planting spot in late winter, and mark the spot clearly so you don't accidentally mow over it! After the baby trees have grown for a few months, choose the best one and eliminate the others.

Trees that will grow near black walnut and butternut

Trees that tolerate juglone.

Juglone, a chemical emitted by black walnut and butternut trees, is toxic to some plants. Symptoms of juglone poisoning include yellowed, wilted leaves and plant death. If the sickened plant is growing within fifty feet of the dripline of a black walnut or butternut tree, juglone poisoning should be suspected.

Before you make the decision to plant a black walnut or butternut or any other sort of nut tree grafted on black walnut or butternut stock, it would be wise to find out if the plantings you already have in your garden or yard will be affected by juglone.

The Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Horticulture has compiled an excellent list of plants (trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, vegetables, etc) that are particularly susceptible or resistant to juglone.

Here are the trees cited on the MSU list as...

Resistant to walnut toxicity

• Acer negundo (Box Elder)
• Acer nigrum (Black Maple)
• Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple)
• Acer palmatum-Dissectum (Japanese Maple)
• Acer rubrum (Red Maple)
• Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple)
• Aesculus glabra (Ohio Buckeye)
• Ailanthus glandulosa (Tree of Heaven)
• Asimina triloba (Papaw)
• Betula lenta (Black Birch)
• Betula nigra 'Heritage' ("Heritage" River Birch)
• Caraya sp. (Hickory)
• Catalpa bignonoides (Common Catalpa)
• Celtis occidentalis (Common Hackberry)
• Cercis canadensis (Redbud)
• Cornus Florida (Flowering Dogwood)
• Crataegus spp. (Hawthorn)
• Cydonia oblonga (Quince)
• Fagus grandifolia (Beech)
• Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey Locust)
• Halesia carolina (Carolina Silverbell or Opossum Wood)
• Juniperus virginiana (Red Cedar)
• Koelreuteria paniculata (Goldenrain-tree)
• Liquidamber styraciflua (Sweetgum)
• Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip tree)
• Nyssa sylvatica (Black Gum)
• Oleaceae spp. (Autumn olive)
• Picea abier (Norway Spruce)
• Pinus jeffreyi (Jeffrey Pine)
• Pinus virginiana(Scrub Pine)
• Plantanus occidentalis (Sycamore)
• Prunus serotina (Black Cherry)
• Pyrus calleryana (Callery Pear)
• Pyrus coronaria (American Crab)
• Querus alba (White Oak)
• Querus borealis (Red Oak)
• Quercus imbricaria (Shingle Oak)
• Quercus rubra (Northern Red Oak)
• Querus ventutina (Black Oak)
• Rhus hirta (Staghorn Sumac)
• Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust)
• Sassafrass variifolium (Sassafrass)
• Tilia platyphyllas (Bigleaf Linden)
• Tsuga canadensis (Canadian Hemlock)
• Ulmus americana (American Elm)
• Viburnum prunifolium (Black Haw)

Consult your local extension office for specific information about your local area.

And if you think black walnuts aren't worth all this trouble, well, perhaps you've never tasted a black-walnut pumpkin roll! (One such recipe here.)